Labour regain Ipswich

After what seemed weeks of non stop campaigning, election day was upon us and 14 hours of non stop delivering and door knocking paid off as Friday at the count, Ipswich Labour made 5 gains including Tracey Grant joining me as a councillor in Rushmere Ward.

When I was elected as a councilor it was a very proud moment, but Friday was also a special moment as I will now be part of the administration in Ipswich as we try and protect the residents of Ipswich from the coalition cuts.

The result on Friday was a reward for a year of hard work by the Labour Party in Ipswich, we were down last May but there was no in-fighting or bickering, we just increased our campaigning work and got on with the job of supporting the people of Ipswich. This feeling of unity has been evident from day one, and it was great to have Chris Mole our former MP, helping in Rushmere all day and then being at the count. Dan Poulter the North Ipswich Tory MP was at the count, he eventually was joined by Ben Gummer but once he was briefed on the possible outcome Gummer soon disappeared.

So why did we win? As the Tory Cllr Paul West said, it is hard to work our what exactly had a positive or negative impact on each party's vote, but no doubt the unpopularity of the coalition Government did hit the Lib Dems hard, but though the Tory vote held up in most wards, the strange decisions by the Tory run Suffolk County Council and Ms Hill did help get the Labour vote out.

Then there is hard work and a well planned campaign, without giving away too much! we worked hard in 12 of the 16 wards and even in the other four we still delivered leaflets and newspapers, and of course we increased our work on polling day in our 5 target wards.

But just hard work will not win an election, we worked hard last year but could not hold onto the parliamentary seat in the town. But we made even more effort this year to talk to everyone, not just labour voters - we knocked on almost every door and spoke to as many residents as we could. this worked. Compare that to the Tories and the Lib Dems, a resident in Rushmere informed that he a approached a Tory canvass team, and they refused to speak to him as he was not on their 'list'. A Tory supporting blog, said ‘probably because he was a socialist intent on wasting their time’. He actually is a leading member of the local community, one who is well known to the Tory Cllr for the Ward. That sort of attitude is not going to win you votes. The Lib Dems also seemed to only knock on a few doors in their two main wards and made no effort in the rest of the wards less a couple of leaflets in two other wards.

Some may say the Tories were very complacent, putting all their effort into Rushmere, and making little effort in the two other wards they lost, did they think they were safe? A leading Tory Gavin McClure even seems to admit that tactical decisions were wrongly made.

How about the Lib Dems, a national collapse was expected but I am sure in Ipswich they still thought it would be closer in Alexandra ward than it was and they were then in total shock when they lost St Margaret's to the Tories (remember the Tories put little effort into st Margaret's and none into Alexandra). A needless recount being called in St Margaret's by the Lib Dems, showed how desperate they got.

There has been a noticeable lack of campaigning in Ipswich by the Lib Dems over the last few years, and no real noticeable increase in this years campaign - that would have hurt them as much as the low opinion their national party and leader are held in.

I often wondered how they sat in coalition in Ipswich when it was obvious that most Tories had little time for them, the resignation speech of leading Tory Wells should have left them in no doubt. Even this weekend they have come under attack from a Tory blog in Ipswich and a leading Suffolk Tory
They may have been fooled by the way the Ipswich Tories did not campaign in the three Lib Dem wards and they even had Ben Gummer write a Pro Lib Dem Mayor Chambers column in the local paper (not that it worked). some Lib Dems may be happy they lost power, they always seem to be happier in opposition - never their fault then.

So where do we go now? Back on the streets campaigning, we will look at the results, learn, target and go again - I am sure the Tories at least will come back strong at us, but a tip for both opposition groups - talk to residents - it works!

Ben Gummer- hiding from the Ipswich public?

Ben Gummer has now been our Ipswich MP for over 6 months and you can find him (if you look hard) a weekly column in the Evening Star, and now each Sunday you can find him riding round the streets of Ipswich (avoiding the numerous potholes) on a charity cycle ride. Well done Ben - But and it is a big but! If you need help- with housing, the law or the numerous other problems that Ipswich residents can have- he is harder to find. Six months and we have a temporary office hidden down by the river, a website that had been dormant since June and even a twitter site that has him as a candidate rather than the MP.

Whilst he is hiding away, the Ipswich Labour Party are still getting many residents call on them requesting help, where we can local Labour Councillors are taking the issues up and when it is an issue that the MP would be best to deal with we are handing them information on how they can contact Ben. But after 6 months it is about time Gummer had an office in the town, dealing with the numerous issues that effect an urban population. Before the election, Ben 'talked, the talk' now lets see him 'walk, the walk'

Why doesn't Ben Gummer talk about MP expenses?

David Cameron was quick to attack the 3 former Labour MP's who are attempting to claim Legal aid to fight the corruption charges against themselves. Locally Tory activist Jamie Spencer seems to have a weekly rant about Chris Mole and his use of expenses to pay for an office in Ipswich but Ben Gummer would rather talk about legalisation of drugs and job prospects for graduates. Many would wonder why Ben is not following the Cameron trick of blaming Labour for every expense scandal. Now it may be because, Chris Mole was found to be one of the few MP's who did not have to pay anything back to the government and has also led the way by publishing all his expenses on his own website. But many may believe that the silence from Ben on the subject is more likely to do with his father and his exorbitant claims he made on his Suffolk property, claims for Mole removal, removing Jackdaw nests and various other garden tasks, many that never saw a proper receipt. The release of those Gummer expenses by a Tory paper ( you can read here) may have been the reason that John Gummer stood down, because I am sure if it had been a more planned decision to retire from front bench politics we would have seen Ben standing in Felixstowe not Ipswich. So I look forward to Ben and maybe even Bridge News talking about the MP expenses scandal that seemed to pass Ipswich by but did see a sudden departure from politics by the Suffolk Coastal MP - over to you Ben and Jamie!

Campaigning- 2007 style -and a look back to how we did it in 1974!

Saturday was spent in my own Rushmere ward in Ipswich, out knocking on doors in Leopold and Westbury Road. A good positive response from most of the residents with a number of issues given to me that I will follow up over the next few days.

Good to have Chris Mole our MP, out with us and even more heartening to have a new young member out for his first taste of campaigning on the doorstep.

It did remind me of my early campaign days and recently whist researching my family tree, I came across this picture of myself (far left-age 12) campaigning in Carr Street Ipswich with my mum (4th from left) and the local Ipswich MP- Ken Weetch.

Have found a number of photographs from campaign in the early 70's and I will publish them over the next few weeks.

Campaign Saturday in Rushmere Ward, Ipswich

Panic on Saturday morning - the Party agent, John Cook had dropped off 3,000 leaflets on Friday night and there I was in the Golden Key car park on Saturday morning as the sky got very grey, felt the first spots of rain and just myself and Neil the St Johns candidate (who had another 1,000 leaflets). No need to worry, a fantastic turnout of Labour supporters led by our MP, Chris Mole and joined by County Councilors, Borough Councilors, candidates and activists.
So 18 0f us hit the streets of St Johns and Rushmere.
The high turnout even in bad weather- the reason why? Hard to say but maybe it is the last few weeks that we have really seen the true Tory (and Lib dem) face. Proposed cuts to the Ipswich bus service and the confirmed move of Day Care to the private sector, on top of that a bodged Education policy where the communication to both Schools and parents has been non existent.
It is also encouraging that the people of Ipswich are now realising that there is a great difference between Labour and Tory policy- they also seem to be getting the message that the Lib Dems will support anyone and say anything just for a bit of power.
Whilst out I was able to get a picture of the new street signs in Humber Ducy Lane. This road links Rushmere ward and Bixley (safest Tory seat in town). it is in Bixley that thousands have been spent on traffic calming where nothing has been spent in the Rushmere part of the road. After spending the money on the traffic calming they still had enough left to spend on street signs that are like the 'Welcome to Ipswich' signs on the A12! I am sure the residents of this road would rather have seen the money spent on traffic calming on the northern stretch of Humber Ducy Lane rather than these two -out of place - signs.