AD LIB Magazine Article: Winning Here

Campaigners in Michael Howard's East Kent back yard overturned the odds to win from the Tories. Here, winning candidate Lynne Beaumont explains how they did it.

In May 2012, the Lib Dems were wiped off Shepway District Council. Despite running a carefully targeted campaign on realistic prospects, the wave of feeling against the Party nationally saw us lose all our district councillors. Just one Lib Dem town councillor and Two parish councillors were elected. It hurt. As bad as this was for us, Labour also failed to get ANY Councillors elected leaving Shepway as a Labour free zone as it has been since 2005.

The Conservatives held 45 of 47 district council seats - bleak.

And from there on, the Conservatives took some extraordinary decisions.

Removing free on-street parking places in the main town of Folkestone (and planning on doing so across the rest of the District).

Consulting on hosting the UK High Level Nuclear Waste Repository.

Introducing a litter fining system that saw in the first 3 months of operation four people fined for dog fouling, eight for dropping litter, and almost 1,200 for dropping cigarette ends.

The feeling throughout Shepway that the council was out of control and needed a real opposition was mounting steadily.

Then in October, a Conservative Councillor in Folkestone Park ward resigned his district and town seats.

Folkestone Park ward was not our best seat and has a strong Conservative vote, but as our previous District Group Leader I had held one of the three District seats there from May 2003-11 (the other two being Conservative 2007-11). It wasn't the ideal by-election to fight, but well worth a shot.

I already had a great profile for campaigning on local issues, and since 2011 had developed that further with her involvement in campaigns such as the FairFuelUK.

Locally, I was already leading the fight to keep a college open, as well as assisting the campaign of an independent candidate of Kent Police and Crime Commissioner - Ann Barnes. I agreed to be our candidate for both town and district, and Tim Prater to be agent.

With a small but determined campaign team, the election date was set at 22nd November: the week after the PCC elections.

We reactivated the local delivery network, and added some too.

Within three days, we had 100% delivery coverage for the ward, and used that weekly for full ward A3 leaflet drops each week. These were supplemented by full colour postcards, various letters and targeted eve of poll / good morning leaflets.

We knew we had to get out the message and do so repeatedly. We did.

Most people in Folkestone Park would have received nine pieces of literature during the campaign, all showing I knew the key issues, would stand up for local people on those issues, had the experience to provide real opposition on the Council and - of course - was the best placed candidate to beat the Conservatives.

In the PCC elections on 15th November, the Conservatives received a real surprise. Their candidate had been expected to be a shoo-in at the start. As the campaign went on, they became more nervous of the challenge from Independent Ann Barnes.

But as the votes were opened they were stunned: they were swept away in an independent landslide. The Conservatives had been roundly beaten once, and the following week, we set out to do it again.

Our doorstep and phone canvassing was showing the messages were getting through, but we knew it was going to be a tight result, so we ensured we ran a full knock-up operation on the day.

At the count, a well practised Lib Dem sampling team went to work, and after the first few boxes were opened, it was clear from the tallies that we'd win. We did, with a majority of about 140 in both seats on a turnout just over 25%. The Conservative was beaten into second in the district seat and third in the town seat, with their vote shrinking from over 900 in May 2011 to around 300. That had to hurt.

Labour also didn't like it at all - with a full colour glossy leaflet and even getting Caroline Flint down to join their canvassing effort, they thought they may win, or at least get a decent result. They came 4th. Twice.

Massive thanks to all those involved in the campaign - from our valiant delivery team, to phone canvassing help from outside the constituency and to those members locally that made it happen. It's not fair to name a few: you were all great, and Tim Prater as agent, you're a star.

Our messages from the campaign? Stick to real, local issues. Show you are best placed to deliver on those issues. Repeat them relentlessly - in the widest variety of formats. Canvass more. A big team would be nice, but is not crucial - but use of the available technology is.

It's not easy out there at the moment, but with a high profile candidate, you can overcome the odds.

• Shepway DC - Lib Dems 461, Con 320, People First 200, UKIP 153, Lab 111, Green 29. Turnout 25.8% LD GAIN.
• Folkestone TC - Lib Dems 420, People First 277, Con 263, UKIP 152, Lab 117, Green 35. Turnout 25.6% LD GAIN.