Jillian’s Sheffield Central constituency campaign
This is really taking off, with large numbers of people supporting Jillian’s campaign in various ways. We’ve just delivered the 2nd edition of her campaign newspaper to over 40,000 addresses in the constituency; dozens of Green supporters are taking part in our door-knocking sessions; the social media ‘airwaves’ are busy; and we’ve had a fair number of financial donations. Even more will be happening over the next few weeks – see below.
Saturday 21st March Regional Campaign launch meeting & Sheffield Action Day
Please note this date in your diary. We’re expecting 200 people from the Yorkshire & Humber region for a late-morning launch meeting at Victoria Hall (opposite the Crucible) with speeches from Jillian Creasy and other key candidates. In the afternoon we’ll fan out across Sheffield Central constituency to deliver a special campaign leaflet. In the evening we have a campaign fundraising gig with the Free Radicals – see Save the Date section of this newsletter. Could you be one of the 100 SRGP members we need to escort and work alongside members from elsewhere in the region during the afternoon please? Look out for a special e-mail to book in for this event.
Central Ward door-knocking (aka canvassing)
Sunday 8th March 2pm: Meeting at Amigos, 224-230 London Rd, S2 4LW
Saturday 14th March 2pm: Meeting at The Forum bar/cafe, 129 Devonshire St, S3 7SB
Saturday 28th March 2pm: City centre meeting point to be announced later.
Green Jillian for Sheffield Central MP Facebook page – 1000 likes needed!
Jillian’s campaign page has over 600 likes. Please like it now so it gets to 1000 likes quickly. And like our other Facebook pages for the 5 wards in Sheffield Central, plus Facebook pages for Rotherham GP, Ann Roche 4 Wath Ward, Sheffield GP (1526 likes currently), Heeley GP, Sheffield Young Greens and Peter Garbutt GP for Sheffield Hallam. Please engage with these pages and share content up to 7th May to help get our campaign messages out and noticed.
Election ballot & hustings: Sheffield South East and Brightside & Hillsborough
All national members living in the above two constituencies should have received ballot papers attached to an e-mail sent on 25th February. Please complete and return them in accordance with the instructions. If you haven’t received the e-mail or require a ballot paper to be sent to you by post, please contact Eamonn Ward (Election Agent; 0114 2311548 or 0750 3883740).
The remaining selection timetable is:
Friday 13th March: Ballot closes for postal and e-mail ballot papers;
Saturday 14th March: Hustings meeting 11am to 12 noon for both constituencies at Union Street, 18-20 Union Street, Sheffield, S1 2JP.
The ballot closes for by-hand ballot papers 10 minutes after end of these hustings. The count will be held immediately afterwards and result announced asap.
Please come to the hustings to ask questions of the candidates who seek nomination.
Changing Rotherham council from within
It’s been a very difficult time in Rotherham since the publication of the Jay report last August, and more recently the Louise Casey report. We have posted very short statements, concentrating on support and justice for the victims and survivors of child sexual exploitation (CSE); and we continue to monitor the situation and developments.
Council elections are going ahead in Rotherham in May. They will be followed by 2016 elections where all councillors have to stand for re-election following the CSE scandal. Our target ward is Wath where Ann Roche’s community activism and high local profile could win the seat in May, with the opportunity to follow that up and win all 3 seats in 2016. We will also be developing Wales ward where Parish Councillor Paul Martin is our candidate.
Rotherham council needs to be changed from the inside by new councillors with different ideas and approaches who want to work openly and honestly. We can offer the electorate a progressive option, rather than Labour. We aren’t standing in the general election because we must fully focus our campaigning in Wath ward to have any chance of getting Ann elected. Please respond to messages on how you can help the campaign – we’d like members to travel to help. Ann can be contacted via annroche1955@hotmail.co.uk 07891 220192.
Registering to vote
Registration is now individual. To register online please visit gov.uk/register-to-vote – you will need your National Insurance number. To check if you are already registered in Sheffield, ring 0114 2734567 then select Option 6. To check if you are already registered in Rotherham, ring 01709 382121.
The deadline to register is 20th April – please make sure you’re registered to vote and signed up for a postal or proxy vote if you need it. Students studying here can choose to vote here or at home in the general election – please arrange to vote here where we can elect an MP.