Coming straight off the back of the Brecon and Radnorshire campaign, we launched our election campaign for Sheffield Hallam at the weekend, with more than 100 people who joined us to knock on doors, deliver leaflets, and help with clerical work in the office.
It seems like promising Lib Dem by-elections are like buses – you wait for a long time and then two come along at once!
We have a serious opportunity to win here – and get another Liberal Democrat MP elected.
What’s going on?
A few weeks ago, the current MP, Jared O’Mara, announced on Twitter that he was going to be resigning as MP when Parliament returned in September.
Whilst we have no guarantee a by-election will be going ahead until he actually resigns, we are working hard to make sure that we have the best possible chance of winning the seat if he does.
And we have a serious opportunity to win here – and get another Liberal Democrat MP elected.
Former leader of the Liberal Democrats, Nick Clegg used to be the MP for Sheffield Hallam, and we just lost the seat in 2017 to Labour.
All but one council seat is Liberal Democrat.
Every other party is miles behind us.
But even though we are winning again nationally, there is a strong Yorkshire Labour force in Sheffield Hallam. So we need to make sure we can match their efforts, campaign hard in the seat, and win.
Who is the candidate?
Laura Gordon is the Liberal Democrat candidate in Sheffield Hallam, and she is the definition of a local champion.
She has spent her life running humanitarian aid programmes in Africa and the Middle East – supporting refugees and communities affected by disease and drought.
She was an instrumental part in stopping Sheffield Council from cutting down thousands of trees, including war memorial trees dedicated to local soldiers who fought in WWI.
She ran a successful campaign to keep the local NHS walk-in centre open.
And she has been supporting constituents in resolving local issues while the MP has not been here.
Laura has three main priorities that she will fight for if elected:
- Protect and securing more funding and support for education, particularly special needs education
- Tackle the climate emergency, and ensure it receives the primacy and attention it needs from politicians to reverse the harmful direction we are moving in
- Stop Brexit
This campaign is a chance to show that we are winning again – and we are taking seats off of both Labour and the Conservatives.
Campaigning against Labour
The current MP, due to illness, hasn’t been able to fulfil the obligations of an MP, attend Parliament or help his constituents – and as a result, he has announced he is standing down as MP.
And the new candidate that Labour has put up is another Corbyn supporter. It’s clear Corbyn’s Labour just aren’t pushing to keep Britain in the EU.
This campaign is a chance to show that we are winning again – and we are taking seats off of both Labour and the Conservatives. It is a chance to show that there is an alternative to Jeremy Corbyn’s dithering and Boris Johnsons determination to force us off the cliff edge of no deal.
How you can help
There are a few different ways we need your help.
Come to Sheffield Hallam
Come to the by-election HQ any day from 10am-7pm. There will be canvassing, delivery and clerical work to do from the office every day, and we are holding action days every weekend. You can find the address of our office and RSVP at the link below:
Make calls
If you can’t make it to the seat then please try and make some calls. Our phone bank is now up and running and you can find the latest phone bank code here:
If you’ve never made calls for the Lib Dems before, head to Lib Dem Phone Campaigners to find out more and get set up
Donate
We need to raise as much as we possibly can to start spending as soon as possible. You can contribute to our Sheffield Hallam campaign, and to the Shetland campaign, by heading to the link below.