UK Election Bulletin

Friday 14th June 2024 — Three weeks until Election Day

The UK General Election is here. Over the next few weeks the UK Democracy Network will be bringing you the latest news, gossip, resources and actionable information that can help you and your organisation deliver impact this election.

Brought to you by James Moulding and Max Roche of the UK Democracy Network. We read everyone’s newsletters so you don’t have to.

How you can get involved right now👇

🔨 Key Election Resources 🔨

Election Tech Handbook
Crowdsourced resources and a project directory for technologists building things for the upcoming UK general election, run by Newspeak House.

Election Hackspace
The London College of Political Technology, Newspeak House, has opened its doors from now until the election for all those working across the election. Drop in and co-work from 10am till 7.30pm every day.

Democracy Classroom
Key resources include posters, template emails, a handbook for employers, manifestos and everything you need to engage young people in the election.

mySociety & Democracy Club tools

Democracy Club is the go to place for voter information, whether for candidate information or polling station information. mySociety’s TheyWorkForYou, Freedom of Information tools and Local Intelligence Hub provide key information for you and your election projects.

Just Register

Small Axe’s Just Register project provides wrap around personalised support for those registering to vote.

Fix The Glitch 3.0 Election Toolkit

The Glitch team created a toolkit and facilitation guide to combat digital misogynoir during election periods as part of their Be Safe Online campaign.

RNIB resource on how to campaign accessibly

The Royal National Institue of Blind People want to make this General Election the most accessible election campaign ever — download their guide to accessible campaign communications now

👋 Regular Election Coordination Meetings 👋

Democracy Network & Democracy Classroom Joint Emergency Election Meetups — Every Monday at 2pm, usually for 30mins, now until the week after the election — Sign up now or contact Jason at The Politics Project

Democracy Network Campaign Meetings — Weekly meetings for organisations campaigning during the GE — Email Amna Ahmad

National Voter Registration Alliance Special Election Edition Meetings — Next meeting 25th June 2024 2–3.30pm (Zoom) — Email Fope Ajanaku at Operation Black Vote to sign up

Democracy Group Cymru Emergency Election Meetings — Email Jason at The Politics Project

📞 Election Comms Channels 📞

Democracy Network WhatsApp Community — Join here

Democracy Club Slack — Join here

Election Tech WhatsApp Community — Join here

Have we missed anything from the above resources? Email james@involve.org.uk

⚡ Latest news and updates this week ⚡

National Voter Registration Day — 18th June

National Voter Registration Day (NVRD) is coming up fast on 18th June, the deadline to register to vote in the upcoming national poll. Find out more.

Special event Democracy Drinks: Election Edition next week, June 20th in Central London

Next week at the Wellcome Collection, the Democracy Network, JRRT and The Civic Power Fund are hosting a special evening drinks reception for all those working across the general election, with a particular focus on voter registration and GOTV.

The event will be an informal affair and an opportunity for those working on the election to share what they’ve been working on, seek help and assistance and just to let their hair down for an evening among fellow travellers. Sign up for the event here.

Votes at 16 confirmed in Labour Party manifesto

Thanks to tireless campaigning efforts by democracy organisations from the Electoral Reform Society, National Union of Students, to the Scottish Youth Parliament and British Youth Council, Body Shop, Intergenerational Foundation and many more — votes for 16 and 17 year olds are now confirmed in the UK Labour Party manifesto.

Scotland and Wales already have votes at 16, but this has not been the case for the Westminster Parliament. By committing to this policy, the Labour Party joins the Liberal Democrats, Plaid Cymru, SNP and the Green Party offer Votes at 16 in this election for Westminster elections.

Harriet Andrews, Director of The Politics Project, who works on political engagement with young people, said: ‘We welcome Labour’s commitment to expanding the franchise to young voters. We know that young people are keen to use their voices and we look forward to ensuring they have the skills and support to be heard at the ballot box.’

Democracy Classroom offer key resources to orgs engaging young people in election activities

Democracy Classroom have now engaged over 2500 teachers and youth practitioners and are working with over half of the FE Colleges in the UK. They are offering critical resources to engage young people, FAQs for voter registration, a handbook for employers and are also tracking all hustings events across the UK, not to mention Our Generation Our Vote. Democracy Classroom’s #ElectionCountdown includes a huge array of resources for voter registration efforts from an array of partner orgs — sign up to their emails now.

New Economy Organisers Network running General Election digital drop-ins

The sessions run by NEON are open sessions taking place online every Thursday from 0945–1145 and can provide assistance with digital content creation, project development, election strategies and content feedback. The next one is on Thursday 20th June — book your slot using this Calendly Link.

120 organisations back #SheVote24 Open Letter to put women and girls at the heart of the election

Centenary Action Group and the Fawcett Society are coordinating an Open Letter from women’s sector organisations calling for women and girls to be put at the heart of the election. With more than 120 signatories from women’s organisations across the UK, representing more than 10.5 million women and girls as members, supporters and service users — they are the largest ever assembled coalition coming together in the interests of women and girls.

Just 30% of candidates standing are women, say Elect Her

Whilst there are more than 62 Marks, 62 James’, 61 Chrises, 54 Andrews, 51 Richards… standing for election, just 30% of candidates standing this year are women.

Are you a woman standing this year? Get in touch with Elect Her now or check out their election resources to support women candidates, wherever they are and whoever they are standing for. Elect Her’s new How to: Get Involved In The Election Toolkit can help you get politically active in the run up to the vote.

79 candidates have taken Jo Cox Foundation & Compassion in Politics’ Civility Pledge

The 2024 General Election Civility Pledge has been created in partnership between The Jo Cox Foundation and Compassion in Politics. With 79 pledging candidates, CIP & JCF urge all parliamentary candidates from across the political spectrum to take the Civility Pledge and share their commitment to a respectful election campaign.

Operation Black Vote launch Vote For Your Life

Vote For Your Life, launched by Operation Black Vote (OBV) in collaboration with the Black Equity Organisation (BEO), is a new voter registration campaign aimed at ensuring the voices of Black communities are heard and advancing their demands for equality, justice, and reform in the corridors of power.

Black Equity Organisation running Black Britain’s Mandate Poll

Black Equity Organisation and Operation Black Vote want to hear your thoughts on what will help Black individuals of Caribbean and African heritage thrive in the UK. Share the poll now on X. They say:

‘Ensuring Black communities can engage in political processes up and down the country is vital to achieving equity. This engagement is also part of our mission and ongoing work to dismantle systemic racism to ensure equity for all.

‘The views and ideas you share in this poll will then be collated with hundreds of other responses from across the UK to create the first Black Britain’s Mandate, which will outline clear asks of the new Government in its first 100 days and beyond. This Mandate aims to unify and amplify the diverse voices within Black communities so please complete this survey and tell us what you want.’

United Response and My Vote My Voice highlight disability exclusion in the election

My Vote My Voice is on a mission to encourage people with learning disabilities and autistic people to vote in the 2024 General Election. Before the election they worked with Channel 4’s Ruben Reuter to highlight the exclusion of Disabled People from the Electoral Commission’s voter registration campaign. Now they’re providing new resources and easy read voter information for autistic people and people with learning disabilities — check it out now (and get your free accessible voting badge here). Watch their new campaign video.

Royal National Institute of Blind People encouraging campaigners to campaign accessibly

Liz Williams at RNIB Cymru is writing to campaigns to campaign accessibly over the next few weeks and ensure accessibility for Blind people. They’re running an ‘Alt-Text Day’ this Saturday raising the importance of using Alt-text in campaigner communications — Alt text paints pictures for those who can’t see. RNIB are currently working with the Electoral Commission on a guide for Blind and Partially Sighted voters, particularly around voter ID.

Jo Cox Foundation says ‘Candidate abuse unacceptable’ after repeated attacks on Reform Leader

The Jo Cox Foundation (JCF) has called the recent attacks on Nigel Farage, newly appointed leader of Reform UK, an ‘affront to democracy’. Su Moore, CEO of JCF, said it was ‘shocking and completely unacceptable’ and is a ‘really serious issue’. The Jo Cox Foundation was launched after Batley and Spen MP Ms Cox was killed by far-right terrorist Thomas Mair in June 2016.

More than 50 organisations sign up as accredited UK Voter Champions

Citizens’ UK have brought together more than 50 organisations as voter registration ‘champions’, these now-accredited organisations include the Church of England, dozens of schools, colleges, universities, charities, community groups and businesses. Demonstrate your commitment to encouraging non-partisan engagement in democracy by accrediting as a Voter Registration Champion now.

My Life My Say’s Give An X voter registration campaign ratchets up ahead of the election (free ice cream alert!)

My Life My Say Give An X campaign, laser focused on getting young people to register to vote in droves ahead of next thursday’s deadline, has announced a major new partnership with Ben and Jerry’s UK — together they will be serving free ice cream in the centre of town in Manchester and Birmingham to get out the vote — find out more.

Young people can now apply for a free Citizen Card, ends 20th June

Citizen Cards are an accepted form of voter ID in polling stations and can be used as regular ID, for pubs, buying age restricted goods etc. Use the code DEMOCRACY at checkout to receive a CitizenCard for free. The deadline to apply for a free CitizenCard in time for the general election is Thursday 20th June.

Poverty Alliance’s Vote Your Values campaign highlights inequality in this year’s election

Scottish Community Development Centre shine a light on The Poverty Alliance’s Vote Your Values campaign which is working to register more than 300,000 people on lower incomes at risk of losing their vote this year because they’re not registered. They’ve created posters and resources to share and post up in community centres to encourage people to register to vote.

A bar chart showing a growth in the number of candidates from 1918 to 2024. — *Candidate data for past elections from the* *House of Commons Library*.

Democracy Club — the most data held on candidates ever!

Democracy Club’s amazing volunteer community (Join the Slack community) have collected the details of every candidate standing in the 2024 UK general election — you can access this data and view your ballot paper on WhoCanIVoteFor.

Democracy Club have also identified that the 2024 UK general election will see a record number of candidates. 4,515 candidates have been nominated to stand on 4 July, beating the previous record of 4,150 set in 2010.

mySociety tools to help your organisation face the election

mySociety’s Julia Cushion has pulled together a handy suggestion of how mySociety tools can help your organisation navigate the election. These include:

TheyWorkForYou — MPs voting record and register of interests, including new General Election pages with up to date lists of candidates — thanks to Democracy Club’s WhoCanIVoteFor.

Local Intelligence Hub — for loads of detailed data on your constituency new and old, from opinion polls to nearby campaigning groups.

Sortition Foundation launches new 858 Project

It’s been 858 years since Henry II introduced juries and now Project 858 seeks to put citizens at the helm of politics as part of an umbrella campaign to ‘finish the job Henry II started’ and upgrade Britain’s institutions, replacing the House of Lords and the legacy of feudalism, they argue, with a new House of Citizens.

Tory women hit out at ‘Boys Club’ candidate selection

Female Tory candidates claim they lost out in the last-minute rush to fill vacancies, alleging Rishi Sunak’s allies oversaw a ‘jobs for the boys’ operation. The party was working under emergency rules to select candidates for 160 seats nationwide in preparation for the 4 July General Election.

Women2Win have been working to elect more Conservative women and helping them to stand in the rushed proceedings for this year’s snap election — find out more.

Tactical voting tools are back for GE2024

This year’s election features a set of various anti-Tory tactical voting tools. Movement Forward have updated their anti-Tory tactical voting tool StopTheTories.vote with the latest data and polling ahead of the upcoming vote, fronted by Carol Vorderman who has been helping the team promote the tool. Tactical.vote is another tool produced by the Tactical Voting Coalition. Best for Britain have also produced their own tactical voting tool, GetVoting.org.

Alliance Now UK produce resources and a voting checklist

Alliance Now UK, a coalition of organisations working to upgrade democracy, have released a set of resources to help their supporters and the public navigate the elections.

Steve Endacott ‘AI Steve’ is running as an AI powered candidate

Brighton businessman ‘AI Steve’ or Steve Endacott is running as a candidate in Brighton, though they say they will merely be a ‘conduit’ for the generative AI model, which, they say, will make the policy decisions — Wired has the story. Last year Democracy Network member Andrew Gray ran as the UK’s first AI-powered candidate, who planned to use Pol.is to help drive policy decisions. Please see here for the full range of candidates running in Brighton Pavillion.

Demos running ongoing ‘citizens’ conversation’ on attitudes to trust in the pre-election period

Trustwatch 2024 is a new project by Demos, a live ongoing citizens’ verdict on the election campaign. The panel, made up of 32 people from across various backgrounds, will share their thoughts on key campaign moments as they happen throughout the short campaign.

Voter confidence at record low — new British Social Attitudes survey report by NatCen

Trust and confidence in the UK’s political and election system has never been lower according to new research by the National Centre for Social Research, with analysis by senior psephologist Sir John Curtice. The report Damaged Politics? The impact of the 2019–2024 Parliament on political trust and confidence finds 45% would ‘almost never’ trust the government to put country before party, the highest proportion ever, with more than 53% polled favouring more proportionate voting systems fairer to smaller parties.

Republic lobbying candidates, digital action evening 17th June

Anti-monarchy campaign Republic are asking their members to contact their parliamentary candidates about the case for a Republic and they’re kicking this work off with a digital action evening next Monday 17th June at 7pm — find out more.

Society of Editors tracking fake newspapers, again

The Society of Editors are concerned with new reports of fake newspaper titles promoting candidates, in the latest case Lib Dem candidate Munira Wilson. Last year Private Eye noted that the Conservative Party made widespread use of fake local newspaper titles in rural areas. The SoE has written to all political parties asking them to refrain from using fake newspapers to correspond with the public in the run-up to the election. Society of Editors have also unpacked the manifestoes for their positions on media reform. Last but not least, the SoE’s Media Freedom Awards are now open for nominations.

Scottish Refugee Council’s Refugee Festival Scotland starts tomorrow, calls for a new plan for refugees

Amidst the election, the Scottish Refugee Council calls upon politicians across the UK to take action for a kinder, fairer and more effective refugee system — find out more here. Check out more than 150 events forming the Refugee Festival Scotland.

The Ferret launches For Fact’s Sake Podcast

Scotland’s leading independent investigative journalism paper The Ferret has launched a new weekly podcast for the duration of the election — For Fact’s Sake — highlighting the role of misinformation, the culture war, dark money and fact-checking ahead the vote — listen here. If you’ve not come across The Ferret before, check their work out now.

Professor Sir John Curtice to drop his take on the election in upcoming lecture

On Weds 26th June, Professor Curtice, the UK’s leading psephologist breaks down the polls and politics with just a week and a day to go until polling day — Register on Eventbrite.

Cross-party Compass campaign backing 30 MP candidates for electoral reform

Compass are campaigning to elect a caucus of anti-Tory pro-PR MP candidates across various parties, including 11 candidates from Labour, 17 from the Lib Dems and 2 from the Green Party. The candidates have been endorsed by local Compass groups who are now campaigning on their behalf.

Hundreds of peers could be forced to retire under Labour plans

Today’s Labour Party manifesto launch set out plans for an age cap for peers of 80, reducing the size of the upper house and removing hereditary peers. Labour appear to have backtracked on earlier commitments to abolish the Lords and replace it with an elected Assembly of the Nations and Regions, though have kept this ambition in place, naming it in their manifesto.

Tory peer Lord Norton, a member of the Campaign for an Effective Second Chamber cross-party group, described Labour’s decision to reform the Lords using an age cap as ‘a bit odd’ considering Labour would lose ‘quite a lot of Labour peers because that’s the oldest party in the House’ — including the venerable 91-year old Lord Dubs.

Protecting All We Care About — new report by Unchecked UK

New report Protecting All We Care About by UK regulation campaigners Unchecked sound alarm on failure by UK regulators to sanction companies flagrantly in breach of rules on pollution, workers rights and other violations — key issues during the present election. Byline Times covered the story here.

📖 Manifesto plans at a glance 📖

Conservative Party manifesto democracy plans outlined

The Conservative Party manifesto promises to deliver greater accountability within the devolved parliaments and centralisation
within Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to ‘ensure decisions are made as close to the communities they serve as possible’. They pledge to remain steadfast in their their support for the First Past the Post system for elections and that they will not change the voting age from 18. They will maintain rules to ‘tackle voting fraud’, including the requirement to show ID. They will also introduce a new Minister for British Citizens Overseas, having delivered on their earlier manifesto pledge, they say, of introducing ‘votes for life’ for British citizens living overseas.

New changes outlined in Labour Party manifesto plans

Labour’s manifesto launch includes commitments to strengthen relations between the Nations of the UK through a new Council of the Nations and Regions, strengthen free speech protections for devolved representatives, commitments to improve voter registration (automatic voter registration perhaps?) and address voter ID inconsistencies — and strengthening rules around political donations and ethics codes. In addition to Votes at 16 and Lords reform, Labour also commits to deepening devolution settlements for Combined Authorities and strengthening devolved arrangements in general.

Liberal Democrats launch new manifesto plans for democracy

In between rollercoaster rides at Thorpe Park, the Lib Dems launched their manifesto committing to introducing PR (STV), scrapping voter ID, Automatic Voter Registration, Votes at 16, overhauling ministerial codes, enable overseas citizens to vote in separate overseas constituencies, establishing national and local citizens’ assemblies, reforming the Lords ‘with a proper democratic mandate’, capping donations to parties and preparing for the transfer of power away from Westminster, both through a written constitution and a convention for a federal United Kingdom.

Green Party, Plaid Cymru and Reform manifesto democracy commitments at a glance

The Green Party manifesto commits to defending the Human Rights Act, bringing in PR, replacing the Lords with an elected second chamber, Residence Based Voting Rights and Votes at 16 — as well as scrapping the Police, Crime Sentencing and Courts Act and the Public Order Act and ending the Prevent Programme.

Plaid Cymru pledge to create a National Commission to improve the health of Welsh democracy and prepare the way for Welsh independence, removing the Secretary of State for Wales and devolving their powers to the Welsh Government, a new Government of Wales Bill to protect the Senedd’s powers via a supermajority in the Senedd, as well as putting the Sewel Convention on a statutory footing. They would also legislate for PR at a UK level and make it a criminal offence for politicians to knowingly mislead the public.

Reform UK pledge to leave the ECHR, downsize the Lords, reform and limit postal voting, call a referendum on PR and enact a British Bill of Rights. Reform would also force public electoral activity to be conducted in English, scrap the 2010 Equalities Act and create a new Westminster Anti-Corruption Unit.

In case you missed these

Make this a zero-misogyny election

Back in February the Fawcett Society and the APPG on Women in Parliament asked parliamentary candidates to pledge a zero-tolerance approach to misogyny and racist mysogyny (mysogynoir) during the upcoming election.

Runnymede pre-election report on immigration, racism and the 2024 election

Reflecting again, in January 2024, Runnymede Trust published a detailed report detailing the situation and choices facing political parties, elites and media organisations ahead of an election, whether public figures continue to ‘manufacture crises and moral panics’ and ‘mainstream far-right ideas’ or choose an alternative path. Well worth a read for those that missed it earlier this year.

And now for something completely different …

France wanted to get in on the action too

Just in case you missed it, our cousins across the channel are having a wild time of it. Take a look at what’s been happening in the French elections this week.

That’s all for this now, if you’d like to send us your news for next week please email james@involve.org.uk

UK Democracy Network