East Wight is a brand new constituency, and after the next election the Isle of Wight will have twice the representation in Parliament than before. However, our first-past-the-post system means that the majority (those who vote for progressive parties and who do not vote at all) risk not being represented. We have the opportunity to do something other than returning two Conservative MPs to Westminster, but only if we work together.
Absolutely! We expect losing candidates to remain on the ballot paper, but with clarity on who everyone is getting behind. It’s actually more democratic - because for the first time in generations, there will be an in-depth look at the candidates and a real opportunity for change.
Our First-Past-The-Post voting system discourages co-operation, breeding tribalism, short-termism and complacency. The only other country in Europe that fully uses our system is Belarus, Russia's ally in Ukraine.
We are totally independent from all the political parties. Our costs are almost entirely time, and we all work as unpaid volunteers. This is a community-led, grassroots effort. We have been inspired by the South Devon Primary who have come up with this idea.
Categorically not. Our aim is to get behind whichever of the progressive candidates that the majority of people attending the Town Hall Q&As thinks is best-placed to win the seat. The public will choose the candidate in a secret ballot, overseen by party officials. An important feature of the Primary is that candidates will be asked questions by the public and will have to make commitments in order to win people's votes. We will record those commitments so that we can hold our new MP to account.
Definitely not. It takes a lot to overturn a large Conservative majority, and the parties are starting work now. So please go out and help your favourite party. Once the People's Champion is chosen, you can pivot towards helping them. In the meantime, all three progressive parties are working with the very similar goal of shining a light on this Government's appalling track record. Democracy is a continual process, and to work, it needs your help.
We are not asking the parties to stand down if unsuccessful. Once we have an East Wight Primary Peoples Champion, the losing candidates will remain on the ballot paper, but we don't expect the losing parties to fund any serious campaign. This is similar to what happened in the Tiverton & Honiton by-election where there was general acceptance that the Lib Dem was the best placed candidate, and in Wakefield where the Labour candidate was the clear choice. By uniting behind a single candidate the Conservative majority was overturned.
We live in East Wight, and as a brand new constituency without an incumbent we think we can make most impact in East Wight. If others feel the process could be of benefit in West Wight we would be happy to co-operate, and many of the resources needed are open source.
The target list is based on seats projected to be won by the Conservatives on the basis of the predictions on the electoral calculus website. This data is based on the National picture and limited local picture, but the data is very limited in this case as East Wight is a new constituency with almost all new candidates. Other electoral predictions predict a Conservative win here, and our local knowledge of the constituency suggests that without this process, the progressive majority will be divided, and conquered, again.
We hear this from all sides every election time, yet the Conservatives are still expecting to win. Einstein defined insanity as ‘doing the same thing over & over and expecting a different result’. We sincerely hope that this is the last election under the current FPTP system, but for now, the only way to avoid an unfair result is to choose a single progressive candidate in order to avoid the vote being split and handing victory to the Conservatives.
We are in touch with these organisations via https://themovementforward.com and will be keeping them updated on our progress. The East Wight Primary is, in a way, like a highly informed tactical voting exercise. People will be voting tactically for the Peoples Champion, but based on more local issues than used by these national sites. We have been informed that the tactical voting sites are very likely to use our results to produce their advice. So in short, we are confident we will be fully aligned.
No. The winning party will stand for their own Party as normal. Think of the Primary as taking the guesswork out of tactical voting.
We have already had positive engagement with the local chairpersons of Greens, Liberal Democrats and Labour. We have made it easy by not asking for any commitment from them - just for their candidate to attend the Q&A sessions. We believe the opposition parties see this as a big opportunity. We have committed to proceeding with the Primary as a ground-up voter-led initiative - rather than something driven by the parties. There has been a huge level of interest so far, and the more people that get involved, the keener the parties will be to participate.
Though only the Green Party candidates have been selected, it may be some months before Labour and the Liberal Democrats choose a candidate. The Q&A sessions will take place as soon as practicable once all three candidates are in place.
We are not expecting this scenario to arise. With the country facing incredibly tough times, East Wight Primary will be a very valuable forum for the candidates to hear about the issues that matter to people across the constituency. The Primary will give opposition parties a fantastic opportunity to get their message across well ahead of the election, and we expect candidates to be keen to engage.
The Primary process is designed to platform candidates from the Greens, Labour and the Lib Dems. In the rare case that a progressive independent candidate were to be a serious contender in a constituency, with a proven electoral track record, then we would consider platforming them if circumstances were right. We would have to be confident that any inclusion of an independent would not lead to further fragmentation of the progressive vote.
We are conducting the East Wight Primary because our voting system is deeply unfair. We have seen Conservative MPs elected in the Isle of Wight seat for 22 years. With such a foregone conclusion, it's not surprising that as many as a third of registered voters here didn't bother voting at the last election.
By giving people the opportunity to unite behind a single opposition candidate whom they themselves have chosen, the East Wight Primary will in fact enhance democracy, offering a genuine chance for change.
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