Electioneering in Wells
What do people think as we approach a General Election? Somerset Confidential's editor goes door knocking with the Independent candidate for Wells and Mendip Hills to find out.
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Politics on the Doorstep in Wells
We all expect an election to take place at some time this year. Nearly every week we have new names of candidates to bring you and sometimes other names of sitting MPs who have decided they have had enough.
Most political parties provide funds to support their candidates. They can get teams of supporters to go out and hand out leaflets and spread the word.
They can spend money on adverts. After all at a General Election a candidate can spend around £16,000 on the election (the exact amount depends on the number of electors and is confirmed when the election is called). But to spend that much, you have to have it in the first place. The big money parties such as Conservative, Labour, LibDem obviously ca and those with wealthy backers such as Reform will also have the wherewithal to support their candidates with cash.
The smaller parties and the Independents won’t have those resources. For instance in Somerton & Frome at the last General Election, the Greens spent just £4,000. So not all candidates can do all things. Because not all candidates can afford to do all things.
The one thing any candidate can do, is to get out there and footslog the constituency. Knocking on doors, introducing themselves and asking people for their support.
These days kissing babies is not an option – and you’d probably get arrested….
So when Abi McGuire, the Independent candidate for Wells and Mendip Hills, invited Somerset Confidential® to come along for a morning of door-knocking we jumped at the chance and sent our editor along.
Abi being Independent meant we could join in without too many accusations of bias from other parties, though I’m sure some will come our way. We simply wanted to find out what it was like and to hear what local people had to say. Obviously what follows is in the context of Abi’s stance and we can’t avoid that, but it was an interesting exercise for its own sake.
If you want to know more about Abi, her ambitions and background, you can find out more in the earlier piece we wrote for Somerset Confidential® by clicking here.
I met Abi on the outskirts of Wells on a housing estate where the city meets the fields. There are magnificent views over Godney and the Glastonbury Tor. The fields were wet and emerging in their rich spring greenness, it was not warm but thankfully, also not raining.