Category: Pauls’ Campaign Diary

Potholes are more than a dangerous blight on our town’s roads. Yes, they wreck our cars. But also, they are a symbol for years of underinvestment in local councils. The Lib Dem and Tory Coalition after 2010 cut public spending, and we’ve been paying the price ever since. I am delighted to see that Labour will invest in mending one million potholes a year, if we are elected in a few days’ time. People pay a lot in council tax, and the least they can expect is roads free from potholes.

Tonight, it’s the regular dinner hosted by the European Movement, at the Hydro Hotel. I am not speaking, just listening and chatting. I am a lifelong pro-European. I believe our interests are best served by closer co-operation with the countries nearest us. Brexit has been a disaster – trading some nebulous concept of sovereignty for actual prosperity, wealth, trade, and growth. I’m looking forward to a convivial evening with like-minded folk in Eastbourne. 

We hit the High Street on Tuesday, chatting to shoppers and independent retailers on Seaside. We met a 30-year-old parrot, and spoke to barbers, beauticians, and confectioners. It’s tough out there. The rising cost of goods and services is hobbling local businesses. The shabby state of that end of town is putting shoppers off. There’s empty, boarded-up shops and litter and graffiti. There’s obvious signs of drug misuse. The once-mighty Debenhams and TJ Hughes are derelict.

It’s such a shame. Labour has a plan to revive the high street, including scrapping businesses rates, putting more cops on the streets, tackling retail crime, and empowering local community groups to buy sites such as Debenhams. This could be a real asset instead of an eyesore. It could be the launchpad for new businesses, for co-op retailers, for local entrepreneurs. Eastbourne needs change – starting with a change of MP.

I am so sad to hear about the death of Dr Michael Mosley. I’ve been on a health journey over the past two years, losing 10 stone in weight, and becoming far fitter and more active. Mosley’s science-based but no-nonsense advice has helped millions of people like me. His life has meant better lives for others – that’s a fantastic legacy.

I’ve taken up walking in the Downs, along the coast, and I even did a parachute jump as a personal challenge! One aspect of my health journey has been becoming a fundraiser for Macmillan Cancer Support by doing their ‘Mighty Hikes’. On Sunday, I did the South Coast Mighty Hike. This is 13 miles from Alfriston to Eastbourne, via the Cuckmere valley, Friston Forest, Seven Sisters, and Beachy Head. Last year, I was 480^th. Yesterday, I was 147^th. All the Mighty Hikers raised hundreds of thousands of pounds to tackle cancer.

Cancer treatment should not have to rely on charity. We need an NHS there for all, and a seismic shift towards prevention of ill-health through better diet, exercise, and improved mental health. 

On Saturday I woke with a sense of excitement and dread. Will it be sunny? Will anyone turn up? Will there be enough food? Yes, if you’ve ever hosted a party, you’ll know the feeling.

It was the Eastbourne Labour BBQ at our home. It was originally conceived as a ‘thank you’ for campaigners in the Police and Crime Commissioner elections in May, but a lot has happened since then. Instead, it was the launch of our campaign for the General Election in Eastbourne.

Sarah and I have hosted the Labour BBQ before, with speakers including Stella Creasy MP, Caroline Flint MP, John Cryer MP, and Yvette Cooper MP. This year, we were joined by Baroness Angela Smith, the Labour leader in the Lords.

We first met in the 1997 General Election when I was candidate in Billericay and she was the candidate in Basildon. She gave a tour-de-force speech on the forthcoming Labour manifesto, the failure of the Tories, and the energy and excitement of the Labour campaign.

We raised funds, saw old friends, enjoyed the sunshine, and had a lovely time. Now the hard work continues.

I’ve handed in my official nomination forms at Eastbourne Town Hall to be the Labour & Co-operative Candidate in the election on 4 July. I have been humbled by the kind words of encouragement and support I have had since being chosen to contest my home constituency. This is a change election, and it certainly feels like change is in the air. 

 But many people ask what does it meant to be a Labour & Co-operative Party candidate? I’ve been a member of the Co-operative Party for 30 years. The Co-op Party has its roots in the Co-op movement launched in Rochdale in the 1840s. The party was founded 1917 to secure representation for the Co-op movement in Parliament, local authorities, and anywhere else power is exercised. Since 1927, the Co-op Party and Labour Party have had a pact not to stand against other, and ever since candidates like me have stood ‘Labour & Co-op’. In the last Parliament, the Co-op Party was the fourth-largest party in the House of Commons.

I am proud to be Co-op-sponsored because it best accords to my values and approach to social change. I am a moderate socialist – what would be known as a social democrat in the rest of Europe. Within the British socialist tradition I stand with the decentralisers and devolutionists. My inspirations are Owen, Tawney, GDH Cole, Tony Crosland, and George Orwell. They shared, as I do, a distrust of monolithic state institutions, overarching bureaucracies, and the ‘man on Whitehall knows best’ approach to politics. Instead, we believe in local democracy, local ownership, active citizenship, and mutualism. I wrote a book about it, Labour’s Revival, published back in 2010. Human beings are naturally collaborative. We are shaped by our environments and circumstances, and that can drive people apart. There are those who want to divide us and promote hate. But co-operation is our natural instinct, and a politics of co-operation can tap into our kind, collaborative and mutual values. I’m standing on a Labour manifesto which is anchored in economic growth. The Co-op movement can be a driver of economic growth, locally and nationally. We need to double the size of the Co-op sector in the UK. We need more Co-op pubs, schools, homes, energy, shops, childcare, swimming pools, and football teams. If elected as MP for Eastbourne, I will convene an Eastbourne Co-op Convention to co-ordinate our local co-ops, and promote far more. If you’d like to know more about the Co-operative Party look us up, and please consider joining us.

I don’t believe a word of these opinion polls giving Labour a vast majority. For a start opinion polls are a snapshot of some people’s opinions, not an accurate prediction of the future. And pollsters get it wrong. There’s no agreed methodology and when their predictions go awry they simply say oops and move on. 

My sense is that millions of votes are in play right now, with people starting to decide what to do on 4 July. But there’s a long way to go, and things are volatile. That’s why Labour has a rigorous strategy of targeting battleground seats and focusing the effort on the places we need to win. 

Eastbourne is twinned with our nearest battleground which is Hastings & Rye, where the excellent Labour candidate is Helena Dollimore. 

On Saturday a determined band from Eastbourne joined campaigners from Hastings and also Mitcham & Morden CLP to knock on doors in Rye. I’ve seldom seen such a positive response. People knew Helena, had seen Labour’s leaflets, and were coming over to Labour. 

We’ll be going to battle in Hastings again soon, so do come along. Watching Hastings turn red from blue on election night will be a real treat.

The Eastbourne Labour team was out and about around Winchcombe Road, Dursley Road, and Bourne Street. We met voters and chatted about local concerns. It always interesting to hear what people care about. I met people concerned about the backlog in the courts, about waiting times for NHS treatment, about local schools, and about the rubbish in the alleyways between houses.

One resident was concerned about rats – and seagulls – feeding on the rubbish. Where are the local councillors? The alleys are ‘unadopted’ so perhaps councillors will say ‘nothing to do with us’ but surely public health comes before the blame game. Get it sorted!

I was in Westminster for the last time until after the election, as Parliament dissolves. We have no MPs and no Parliament for the next five weeks. Then, something magical and mystical happens, when millions of us go to the polls to choose a new Parliament.

The power to choose and the change to change is in our hands. I never go into an election without a nod towards the Chartists, Suffragettes, and other campaigners for the vote in our country.

I did my Masters in Victorian Studies at Birkbeck. I can tell you the Victorian era was not all about steam trains and covering up piano legs. The history of the nineteenth century is a history of struggle for social, political and economic rights, with the emergence of the Co-op movement, the trade unions, democracy campaigners, and in 1900 the Labour Party.

For decades I have argued that our democracy is a work in progress, and I am no fan of first-past-the-post as an electoral system, but our parliamentary democracy remains something precious and wonderful.

I was really privileged to be invited to hear Sir Keir Starmer’s first big set-piece speech of the campaign. It was in Lancing, which may well elect a Labour MP on 4 July. It was a great speech, complete with bucolic imagery, anecdotes about Keir’s upbringing, strong on values, and clear on the first six steps that a Labour government will take.

I counted six Sussex Labour Parliamentary candidates: Tom Rutland, Tom Gray, Danny Sweeny, Becky Cooper, Dave Rowntree, and myself, as well as luminaries such as Bella Sankey leader of Brighton & Hove council, and loads of newly-elected councillors.

I’m old enough to remember the 1997 pledge card, when I stood as the Parliamentary candidate in Billericay, and back then we could repeat the five pledges in our sleep (still can!). This time, I am sure the six steps will become similarly ingrained into our consciousness. They are costed, measurable, sensible, radical, and hopefully popular. We’ll find out in five weeks.

On Friday 24 May I did a parachute jump to raise funds for the Teenage Cancer Trust. It was over Headcorn airfield in Kent, but from 12,000 feet could see the whole of Sussex and Kent, across as far as the Thames estuary, and out to sea. I exuded zen-like calm until I was kneeling in the doorway of the Cessna and contemplating falling through space at 120 mph.

Then fear took over for the fleeting seconds of free-fall. Floating to earth was actually pleasant, and the landing no more than a slight bump. A perfect start to the campaign!