There were a whole
range of discussions at the Conference, and this is a possible way forward:
1. A
Party? There was no majority
for the formation of a Party.
a. The advantages of being a Party put forward
were (a) name and emblem on Ballot Paper (b) media focus and (c) raise national
awareness.
b. There was however support for (a) an umbrella
organisation (b) a professional body upholding standards (c) a resource centre
for candidates and (d) a point of contact for the media.
2. At present we have:
a. a Company
(Independent Network Campaign Ltd) Reg No 07096039, a registered Third Party
with the Electoral Commission. Brian Ahearne owns the shares and is the sole
director. [Jim Thornton has now been
appointed a Director]
b. We have a Council
of Reference, to which we could add some more names.
c. We have an Executive
of three, of which only one (Jim Thornton) is currently active. The three
members were nominated from the floor at a meeting before the last General
Election, so they were ‘elected’ by those who attended the meeting (including
Martin Bell and Esther Rantzen) who were interested in standing for Parliament.
d. The Executive does not have a Chair, there is
no ‘Leader’ of IN.
3. Secretaries:
We could call those who have
positions in IN as ‘Secretaries’ – people who serve and support, not people who
lead and instruct. Is there a better name? [Agreed
we go with ‘Co-ordinator’]
a. So we now need to find Area Coordinators who
would work on a voluntary basis as (a) a point of contact for potential
election candidates (b) a point of contact for local or even national media and
(c) be part of a consultative group on practical issues. I probably already
have about ten volunteers, and I would propose to write to key people
personally and ask them to volunteer, or suggest one of their colleagues. These
would be Leaders of Independent Groups on Councils,
b. I suggest that we call the group of Area Co-ordinators
the Forum.
c. I am willing for the next year to be National
Co-ordinator and recruit and co-ordinate, and aim by next conference to have
say 30 Area Co-ordinators to cover the country.
d. As the number of Area Co-ordinators grows (or
even now) we could appoint four Regional Co-ordinators (for say England, Wales,
Scotland and N Ireland) to assist in recruiting and consulting.
4. Affiliates:
There was support for the idea
of ‘Affiliates’, local groups of
Independents, who would pay a subscription.
a. It was agreed that individuals could also be
‘Affiliates’ and pay a subscription.
b. At some stage the Affiliates would vote on the
future direction of IN.
c. It was agreed that those who have at some time been
elected as Independents have a right to try and control the image of
‘Independents’.
d. An
Independent is somebody who does not take a Party whip. Therefore a key
question for any local Party affiliating is whether they insist on whipping
their elected councillors. If they do, they cannot affiliate.
5. Endorsement: I note:
a. If elected Independents and those who support
the concept of Independents in government (but do not want to stand for
election) put money into IN, then it is not unreasonable for IN (a) to have an
endorsement process for election candidates (b) to stop people claiming falsely
to be IN candidates and (c) to cancel the affiliation of those who cease to be
Independents or bring the reputation of Independents into disrepute.
b. Endorsement of local election candidates should
be the responsibility of locally elected Independents, co-ordinated by the Area
Co-ordinator. Only if there is disagreement or an issue of principle should an
individual candidate be brought to the attention of the Forum.
6. Resources:
it was agreed that the
following resources could be provided by IN:
a. Election
Support: this would include an
updated version of Elections on a
Shoestring, ideas for leaflet design, rosettes
b. Media
Coverage: national media
promotion of the advantages of electing Independents, responding to questions
from the media, providing people to interview or speakers for events.
c. Training: training courses for public speaking, door knocking, handling local
media, use of social media to attract votes.
d. Web
site: highlighting issues that
affect Independents, listing Area Co-ordinators and contact details, ideas for
recruiting election teams.
e. Legal
Advice: we should investigate
how we can provide free legal advice to Affiliates, perhaps through solicitors
or counsel willing to do some pro bono work.
f. Brochure: we need a simple brochure, perhaps ‘What can
IN do for me?’ for (a) candidates (b) elected Councillors (c) and supporters.
It should list the Council of Reference, the Bell Principles and the Area Co-ordinators.
g. Strapline: I quite like the People not Party, Principles not Politics suggested by East
Cheshire. [Others are not so sure]
h. Ward
Times: there is a facility
through the Ward Times website for any Ward to set up a website for community
communication.
i. Trademark: we could register our emblem as a Trademark.
This could be a white rosette with some purple (?) lettering in the centre on a
white background and a small IN logo.
7. Funding:
this is where we need a Working Party to come up with ideas and
implement them:
a. How
much do we need? We need to
have a part-time volunteer or paid Intern/staff member, and we need to decide
where we base an office.
b. Database: we already have the beginnings of a useful
database, by combining what I have and what Darren has. This can be enlarged,
perhaps using paid interns or part-timers. [This
is now well advanced, compiled in Access, listing every Post Code (first
three/four characters), Councils (not Town/Parish yet), Candidates, Supporters,
and we are adding in all the Councillors we can identify from the Internet.
From this we can link Post Codes to Area Co-ordinators and therefore to people
in the Area.]
c. Business
Plan: we need to have a vision
of where we could be in five years time, but it needs to be realistic and we
have to go at a sustainable pace.
d. Sources
of income:
i. Affiliate
Party Subscription: how many
might there be? Is £25 a suitable initial annual sub?
ii. Individual
Subscription: again, how many
might join? Is £10 a suitable initial annual subscription?
iii. Angels: do we try and find people who would give say
£250 pa but who would be named on the website, and we set this as a maximum
annual donation?
iv. Crowdfunding: great idea, but do we try it now or use the
London Elections as a launch when we have put some of these ideas in place?
e. Accounting:
I will talk to Brian Ahearne
about running all the accounting on QuickBooks, so we have all the data in one
place. [Now agreed]. I can email
reports to anybody either as Excel or .pdfs at any time. We need to have
transparency, and I have no problem with a monthly Statement of Financial
Affairs on the website, but this might be a hostage to fortune so we might
restrict it to Area SCo-ordinators only.
f. I suggest the Working Party should be few in
number, perhaps no more than five, and we communicate by email but may have to
meet a couple of times to hammer out issues where there are differences of
opinion.
8. Annual
Conference: should we have a
conference at Party Conference time, or to coincide with the LGA conference as
suggested? This should be the time we report on progress over the past year,
and make or confirm appointments as Co-ordinators and so forth.
9. Governance:
I think this will have to be
worked out in practice, and perhaps proposals be put to the Conference in
Autumn 2014. We could send out proposals
to all the Affiliates and ask them to vote on them before the Conference.
10. Identity:
there was some unease about
the use of the word ‘brand’, but:
a. what everybody seemed to want was that (a)
Independents have a higher profile (b) the media gives Independents a fair
share of coverage and comment and (c) there should be a way on the Ballot Paper
to identify ‘good’ Independents from ‘bad’ Independents.
b. Once we have our act together and are beginning
to gain credibility it may be that we have to start a campaign to get the
Electoral Commission to allow something on the Ballot Paper to identify an IN
Independent.
c. We have no policies, and this is a real problem
when the media ask for, say, Independent policy on Europe. Do we give them two
names: one Independent who is pro-Europe and one who is against?
d. However, if we could agree to have a campaign
to change the rules on Ballot Papers, then could we also have a campaign to
level the playing field at elections for Independents and small parties? In
terms of obligations to put up manifestoes in Polling Stations, supplying
voters manifestoes with Postal Voting forms, putting all the manifestos on a
Local Authority website and so forth. The issue of multi-Member Wards is an
issue for small parties.
e. A campaign for a level playing field is one
campaign, but the more important one is to get more people and more young
people to vote. We need ideas on this, and perhaps research on whether the idea
of an Independent appeals to young people. This brings us back to: ‘But how do
I know what the Independent stands for?’
11. Finally,
Back to Branding: I suggest:
a. I think IN is being asked to (a) establish a
‘place’ where enquirers, potential election candidates and the media can go to
find out about Independents and (b) to start to build a picture in the public
perception that Independents are a great alternative to Party Politics.
b. I propose that I be allowed to (a) recruit a
team of five people to work through these ideas, (b) recruit Area Co-ordinators,
(c) recruit Affiliates, and (d) organise a National Conference in Autumn 2014
where the actions during the year can be reviewed and (e) bring to Conference a
realistic Business Plan for IN for the next five years.
Jim Thornton
20 November 2013
Revised 6 December
2013 & 6 January 2014
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