Charlotte Vere was selected for the seat of Brighton Pavilion by Open Primary in November 2009. Previously she worked on Zac Goldsmith’s campaign in Richmond Park. Here she looks forward to welcoming many ConservativeHome readers to the city this weekend and asks for help in a very interesting campaign.
This weekend the Conservatives will descend on Brighton & Hove and as the host PPC it will give me very great pleasure to welcome them.
Spring Forum, the last major gathering before the General Election, will be held at the Hilton Metropole and I hope it will give us all a welcome boost before we all knuckle down for the final push to 6th May, or whenever the election might be.
It will be a very special occasion for Brighton & Hove and a very special occasion for me. I am a ‘new generation’ Conservative, on the list in July last year and selected in November. It will therefore give me great pleasure to walk on stage tomorrow morning to open proceedings and ask the assembled for their help.
My seat, Brighton Pavilion, is a hotly contested three way marginal which we must win if we are to have a good working majority after the election. The current Labour incumbent, David Lepper MP, is standing down at the next election. We have an enormous opportunity to regain the seat which was lost in 1997.
The constituency is very diverse. It ranges from bohemian and fairly liberal areas in the centre to hard working families on the outskirts of the city. On the doorstep I hear concerns about the economy and jobs, the state of our politics and of course local concerns about parking, van dwellers and transport services.
When it comes to the campaign for Brighton Pavilion, Labour will stand - and I believe fall - on the basis of its record: voters have had enough of economic turmoil, employment uncertainty and profligate spending.
However I also face a significant challenge from Caroline Lucas, the leader of the Green Party, and campaigning against them is certainly different.
Green policies include scrapping VAT and employer’s National Insurance, the legalisation of cannabis, limiting top pay to ten times the lowest level of earnings in a company, opposing the free movement of capital and a Citizen’s Income payable to all whether in work or not. Furthermore, Green Party policy is that justice should be ‘community-based and relatively informal’, that the constitutional functions of the monarchy should be abolished and that the Church of England should be disestablished. Caroline Lucas, the leader of the Green Party, supports desertion from the Armed Forces.
I find it hard to decide whether the Green Party is a wolf in sheep’s clothing or a pantomime cow! It is certainly clear, though, that Green Party policies lie towards one end of the political spectrum and that they have been very successful in promoting those messages that are more mainstream.
Most concerning though is that many people who intend to vote Green at the next election aren’t entirely sure, when asked, what they are voting for, but they feel it just seems like a good idea. And therein lies the challenge: how to point out the failings of the Green Party’s eco-socialist agenda without appearing negative and it is a challenge I am willing to take on over the coming weeks.
So when I stand on stage to ask for help tomorrow, I hope the delegates will understand why. Yes, I want to win Brighton Pavilion based on Conservative values and Conservative policies for a better Brighton and a better Britain. But I am also clear that I believe that the Green Party should not gain a foothold in the House of Commons.
The Brighton Pavilion Campaign Centre on the first floor of the Hilton Metropole will be open this afternoon and all day Saturday and Sunday and all we are asking is for helpers to drop a few leaflets through doors. Many of the Shadow Cabinet have already signed up to help, and I am hoping we can get others helping too.