Archive for the ‘Campaigning’ Category

Since my last posting I have been in Deganwy and Tudno on Friday with an excellent session on Tudno FM with Edwina Currie!  We also enjoyed a great reception on Mostyn Street with Edwina – she is very well known and had people crossing the road to meet us.

Saturday was devoted to Llanfairfechan which went very well.  We had a great team of 14 and the response was positive and better than during our last visit some six weeks ago.  A number of people on the doorstep had seen the Pawb a’i Farn broadcast from Bethesda and were appalled that Elfyn Llwyd, despite his often repeated claim to be whiter than white on the issue of MP’s and their expenses, had been happy to claim the full £400 per month tax free food allowance.  Half a dozen electors were changing their voting intention on this one issue.   

Guto

Dolwyddelan, Penmachno, Cwm Penmachno, Betws y Coed and Capel Curig.  What a day!  I even managed to do an interview with Wales Today in the midst of a glorious day of canvassing.  The response we had was warm and again very encouraging in an areas that Plaid have obviously taken for granted.  In all of the villages we were told time and again that we were the first party to canvass locally.  At Capel Curig I was told that they had not seen Elfyn Llwyd on the doorstep in 18 years!

An area that has been loyal to Plaid for too long feels neglected and forgotten.  I feel that Plaid and their team will be surprised by the response from these communities on the 6^th of May.  On an even more positive point – not a single person stated that they intended to vote Lib Dem.

Guto

Tuesday and Wednesday have been hectic.

Canvassing in Marl on Tuesday morning was excellent – seriously better than 2005 in the council ward of the Liberal candidate.  I left with a smile on my face to do an hour long phone-in on Radio Cymru.  My mother thought that it was very good but she would I expect J

From Bangor I then drove down the A5 heading for Llanrwst where a team of 12 had a great response.  We have three new supporters in Betws y Coed and Llanrwst – all under 25 and all Welsh speaking.  Thank you for all your work Anna, James and David.  A Plaid member told me (and she was annoyed) that we were the first party to call in her street and that Plaid, as yet, had done no work in Llanrwst.  I wonder why?  Taking the Valley for granted?

Tuesday evening saw us in Eglwysbach and the response was again surprisingly good in a ward which Plaid won with 80% of the vote back in 2008.  Very encouraging.

Wednesday morning saw us back in Marl with a journalist from ‘The Economist’ – again the response was superb with a former Liberal Councillor stating his intention to vote Conservative for the first time ever.  The afternoon was spent on the Orme with the team being stunned by the breathtaking views on a clear (but cold) spring day.  We ended the day in Deganwy with an enthusiastic response and plenty of new pledges.  Two weeks to go and plenty of work to do but I’m encouraged at this half-way stage.

Guto

Since my last posting I have been out canvassing in Penrhyn Bay, Gogarth, Deganwy, Penmaenmawr, Deganwy again, Talybont, Trefriw and Llanbedr y Cennin.  The response has been very good with my teams ranging from a low of six (overcast this morning in Deganwy) to a high of 15 on Saturday in Penmaenmawr and 16 today in Talybont and Trefriw.

No sign of a Lib Dem surge here but plenty of evidence of a collapse in support for Plaid and Labour!  Tomorrow we are in Marl in the morning before heading for Llanrwst and Eglwysbach.

Guto

I have just watched Plaid Cymru Westminster leader Elfyn Llwyd crash and burn on Dragons Eye.  He was useless.  He was unable to respond to any of the questions put to him and seemed to find the questions about the costs associated with his funding promises to be a personal insult.

This man aspires to a position of responsibility and claims to be the man who will deal with any minority government if there is a hung parliament and yet he had no grasp of any policy issues discussed within his own manifesto.  I can only hope that this interview will be made available on i-player - it will make you laugh if nothing else.

Guto

The weather has been great and we have enjoyed a super start to the week.  William Hague joined us on Monday and we had Sir George Younger with us today.  To useful visits that went well with coverage from the BBC, ITV, Daily Post and the excellent Tudno FM.

We have been canvassing in Conwy, Conwy Marina, Gogarth Ward, Marl, Craig y Don and Penrhyn Bay and I continue to be encouraged by the response.  It is apparent that the Plaid policy of continually attacking the Conservative Party is playing into our hands with numerous former Gareth Jones supporters expressing their disgust at the relentless pro Labour attitude of the Plaid candidate.

Guto

This is a great poster from the Scottish Conservatives;



These are lies being repeated all over the country.  My Labour opponent here in Aberconwy has sent out a letter (which was given to me by an irate elector on Saturday morning) which states;

1. The Conservatives plan to scrap the minimum wage - NOT TRUE

2. The Conservatives plan to scrap family tax credits - NOT TRUE

3. The Conservatives plan to make massive spending cuts in the NHS - NOT TRUE

There are numerous other lies in the letter and I'm surprised to see Mr Hughes being willing to use scare tactics in order to try and win here in Aberconwy.  We as a team have dealt with numerous calls on these issues (including a distraught young mother who thought that a Conservative victory would mean that she could not continue her teacher training course at Bangor because as a 20hr per week worker she needed the family tax credit top-up to keep her finances in order).  What Mr Hughes and Labour need to understand is that their lies in order to persuade people to vote Labour out of fear is hurting real people here in Aberconwy today.

Of course, in view of the allegations in the Sunday Times today that the Labour Party have been targeting cancer patients with claims that they would not be treated under a Conservative Government, we should not be surprised at the behaviour of the local Labour Party.  However, in my view such negative lying campaigns will not work.  Shame on the Labour Party for stooping so low and shame on the Aberconwy Labour Party for being willing to play along.

Guto

I’m sorry – I had intended to post on a regular basis to give you all a feel for the election in Aberconwy but I’m currently doing 15 hour days and with all the e-mails to electors who want to know more of my campaign the blog has fallen down my agenda.

So the good news.  We have not been out with less than 10 people during any of our morning, afternoon and evening sessions.  The response in Pensarn, Marl, Glanwyddan, Penrhyn Bay (3 sessions so far) and Glan Conwy has been excellent.  The Glan Conwy session was very pleasing because Plaid had apparently been there with a small team the day before.  Even a Plaid supporter (maybe not after our discussions of the funding of S4C) said that the Plaid team of four was dwarfed by my 14 on Saturday morning!

What we are finding is a large number of committed Conservatives, many of them straight gains from Labour in 2005 but there remains a number of voters who still need to be persuaded that they are not just voting to get rid of Gordon Brown – they need assurances that we as Conservatives will give them a positive change for the better.  Those electors that we are meeting are, on the whole, being persuaded with the NI issue and the commitment to the NHS budget being very popular.  However, the leaders’ debate continues in my view to be a crucial point within this election.

Tomorrow we will be hosting a very senior Shadow Cabinet member in the morning before canvassing in Craig y Don both morning and afternoon.  Our aim in the evening is to complete the first canvass of Penrhyn Bay.  I will also be on Radio Cymru at 1.30 discussing the future of S4C which is funded by Westminster not Cardiff (and long may the responsibility reside in London rather than the micromanagement of the Assembly).

Guto

A good morning in Pensarn with plenty of Conservative votes found in an area where one of my opponents, the Liberal Candidate, lives.  We had a good team out this morning but I had to leave them in order to welcome Francis Maude and Cheryl Gillan to Llandudno Junction.

We had a good visit to the Crest Co-Operative and were very impressed by the work this social enterprise undertakes in the community.  It’s a great shame that they recently lost a substantial contract with Conwy Council’s environmental department but being innovative, hard working and practical I’m certain that they will continue to grow and develop despite this setback.

We will be in Marl this afternoon and I think that the aim is to be in Penrhyn Bay this evening.  

Guto

A second busy and very productive day.  Distributed first 72 hour leaflets now well over 18,000 with a good response and new supporters contacting the office all the time.  We also enjoyed some publicity thanks to the BBC and many a supportive e-mail and texts were received following the interviews for BBC Wales Today and ‘Newyddion’ on S4C.

The canvassing today at Glanwyddan and Penrhyn Bay was very good.

All in all a lively start to the campaign!

Guto