Police and Crime Commissioner Elections
As you know, the recent Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) elections did not go as we had hoped. Despite Alan Hagger being an excellent and very experienced candidate, the Liberal Democrats finished fourth in a tightly contested four-horse race. However, it wasn't all gloom and doom as in Wiltshire we beat the Labour candidate into fourth place and we've learned valuable lessons from the experience.
PCC elections are quite different from other elections. They cover a much larger population than elections for a Member of Parliament. In our case, this included the population of Wiltshire and Swindon. Additionally, the role we were electing for has direct control over approximately £150 million worth of vital public services.
Several factors worked against us:
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Debates Over the Post's Existence: A significant portion of the campaign was overshadowed by debates about whether the PCC post should exist at all. This was unhelpful as the post does exist and will undoubtedly continue.
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Concurrent Elections: In Wiltshire, the PCC elections were standalone, whereas in Swindon, they coincided with the Borough Council elections. Since the Lib Dems are relatively weak in Swindon and Labour is very strong, this led to a strong Labour showing, challenging the Conservative incumbent closely.
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Independent Candidate: An independent candidate running for the third time, with a strong following based on the slogan "keep politics out of policing," also drew significant support. While this slogan resonates with many, it overlooks the fact that all public services are managed by politicians, making it challenging to propose a viable alternative.
Despite these hurdles, we did very well in the areas where we are active, such as Amesbury, Salisbury and Chippenham where we were the larger party. We remain committed to learning from these experiences and strengthening our position for future elections. I am remaining on as the Wiltshire and Swindon Criminal Justice official spokesperson and will be using this role to challenge the PCC when he doesn’t fulfil his promises over the next 4 years.
Thank you for your continued support and dedication and all of the help and good wishes that I received during the campaign.