Michael Lavalette reports on his campaign as an independent candiate in Preston

Two weeks today is election day. In Preston we have had 4 weeks of campaigning to ensure that Palestine is on the ballot.

Although we had an open hustings to select a single independent to challenge Labour, a very wealthy Muslim (with historic links to Blair) suddenly announced he was standing two weeks ago (and then almost immediately went on Hajj). It looks like an obvious pro-Labour spoiler, but we will see what effect it has!

There has been significant muslim community support for iur campaign, but the interesting point is the extent to which our ‘anti establishment’ message is making headway in white working class communities.

So what does the diary look like?

Today postal votes started arriving. We had canvassing teams out in key wards, but also had teams out delivering letters to postal voters. There are 11000 postal voters, so it’s quite a task!

We are averaging 20 people a day out working- great numbers, but we need more!

Today I also met with college students and the local amateur football team (who have been fined by the league for flying the Palestine flag!).

We are focusing on this Saturday as our big opportunity to get around as many houses as we can. 

Canvassing is key for us. People are so disillusioned with politics that we need a few minutes talking to them to convince them another politics is possible. 

If you are able to come and join us at any point we would be delighted to introduce you to the wide variety of sites in Preston!

Contact [email protected] if you would like to help with Michael’s election campaign.