Local Elections 2012

What’s happening?

On 3rd May elections will decide on the political make up of 131 English local authorities, all 32 Scottish councils and the 22 Welsh local authorities. 

Three mayoral elections will take place, in Salford, Liverpool and London (and London will also feature elections for the London Assembly). Some of England’s largest cities will also determine whether or not to introduce the position of a directly-elected mayor. These polls will take place in Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Coventry, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, Nottingham, Sheffield and Wakefield. Lastly a referendum is to be held in Doncaster on whether it should retain its elected mayor or switch to a council leader.

If you live in England, this campaign action is especially important if you live in a metropolitan and unitary authority. Find out if your metropolitan or unitary authority is up for election here.

Why does this matter to speech and language therapy?

With local authorities taking on an increasingly powerful role in planning and funding speech and language therapy services, the 2012 elections will be an important opportunity to question your candidates on their commitment to people with speech, language, communication, and swallowing difficulties. Together, we can line up some well-informed local politicians who will champion communication and swallowing difficulties in your council chambers. 

What can I do?

Take every opportunity to engage with candidates. Read this short briefing on our local election activity ideas.

Read the special Scotland briefing.

Print off this Giving Voice ‘calling card’ and give it to any candidates who come to your door or hand you their publicity in the street! Don’t forget to fill in your name and contact details before handing it over. You could also print some to use as posters.

You can also engage with your local election candidates via email or on twitter. Search online for your local council’s website, find the email address for your party leaders/election candidates and email them asking what they and their party will do to ensure that speech and language therapy service users get the services they need. For more questions and discussion topics please see the briefing sheet above. You could also attach the ‘calling card’ to their email.

If your election candidates are on twitter then why not send them a tweet asking how they will support speech and language therapy and a link to the Giving Voice website. Include the hashtag #GivingVoiceUK in your tweet too.