#MomentumGroundGame Archives - #StopTheTories Channel

How Momentum helped sway the general election

12 June 2017 #StopTheTories Channel Monitoring

From The Week: The My Nearest Marginal website was the brainchild of Momentum and “one of the most useful weapons in [its] tech arsenal”, said The Times.

It allowed activists, particularly first-time canvassers, to easily find battleground seats and campaign more effectively for Labour and was used by more than 100,000 people.

“We reached out way beyond our own bubble – we only have 24,000 members,” said Adam Klug, one of the central Momentum team.

Momentum held “mass campaign weekends in critical seats such as Croydon Central, Derby North, Sheffield Hallam, Battersea, Leeds North West, and Brighton Kemptown”, the New Statesman reports, and in all of the targeted seats, “Conservative majorities collapsed in the face of energy and enthusiasm channelled into a movement”.

The professional nature of the movement was also a big positive. “It was like clockwork,” one volunteer told The Guardian, which says the activist had simply gone “to the front room of someone who knew she was coming” and they “told her the exact door numbers to knock on and what time to knock.

“Several sources said so many volunteers flooded the constituency that some had to be sent elsewhere.”

[Read full article on The Week website…]

What made the difference for Labour? Ordinary people knocking on doors

12 June 2017 #StopTheTories Channel Monitoring

Emma Rees, national organiser for Momentum, writes in the Guardian: Proposing a transformational manifesto mattered. Corbyn’s warmth and authenticity resonated. Labour’s energetic, front-footed campaign was key. A savvy use of social media, by the Labour party and Momentum, mobilised young voters to turn out and snatch seats such as Sheffield Hallam and Canterbury.

But what is often overlooked – and constitutes the beating heart of the Corbyn project – is the flourishing, vibrant movement of ordinary people who flooded into marginals and had millions of conversations on the doorstep.

At Momentum, this was our focus. On a shoestring budget we mobilised far beyond our 24,000 members. By running a nimble, creative campaign with a youthful staff we connected with those who were new to the Labour party, new to campaigning and often new to politics. We gave people confidence. We lowered the barriers to getting involved. We made canvassing more accessible.