Looking back at the last General Election

Between COVID-19, the war in Ukraine and the endless revolving door of government ministers, it’s hard to believe that only three years have passed since the last General Election. Yet, as today is the third anniversary of the election, as Crawley Labour’s parliamentary candidate, I thought I’d take the time to put a few brief reflections to electronic paper.

The result was horrendous. There’s no getting around that and while the Exit Poll came as a shock to many activists, unfortunately the signs were there throughout the campaigns, not just from the national polls but from the conversations we were having on the doorstep.

Yet, my overriding memories are of the campaign itself and the amazing people who gave their all to it. No major UK election has ever taken place in such atrocious winter weather, yet session after session people came, often in their hundreds, some from great distances, across the whole of the Labour movement, because they believed that this election really mattered. In a matter of weeks we spoke with over half of Crawley’s electorate, a full two-thirds of households, a better performance than every other Labour target in the region and half of all Labour-won seats. I’ve never seen anything like it.

It’s an enormous privilege to represent the Labour Party at any election, at any level. Even in the freezing cold, even in the pouring rain, even with such a mountain to climb. Despite the outcome, I remain forever grateful to Crawley Labour members for the trust they put in me and the opportunity I was given to make the case for a better future for the community I love.