Press

7 June 2019

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Momentum mobilise nearly one thousand activists for Peterborough by-election victory

Momentum estimate they mobilised nearly one thousand activists to either knock on doors or make calls in the run up to the Peterborough by-election. This includes:

– Momentum activists who carpooled to Peterborough from North Wales, London, Winchester, Leeds, Grantham, Leicester, Brighton, Bretton, Northampton and Norwich.

– Activists that made thousands of calls using Momentum’s distributed phonebank system to mobilise local Labour members and persuade swing voters

– Hundreds who attended campaign days in Peterborough in the run up

Locally Labour organisers have been overwhelmed by volunteers, with more than 300 people canvassing on the Saturday before polling day and 500 knocking on doors on polling day.

As outlined in their ‘plan to win’ Peterborough, Momentum estimate there were approximately 10,000 targets to knock on over the course of campaign and that activists in Peterborough can knock on around 50 doors a day. They calculated that Labour needed 2,000 activists to do one day of knocking in Peterborough over the course of the campaign.

To contribute to this target, Momentum launched the Momentum Carpool to Peterborough Facebook group where activists can offer lifts, request lifts and coordinate train journeys to Peterborough with other Labour activists.

Momentum also organised a mass distributed phone banking campaign in order to contact all of the 4,000 Momentum members and supporters who live within 40 miles of Peterborough to ask them via one-to-one phone calls to campaign in the by-election.

Laura Parker, Momentum’s National Coordinator, said: “Momentum threw itself into this election with energy and determination, with nearly a thousand of our supporters getting involved, and absolutely paid off. This fantastic victory in difficult circumstances is down to the work of ordinary activists. Over the campaign, thousands of Momentum members knocked on doors and talked to voters in Peterborough, with more than 500 turning out for polling day and activists carpooling from across the country. Face to face conversations coupled with a radical, positive message about how we will transform Britain does win hearts and minds.”

ENDS

1 June 2019

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Hundreds of Momentum activists knock on doors ahead of Peterborough by-election

As part of Momentum’s nationwide campaign to win the Peterborough by-election on Thursday 6 June, hundreds of Momentum activists knocked on doors in Peterborough this Saturday. Over the last two weeks Momentum have been:

– Organising carpooling to help activists from all over the country get to Peterborough to canvass

– Organising a mass distributed phone banking campaign

– Holding mass mobilising conference calls with John McDonnell, Owen Jones and hundreds of Labour activists

As outlined in their ‘plan to win’ Peterborough, Momentum estimate there are 10,000 targets to knock on over the course of campaign and that activists in Peterborough can knock on around 50 doors a day. They are aiming to get at least 2,000 activists to do at least a day of knocking in Peterborough over the course of the campaign.

To meet this target, Momentum launched the Momentum Carpool to Peterborough Facebook group where activists can offer lifts, request lifts and coordinate train journeys to Peterborough with other Labour activists. Already hundreds of Momentum activists are using the group to share transport to Peterborough.

This follows a mass mobilising conference call with the Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell, journalist Owen Jones and more than 130 Momentum supporters on Wednesday evening, as well as campaign days with Diane Abbott and others over previous weekends that have seen hundreds of activists knocking on doors in Peterborough.

John Taylor, a member of Momentum’s National Coordinating Group, said: “Peterborough is a marginal, bellwether seat which Labour won in 2017 for the first time since 2001. Going into this by-election Labour has a very slim majority of just 607 votes, but if we mobilise to beat the Tories and the Brexit Party in places like Peterborough we can show the press and the Westminster bubble that Labour is well on course to form the next government.”

“The Labour candidate Lisa Forbes is a working class mother of four and a committed socialist. We’ll be mobilising thousands of activists to campaign for her and make sure we get another socialist, Labour MP to the houses of parliament.

ENDS

Notes

– For pictures of today’s campaign day go to https://twitter.com/PeoplesMomentum/status/1134791839075184641

– For interviews and questions please contact Joseph Todd on [email protected] / 07960566247

Promoted by Jeremy for Labour Ltd and Momentum