Thoughts from Chair of the East of England Region (Julie Smith)

Thoughts from Chair of the East of England Region

March 20, 2010 10:31 PM

With Shirley Williams at the 2009 East of England Reception Julie succeeded Paul Clark as Chair of the East of England Region in January 2010. The key issue for the first part of 2010 is inevitably the general election and in some cases, like Cambridge, local elections. As Julie wrote ahead of taking office, "In the longer term, it will be really important focus on the Region in a far more strategic way. It's not good enough to target resources, whether money or foot soldiers, at the most likely electoral prospects and assume other constituency parties can just fend for themselves. We will all benefit in the long run by supporting local parties at all stages of development. I am therefore keen to work with the incoming Executive, and especially the Development Committee, to produce a three- to five year Regional Strategy as soon as possible after the General Election. A key part of such a strategy will be to look at how we can foster smaller local parties, helping them to develop in the early years of the new parliament so that they can increasingly expect to win office locally and, come the next election, be more self-sufficient and more likely to attract good parliamentary candidates who will lead enthusiastic teams of activists. The Region as a whole will be stronger if we can achieve this."