11-02-2010 Our nominated candidate: Richard Deboo

The Animals Count Nomination Committee has formally endorsed Richard Deboo, Deputy Leader, as a Prospective Parliamentary Candidate. Richard has been an active member of Animals Count for three years, and was also a candidate during last June’s European Parliamentary elections. An eloquent and passionate speaker, Richard commented on his nomination:

“I am delighted to represent Animals Count in the Islington South and Finsbury constituency. My main aim is to carry a strong animal protection message to the electorate (a genuine first for the UK in a General Election!). I further believe we can demonstrate that democracy is alive and well in the UK despite all that’s happened over recent years, and that we will use our democratic right to challenge those in power. And it is time to demonstrate the connection between injustice for animals and the failure of social justice for humans. I will fully use this chance to speak up on behalf of the non-humans in our society who are denied effective representation for protecting their interests.”

The Election Campaign
As part of our election campaign, we are meeting with animal-friendly MPs of the main parties to discuss animal protection issues, to encourage them to keep animal issues as high on the political agenda as possible. We believe that in the current political system, constructive dialogue is vital to achieving progress for animals (see our website for a report of our recent meeting with a Conservative Animal Welfare Group MP). At the same time, as Richard mentioned, we believe that Animals Count offers a serious alternative to those major parties. We are focusing our efforts on Islington South and Finsbury, to maximise our chances of influencing an outcome favourable for animals, because there is a close contest between Labour and LibDems, with the LibDem candidate seemingly more animal-friendly. Our participation could possibly swing the outcome in favour of LibDems due to many voters being disappointed in Labour’s broken promises for animals. The Conservatives are extremely unlikely to win there. As part of our campaign we hope to publicise the positions of the other main candidates and parties on animal issues.

Please support us
Nearer the election day we will be campaigning intensively, but we are starting our first leafleting session on Saturday 27th February, from 12 noon (meet at Angel station). Please contact us if you would like to help; the more the merrier! If you can help by designing promotional material (video, print or otherwise), then we need you too!

Campaigning is costly; our main election communication will be carried by Royal Mail for free, but we will have to pay for the printing of several tens of thousands of leaflets. In addition, the Electoral Commission nomination fee is £500.

While the incumbent Islington MP Emily Thornberry will be holding a fundraising evening for £85 per ticket, for the same price we are offering a whole weekend (see details attached), including admission to the Brighton/Hove eco-veggie fayre, dinner, one night in a great B&B, and a group walk along the South Downs! Please contact us before 19th Feb if you would like to join us, and if you don’t fancy going to Brighton, please feel free to make a donation toward our election campaign anyway. Thank you very much in advance!

News
For those who missed the Winter 2010 Newsletter about the forthcoming General Elections and other news, see: http://www.animalscount.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Animals-Count-Winter-09-10-Newsletter.pdf

Spring Conference
We will be holding our spring Conference on the afternoon of 27 March in Islington, which will be open to all paid-up members. This will be a great opportunity to discuss our proposed manifesto (which will then be launched officially soon after the Conference); to finalise planned campaign events, and to go through the finances. Our 2009 Financial overview will be submitted to the Electoral Commission next week.

And finally…
Unfortunately we were unable to find an Election Campaigns Coordinator and Secretary, so if you know of anyone who could support us with administration and communication during the next few months, please let us know. We are all working full-time, and would be grateful to receive some extra help.

Thank you for your support, as always, and we look forward to a fantastic election campaign!

Best wishes,

Jasmijn de Boo (Leader) and Richard Deboo (Deputy Leader)