Carwyn say: "Time to lead – time to rebuild Welsh Labour"

Welsh Labour Leadership candidate, Carwyn Jones, has vowed to regain the Party’s “campaigning zeal”, if elected to the post in December by re-building and re-connecting with the electorate.

The Bridgend AM and Counsel General is pledging to transform the way it campaigns in the future by looking at alternative methods of engagement with communities all over Wales.

In order to achieve this, Carwyn will appoint a campaigning ‘supremo’ within the Party, to work closely with Party Headquarters in Transport House and the Welsh Parliamentary Labour Party in London in readiness for the General Election in 2010 and Assembly Election in 2011 and beyond.

Spelling out his vision for Welsh Labour to re-assert itself as a campaigning party under his Leadership, Carwyn said:

“We must regain our campaigning zeal and harness the collective energies of the members who have made this party what it is. There are too many people who depend on us to see improvements in their lives for us to be under strength or disunited.

“Attending branch meetings is not something that energises most members. It is also a process invisible to the electorate, who often only see members when they knock on the door before an election. We need to find alternative ways to support and engage with a wide range of audiences within our membership, and create moderns ways of exchanging policy ideas with members.

“I believe that Welsh Labour is stronger as part of the Labour Party in the whole of Britain. We must work together with our MPs, councillors, party members and trades unionists as a single united Labour campaigning machine aiming to win social justice for our people.”

In his recently published manifesto ‘Time to Lead’, Carwyn pledged to focus his Party on:

• single issue campaigns – rather than campaigning just during elections. The Party should harness the commitment of our supporters to key campaigns, whether it’s fair trade, green energy, recycling, violence against women and child poverty. These could include events, online networks, petitions and local leafleting.”
• building activism – rather than have one way of taking action. The Party should find lots of routes in for people to take action. These could be online petitions, ideas exchanges, social networking, union liaison groups and taster sessions.
• a greater focus on community activity. Carwyn wants to encourage our members to spend more time getting things done in the community, rather than simply campaigning for policy change.
• a new forum for younger people: a virtual team where younger members can become e-volunteers, fundraise, recruit and chat, with regular involvement from cabinet members on policy development.

Commenting, Carwyn's Campaign Manager and Rhondda AM, Leighton Andrews, said:

“Carwyn is the only Leadership candidate whose majority actually went up at the last election. He is also the only candidate to live in a Labour controlled local authority area – which he helped win back for the Party in 2008.”