On Friday 10th January, a long and patient process finally bore fruit. I feel honoured and privileged to have been selected to represent the constituency that I have lived in my whole life (with University the only interregnum) by members who have put so much time and effort in over the years. The hard work begins now, but I’m looking forward to the challenge ahead.
It’s crazy to think that the journey to selection started all the way back in late 2011, when the opportunity was first put to me. The assessment day took place in the summer of 2012 on a Saturday, meaning that I must have given one of the most bizarre answers ever to a fellow work colleague’s question of “what are you up to this weekend?” during my time as an administrative assistant at Derbyshire County Council in the summer holidays. I passed the assessment, and from then on it was a case of playing the waiting game as the due processes and democratic wheels rolled on. When the time finally came this month, I felt a strange sense of calm, but that doesn’t mean that I didn’t prepare rigorously for my speech.
I listed three specific groups as key influences in my journey with the Liberal Democrats towards selection, and it’s only fair to give them due credit here:
1) My grandparents. My grandfather, John Leslie Fearn, was a Councillor for the Liberals in the local area during the 1970s, and having never known him (he died a year before I was born) it’s been incredibly heartwarming to hear kind stories and words about him from Lib Dems and others alike. My grandmother, who sadly died far too young in 2011, was an inspiration in terms of her stoicism and values, not to mention her humorous anecdote of remembering when you could fit all of the Liberal MPs into a taxi! However, despite this background I made my own mind up with the Lib Dems, which brings me to…
2) Sue Burfoot. Something must have clicked in 2009, but feeling that Labour were making a hash of the economy, and finding my values incompatible with the Conservatives, I asked Councillor Burfoot for literature on the Lib Dems. I soon discovered that the Lib Dems shared my values, and were almost instantly identifiable. I remember thinking at the time that it was a crying shame that their policies couldn’t be realised in Government, which is one of the reasons why I was so proud (even if the decision was difficult) to see the party enter Government in 2010 for the first time in generations. Sue started the path for me.
3) Sandra and David Fearn (no relation). Like Sue and many others, they’ve put huge amounts of time and effort into the Liberals/Lib Dems over the years. Added to that, they’ve been incredibly supportive of me throughout my application and selection. If anyone had reason to be impatient from 2011 onwards, it was them, because they put so much into the selection. Instead, they were kind and calm about the situation.
These aren’t the only people I’m grateful for. My family and friends have been hugely supportive, but this group of three have been particularly helpful over the last few years.
I made reference to tuition fees in my speech, and explained that we need to be frank and honest with the electorate with mistakes such as the increase. However, I also insisted that we should be unashamedly proud of the mark we’ve made on the Coalition, such as raising the income tax threshold to £10,000, a multi-billion pound pupil premium and the biggest ever increase in the state pension. Crucially, I also noted that we have to trumpet where we’ve blocked the Tories and stopped policies which would have been enacted without our presence; an inheritance tax cut benefiting millionaires, state schools being run for profit, the ability for employers to fire people at will, the Snooper’s Charter and regional pay. Whilst this serves as a defence of a record, I also called for a message of change, namely from the safe seat complacency that the Derbyshire Dales seat suffers from. Despite an affluent persona, the Derbyshire Dales has one of the lowest Government grants in the whole of the UK, and the lowest wages in the whole of Derbyshire. This in despite the fact that current Tory MP Patrick McLoughlin is a Cabinet member (Transport), and surely in a greater position of influence than most. This record must be attacked.
Finally, I also made an appeal to reinvigorate young people, namely the 16-25 demographic. Many young people feel disenfranchised and disenchanted with voting, and it’s my task to speak for them. Furthermore, I want to urge them to vote, even if it’s not for me; I don’t want apathy to be tackled with apathy. Hopefully my age will help with this, and conversely I feel my experience with the party and in employment can counter claims of inexperience.
In the coming months, I want to listen to the concerns of the constituency, and do my very best to help. I can’t wait to share with the Derbyshire Dales the values that I’ve espoused in this blog over the last few years, and to represent a beautiful part of the world which I call home.
1) My grandparents. My grandfather, John Leslie Fearn, was a Councillor for the Liberals in the local area during the 1970s, and having never known him (he died a year before I was born) it’s been incredibly heartwarming to hear kind stories and words about him from Lib Dems and others alike. My grandmother, who sadly died far too young in 2011, was an inspiration in terms of her stoicism and values, not to mention her humorous anecdote of remembering when you could fit all of the Liberal MPs into a taxi! However, despite this background I made my own mind up with the Lib Dems, which brings me to…
2) Sue Burfoot. Something must have clicked in 2009, but feeling that Labour were making a hash of the economy, and finding my values incompatible with the Conservatives, I asked Councillor Burfoot for literature on the Lib Dems. I soon discovered that the Lib Dems shared my values, and were almost instantly identifiable. I remember thinking at the time that it was a crying shame that their policies couldn’t be realised in Government, which is one of the reasons why I was so proud (even if the decision was difficult) to see the party enter Government in 2010 for the first time in generations. Sue started the path for me.
3) Sandra and David Fearn (no relation). Like Sue and many others, they’ve put huge amounts of time and effort into the Liberals/Lib Dems over the years. Added to that, they’ve been incredibly supportive of me throughout my application and selection. If anyone had reason to be impatient from 2011 onwards, it was them, because they put so much into the selection. Instead, they were kind and calm about the situation.
These aren’t the only people I’m grateful for. My family and friends have been hugely supportive, but this group of three have been particularly helpful over the last few years.
I made reference to tuition fees in my speech, and explained that we need to be frank and honest with the electorate with mistakes such as the increase. However, I also insisted that we should be unashamedly proud of the mark we’ve made on the Coalition, such as raising the income tax threshold to £10,000, a multi-billion pound pupil premium and the biggest ever increase in the state pension. Crucially, I also noted that we have to trumpet where we’ve blocked the Tories and stopped policies which would have been enacted without our presence; an inheritance tax cut benefiting millionaires, state schools being run for profit, the ability for employers to fire people at will, the Snooper’s Charter and regional pay. Whilst this serves as a defence of a record, I also called for a message of change, namely from the safe seat complacency that the Derbyshire Dales seat suffers from. Despite an affluent persona, the Derbyshire Dales has one of the lowest Government grants in the whole of the UK, and the lowest wages in the whole of Derbyshire. This in despite the fact that current Tory MP Patrick McLoughlin is a Cabinet member (Transport), and surely in a greater position of influence than most. This record must be attacked.
Finally, I also made an appeal to reinvigorate young people, namely the 16-25 demographic. Many young people feel disenfranchised and disenchanted with voting, and it’s my task to speak for them. Furthermore, I want to urge them to vote, even if it’s not for me; I don’t want apathy to be tackled with apathy. Hopefully my age will help with this, and conversely I feel my experience with the party and in employment can counter claims of inexperience.
In the coming months, I want to listen to the concerns of the constituency, and do my very best to help. I can’t wait to share with the Derbyshire Dales the values that I’ve espoused in this blog over the last few years, and to represent a beautiful part of the world which I call home.
