Candidates hit
All the hustings are online Getting the message across with leaflets in tried and tested way
Eric Holford
It has been a really different campaign this year Clare Haughey
A rainbow of leaflets have been dropping through letterboxes in recent weeks as politicians and political activists try to reach voters with their message ahead of next month’s Scottish elections.
That’s not any different to the run up to most elections but in 2021, it’s one of the few chances people get to find out about the candidates looking for their vote.
Recent easing of lockdown restrictions means campaigners are now able to knock on doors and chat with residents, but a lot won’t be doing so in South Lanarkshire with everyone still mindful of the risk of spreading coronavirus.
On a sunny afternoon in Hamilton, Liberal Democrat candidate Mark McGeever – a councillor in the town – is out on the election trail.
“It’s very strange,” he said. “The biggest thing about this campaign that’s different from all the others I’ve ever been involved in is the lack of contact with people and groups in the community.
“Until very recently we weren’t even able to door knock and chat to someone on the door step. Historically, that is so important and it really gets your message across.”
Telling people what he stands for is just one part of a local election campaign and, as a local councillor, Mark knows how important it is to meet prospective constituents.
“It helps you build a rapport with people,” he added. “You get information on local and national issues that are bothering them.
“Not to be able to do that is really a game changer as far as campaigns go.
“There is a real danger in any democratic election that without that ground up contact, what you end up with is all the various party leaders and our friends in the press setting the agenda with what they think is important. That is not always reflective of what is happening on the ground.
“The fact that you hear input from local people makes an enormous difference.”
When out campaigning, there is a two-person limit. Previously, groups of 20 or 30 activists could be out trying to win over potential voters.
Out with Mark today is Uddingston and Bellshill candidate Dawn Allan.
“Wearing masks, that’s the main difference. You’ve got to wear a mask,” she said.
“People will come up to you in the street and they’ll wonder why you are kind of ignoring them because you can’t go up to them.
“There was a lady the other day came up to us and said ‘What’s the leaflet? Can I have one?’
“I wasn’t sure what to do because we’re not supposed to hand them out. I said ‘Where do you live? We’ve probably popped one through your door.’
“It was a wee bit awkward and it’s not the nicest thing to say to somebody.”
At Hairmyres Station in East Kilbride, Labour candidate Monique McAdams is meeting up with her election agent – former MP and district council leader Adam Ingram – for a morning of campaigning.
“We’re allowed to door knock,” she said. “But none of my campaigners are comfortable with it and I’m never going to ask anyone to do anything they wouldn’t be comfortable with.
“I know I wouldn’t want someone chapping my mum’s door so I’m not really up for it just now.
“You just need to be flexible as a candidate and look to canvass people in other ways.”
Monique, a councillor for East Kilbride West, has previous experience in national elections, having stood for Labour in the two snap general elections in 2017 and 2019.
Outwith leafleting, one of the main ways to engage with voters this year is social media.
“It is something which is much more prevalent now than it was in 2017 or even 2019 because that is the main basis of your campaign,” Monique added.
“This is a very different campaign to any of the ones I have been in before.
“In 2017, it was a different type of election because it was all about door knocking, phone calls and getting your leaflets delivered.
“2019 was moving more onto doing more things on social media but you were still making sure you were getting your leaflets done.
“This one is different to both of them. For the general campaign, you didn’t know what you were going to be allowed to do.
“There are a lot more people on social media now than there was before because of Covid so there is a lot more people that pay attention to it.”
In Rutherglen, Scottish Government minister Clare Haughey is out campaigning.
A quirk of the electoral system means she remains in post as minister for mental health during the campaign but while parliament is dissolved she is the SNP candidate for Rutherglen rather than the MSP.
It helps you build a rapport with people Mark McGeever
You need to look to canvass people in other ways Monique McAdams
“It has been a really different campaign this year,” she said. “The fact that you are not able to get out and chap people’s doors, you feel a bit disconnected.
“I have been doing a lot of my ministerial role virtually and some of that has continued on because government has to continue.
“We still have to have ministers, particularly in health with the pandemic.
“We can’t make announcements in the way that we would but there is still the day-to-day running of the health service.”
Even though lockdown restrictions are now starting to be eased across Scotland, there are still barriers preventing people coming into contact with one another.
“You can chat to people when you pass them in their gardens,” Clare added. “That’s really good to be able to do and just see other humans.
“It is a very different campaign, a lot of it is being done online. That has some advantages but there is a part of the population that you don’t actually get to interact with.
“I must admit, I am really missing the people contact and being able to have conversations on the doorstep.”
Coulter, a small village in rural Clydesdale, is one of the final destinations that Conservative candidate Eric Holford has to deliver leaflets.
Eric, a councillor for Clydesdale East, is a wheelchair user and he is out leafleting with Emma, a personal assistant funded through the Access to Elected Office Fund.
His initial plan was to knock on all 35,000 doors in the constituency to let residents know who he is and what he stands for – he’d even done the maths working out how long it would take him – but when the coronavirus situation worsened over new year, those plans were scuppered.
Although, for a wheelchair user, not knocking on doors does have some advantages.
“I have to get Emma to go and knock on the door,” Eric said. “Then, if the people want to talk to me, they have got to come out to me which is always a bit difficult.
“We are allowed to but I think with the coronavirus it is still offputting to a lot of people.
“We’re sticking to leafleting and a lot more telephoning than we would have done.”
In a normal year, town and village halls across the country would have prepared for election hustings, inviting candidates to come onstage to present their case to voters and give residents the chance to ask questions of them.
Not every town hall is designed for a wheelchair user though.
“All the hustings are online and being a disabled person that actually saves a lot of hassle because I don’t have to try and get onstage,” he added.
“A lot of halls don’t have a ramp or a lift for the stage. I just have to hobble up the stairs, sit on a plastic chair and get hauled in and out like a piece of luggage, which is not the best.
“Now, all I have to do is go to my office, switch on my computer and there you are.
“In some ways that has worked to my advantage.”