Important EU Election Update – SEUA’s Position

Dear Suffolk EU Alliance members and supporters,

With less than three weeks to run before the European Parliament elections many of your have asked for clarification on what SEUA has planned.

At the most recent meeting of members held at Seckford Golf Club on Tuesday the following position was clarified:

The SEUA is a truly cross-party group and will support the activities of all political parties which demonstrate a pro-EU position.  Our members come from a range of political groupings and we would not wish to upset anyone’s political stance.  We would encourage all our members to make up their own minds as to which party to support (or even not support) and to engage actively with their campaigns.

Organising hustings and other meetings.  The committee feels these would be difficult to manage safely and there has been difficulty in finding suitable chairpersons for the meetings.  It was therefore felt that our members should be encouraged to participate in any meeting organised locally by the different groups/parties.

We’ve included details of the main pro-EU parties, plus Labour whose position is more ambiguous.  Their planned activities can be found on their respective websites.  You can either sign up for email updates, or keep checking back to their websites. With the local elections just over, most are pausing for breath, with nothing yet listed locally, other than the LibDems which has a major launch throughout East Suffolk tomorrow, Bank Holiday Monday.

East Suffolk LibDems Events: https://eastlibdems.org.uk/en/

East of England Greens News https://eastern.greenparty.org.uk/news/

CHUK Events: https://theindependent.group/events/

East of England Labour Events: https://www.laboureast.org.uk/events/

We’ve held street stalls recently in Felixstowe, Ipswich, Beccles and Lowestoft. Feedback has suggested this can be hard work – probably due in part to recent inclement weather – with a considerable amount of negative response from passers–by. In view of limited support it has been suggested that members be encouraged to join in with larger street stalls and leafleting campaigns promoted by the EU candidates and their parties.

In light of Electoral Commission advice to People’s Vote, SEUA will not be publishing its own material. Instead, we will be receiving a large quantity of leaflets from People’s Vote HQ which we hope can be distributed by you, our loyal supporters.  We’ll provide further details on how we will organise this in an email later in the week.

Alternatively, you could get in contact with your party of choice and volunteer to help them with leafleting  Ultimately, it is up to you to decide on where you feel you can be of most help, and what material is most effective, and to then assist its distribution on a personal basis.

Here are contact details for anyone wishing to volunteer:

East Suffolk LibDems: https://eastsuffolk-libdems.org.uk/en/volunteer

EofE Greens: https://eastern.greenparty.org.uk/get-involved.html

CHUK: https://theindependent.group/volunteer-with-us/

EofE Labour: https://action.labour.org.uk/page/content/volunteering/

Encouraging others to vote.  This continues to be our major contribution to the Remain campaign.  As well as leafleting to encourage individuals to ensure they are on the electoral roll  (UK and EU 27 citizens) we feel that one to one approaches are the most successful in changing minds. Family, friends and colleagues are far more likely to be influenced by your carefully crafted persuasion than by approaches from strangers on their doorsteps.

Keeping Informed. The SEUA has already published explanations of how the EU voting system works in England, Scotland and Wales and how the larger parties are likely to benefit over independents. 7 MEPs are elected for the East of England region, with voters choosing a party.  It is important to be clear what their policies are and which individuals are representing the parties. The committee would encourage supporters to investigate the political backgrounds and history of all the candidates.

Hopefully this information clarifies our position.  Your attendance at our next meeting (Tuesday 14^th May at the Seckford golf club), is particularly important as it is the last planned meeting before election day on May 23rd. Details on the website here.

With best wishes for our future inside the EU.

SEUA Committee