General Election 2024
The upcoming general election presents a crucial opportunity for charities. This hub page is here to equip you with helpful information and tools. The resources include voluntary sector manifestos, letter templates for contacting local candidates, Charity Commission guidance along with links to NAVCA and NCVO resources and more to help you navigate this significant period.
Resources
CVS Template: Sector Organisation Letter to Candidates Template 2024
CVS Template: Graphic for Inclusion Candidates Letter 2024
Cheshire East: State of the Sector Report
NAVCA: General Election Guidance
NAVCA - The power of local infrastructure: Working in partnership for thriving communities
NVCO: General Election Resources
NCVO Voluntary Sector Manifesto
NCVO: What the general election manifestos mean for the voluntary sector
Rules Around Lobbying
Key issues and questions for charities to consider, based on insights from The Charity Commission's casework into campaigning and political activity during previous election periods.
Campaigning and political activity: general election lessons learned - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Understanding the Rules on Political Activity and Campaigning
Understand the rules on political activity and campaigning, and how they are regulated now that a general election has been called.
Charity campaigning in a general election period - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Cheshire East Constituency Candidates
An Assessment Of UK Political Party Manifesto Commitments To Addressing Issues With The UK Food System
By Graham Brown: CVS Operations and Insight lead and Food Coordination lead
Food lobby groups, Academics, Charities, Activists and many others would all argue the current UK food system isn’t working. Yet food is a huge part of all our lives, nourishing and fuelling us. It impacts our health (poor diet is now the biggest risk for preventable disease, placing massive strain on our NHS) happiness and overall prosperity: one in seven UK workers is employed in the food system, which contributes over £120 billion to the UK economy.
So, now that all the main UK political parties have released their Manifestos for Government, we’ve had a look at each in the context of UK food system. Whilst there have been no significant announcements about food or food policy – strange when you look at the stats above, there have been some broad pointers of what to expect: the importance of food security and improving things for UK farmers (but no specific mention of Horticulture (which could support the growth of the school fruit and veg scheme). No mention of the continuation of that scheme (over 120 schools in Cheshire East sign up to it), there may be free school breakfast clubs for every primary school pupil (great news!), and we will get a National Food Strategy.
There are all steps in the right direction. But there’s no firm commitments to address facts such as the Trussell Trust distributing more than 3.1 million emergency food parcels (1.2m for Children) (23/24) or 14.8% of households (20% with Children) experiencing food insecurity in January 2024 (rising to 45% if families are on Universal Credit).
Read Graham's full article here....
Young People’s Mental Health: what do the manifestos say?
By Ange Richardson - CVS Sector Development Officer
The Conservative Party manifesto sets out a full roll out of Mental Health Support Teams across all schools and colleges, and the establishment of early support hubs for young people aged 11-25 in every local area. The manifesto doesn’t seem to have very much to say on what will be done to address the social determinants of mental health, such as poverty or mention any action that will be taken to improve specialist mental health services for children and young people. With mental health needs rising in children and young people, demand is far outstripping service capacity to respond. As a result, too many children are left to sit on long waiting lists for support.
Labour plans to recruit 8,500 additional mental health staff to drive down waiting lists, funded through closing tax loopholes. Labour will make sure every young person will have access to a specialist mental health professional at school. With Labour’s Young Futures plan, every community will have an open access mental health hub for young people (11-24), providing early intervention through drop-in services. The schools’ element is to be paid for by ending tax breaks for private schools. The staffing is to be paid for by abolishing tax loopholes for private equity managers. The manifesto also references Social Security Reform: recognising the link between poverty and poor mental health, Labour emphasises the importance of reforming the social security system to improve mental health outcomes and reduce inequalities.
Read Ange's full article here...
Comparative Analysis of Health Policies in the 2024 Manifestos
By Lucy Coates - Sector Development Officer (Projects & Innovation)
A look at the different approaches to health across the manifestos and, in particular, each party’s pledge to tackle early detection of cancer and health inequalities.
The Conservative Party is focused on ramping up NHS funding to enhance patient care and cut waiting times. They promise to bolster the ranks of doctors and nurses through aggressive recruitment and training programs and to embrace new healthcare technologies and digital health solutions to boost efficiency and outcomes. Their cancer strategy involves reducing waiting times by hiring more specialists and investing in early detection. The Conservatives also plan to pump more money into cancer research and innovative treatments, roll out nationwide screening programs to catch cancer early, and provide holistic care for cancer patients, including mental health support.
Labour envisions a significant increase in NHS funding, with a strong emphasis on addressing healthcare inequalities and ending NHS privatization. They aim to expand and...
Read Lucy's full article here...
Assessment of UK Political Party Manifesto Commitments to Building a Compassionate Refugee Protection System
By Estelle Worthington CVS Sector Development Officer
The UK is a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention – an international agreement for the protection of people fleeing persecution which emerged as a response to the horrors of the second world war. The Convention defines a refugee as someone who has left their home country due to a “well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion”1. It also outlines the basic minimum standards for the treatment of refugees, including the right to housing, work and education while displaced so they can lead a dignified and independent life.
Over the last decade, the wars in Syria and Afghanistan, other conflicts around the world, and the recent invasion of Ukraine have created an international refugee crisis. Though it remains true that countries neighbouring conflict zones host the vast majority of the world’s refugees, European nations are also being called on to offer refugee protection. We have witnessed the tragedy of lives lost at sea in the Mediterranean, and more recently in the Channel as desperate people seek safety....
Read Estelle's full article here...
Analysis of UK Political Party Manifestos Commitments on the Environment
By Estelle Worthington - CVS Sector Development Officer
The need to protect the environment and increase biodiversity has been a long-standing concern for many people and a rallying call for local and international environmental groups. The deepening climate crisis and the need for rapid action to keep the rise in global temperatures under 1.5C and achieve a just transition are increasingly at the forefront of public consciousness and political debate.
In 2018 scientists from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change1 issued a stark report stating emissions from greenhouse gases would have to halve by 2030 to have any hope of meeting Paris Agreement climate targets, and outlining the impacts of 1.5C of warming on natural and human systems.
Student climate protests soon followed, together with the emergence of climate action groups up and down the country and new protest groups such as Extinction Rebellion and Just Stop Oil. The resounding call has been for rapid action to reduce emissions in a way that is fair. This means ensuring nobody is left behind as we make the economic and social transition to a low carbon future. It also means recognising that climate impacts will not be felt evenly across the world, with nations with fewer resources and less economic resilience largely left dealing with the fall-out of droughts, floods and crop failure, and acknowledging our historic responsibility for global emissions....
Read Estelle's full article here...
Dates For Your Diary
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Deadline to register to vote (by midnight) |
Tuesday 18th June |
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Deadline for new postal vote applicants or amending existing absent voting arrangements. |
Wednesday 19th June |
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Deadline for new applications to vote by proxy (5pm). After 5pm it may be possible to apply for an emergency proxy in certain circumstances, but they are not available on demand. |
Wednesday 26th June |
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Deadline for applications for voter authority certificates (VACs, by 5pm) |
Wednesday 26th June |
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First day voters can apply for a replacement for a lost postal vote. |
Friday 28th June |
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Polling Day 7am – 10pm |
Thursday 4th July |