Influencing Political Elections

We know that politics is broken and that many rebels refuse to engage in elections, but during high pressured times such as when there are national, devolved and local elections, we can use the opportunity to pick up public interest in the climate and nature emergency and show them a new way of doing politics through community and citizens' assemblies.

Engaging in traditional approaches such as letter writing, signing petitions, door knocking etc are not always effective and so not necessarily a good use of rebels' time and energy. Targeting marginal seats is a good way to really get candidates to listen, however. For example, during the 2024 General Election, XR designed a Map of XR Local Groups within marginal Westminster seats

Feel like today's politics keeps you in the dark and feeds you bullshit - then think Community Assembly

Elections Landscape of Opportunity

Why Local Issues Matter

Local elections provide opportunities to:

'Persuade Elections' Candidates Commit to:

Three Questions to Get Started With
  1. Is there an election in your area? Use the VoteClimate Local Elections Finder or view them on a map.
  2. What is your council’s performance on the climate emergency scorecard? Use My Society and the Climate Action score rating websites to find out.
  3. Have your constituency boundaries changed? They will be of particular interest to the media as they could indicate the outcome of the next General Election.  Look for the key battleground seats analysis on the VoteClimate website.

What Can We Do?

Guides to Running Hustings In-Person or Online:


Revision #12
Created 7 May 2024 16:29:19 by Ned
Updated 15 May 2025 21:12:02 by Leah - RT Proofreader