I live in the Warrington North constituency (since the boundary changes). A quick look at YourNextMP shows I have 4 candidates to choose from (this will be confirmed once nominations have closed):
- Derek Clark - UKIP (until very recentl YNMP was suggesting Jack Kirkham) [UPDATE: No UKIP Candidate listed on the formal Warrington North List]
- Paul Campbell - Conservatives
- David Eccles - Liberal Democrats
- Helen Jones - Labour - Incumbent (TheyWorkForYou record)
- [UPDATE from official WN List] Albert Scott - Independent
So, what can I find out about these fine, upstanding citizens willing to put career on hold to represent the people of Warrington North?
Bugger all.
A search for any of these candidates on name alone, apart from UKIP*, brings up no personal websites. Tweetminster doesn't know about any of them on Twitter. They appear to have no digital presence at all. Oh, but Helen Jones does come up as a mature escort working in the northwest - I'm happy to assume it's a different Helen Jones though (screenshot).
Actually, to be fair, once you go to the party's PCC page profile (found by searching for NAME PARTY) you can find:
- A mostly dead Facebook page for Paul Cambell (conservative)...
- ... which has a link to the Warrington North Conservatives website which has press releases and a message from Paul Campbell and a blog
- A static Warrington Lib Dems page for David Eccles - the site has Warrington Lib Dem press releases but no blog
- Oh, bloody hell, @DavidEccles2010 is on Twitter (well, their link didn't actually work, but he's there) - well, he was on 26th August
- He also appears to be on Facebook if you want to bolster his 37 friends (although another broken link)
- Helen Jones is a PCC for Warrington North with no further information
[UPDATE: A search for "Albert Scott Warrington North" does pull up his campaign website. 2 static pages which seem to have more information than the rest combined.]
So, there is stuff out there but it isn't easy to find and the reliance on local party websites suggests that either of the Lib Dems or Conservative candidates will be unable to converse fully in the digital sphere. None of these candidates are using the web to engage with the constituency with the incumbent the absolute worst. This means they will be missing out on engaging with a generation for who engagement, communication, participation and networking takes place online. But then, why should they engage with us? Helen has a 12,000 majority and the boundary changes only shore up that support. My vote apparently has the power of about 0.044%. We are being let down, we need major changes to our representative system which I shall try and discuss later.
Alex
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(*A quick word on UKIP - Derek Clark is an East Midlands MEP with his own website immediately finable with a search on his name (or even a search on "erek clark" if you miss the 'd'). His website makes no mention of running here and its last news update was October 2009.)
