Meet your candidates

Meeting with Candidates

Meeting with candidates is an excellent way to understand their priorities and assess their commitment to our Manifesto. Since numerous candidates might be running for office, you should choose the ones you’d like to meet.

To find the list of candidates running for election in your area along with their contact details, please click on the provided link Who Can I Vote For?

Template letter to send to election candidates

Dear [Candidate Name],

I’m contacting you to share our London Mayoral Elections Manifesto, which you can read here, outlining five key commitments that, as a Mayoral candidate, we would like you to endorse and actively pursue to enable Deaf and Disabled Londoners to thrive in the capital. Our manifesto also contains practical recommendations that can be implemented to make our asks a reality.

Our community has been one of the hardest hit by austerity, the COVID pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis. We are disproportionately living in poverty, achieving poorer outcomes in education and far more likely to be unemployed or earn less. Public transport, technology, housing, street space, cultural and sports venues and activities remain inaccessible for many of us.

By acting on our asks, London can become a city inclusive of all Deaf and Disabled Londoners. This means they can live, work, and study safely and independently and have access to affordable and accessible housing. Our goal is for all Disabled Londoners to have a decent standard of living without having to rely on food banks. Moreover, they should be able to trust the police and receive adequate support when experiencing disability hate crimes. Although this is not the reality we currently live in, it is achievable.

As London Mayoral elections are approaching, we would welcome the opportunity to meet with you at your earliest convenience to discuss our manifesto and answer any questions you might have.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely,

[Your Name]
[Your Organisation Name]

Link to Manifesto – London Mayoral Election Manifesto 2024 – Inclusion London

Preparing for Candidate Meetings

If you want to make the most out of your meetings with candidates, it’s essential to familiarise yourself with our Manifesto co-produced by Disabled individuals and DDPOs for the upcoming elections. This manifesto encapsulates the key concerns and priorities of the Disabled community, providing a valuable framework for your discussions with candidates.

Key Tips

• In line with political impartiality guidance and to make your campaign as effective as possible, we strongly recommend contacting candidates from all the major parties to request a meeting.
• Arrange to meet as a group, if you can, to show your collective power
• Prepare an agenda and questions beforehand. We have put together a set of questions below
• Keep the conversation on track. Politicians like to talk a lot, and you may need to be bold and use conversation turners like “Sorry, but can I just bring you back to the question?”
• Stick to your asks.
• Take a photo and Video for social media and the press
• Take along a pledge card and ask candidates if they’ll commit to your local campaign. An excellent way to show visual support is by asking them to hold up a printable A4 or A3 pledge poster or board. This will make an excellent photo opportunity, which you can share on social media.
• Follow up with an email thanking the candidate for their time, restate what they committed to and attach any further information.

Suggested questions to ask parties and candidates

Good questions are essential as they will allow you to probe candidates’ positions and even secure pledges that you can use to hold elected politicians to account. Below are a set of questions.