Voting by post is the easiest and safest way for people to have their say.

With elections going ahead this May, winning the postal vote will be more important than ever.

We all know how tough it has been over the last year. Thousands of lives have been lost, even more jobs have gone and we haven’t been able to see our loved ones.

We need to put the recovery first with a needle-sharp focus on creating jobs for young people, cutting NHS waiting times, making our education the best again and tackling the climate crisis.

We cannot let independence distract us from putting the recovery first, but that’s exactly what the SNP are doing.

The Liberal Democrats have launched a campaign to bin the referendum bill and all planning for a referendum – we need to put the recovery first, not divide our country even further.

That’s why we’re offering a new bulk-buy deal on digital advertising.

Cancer has very sadly touched the lives of many in our community.

With millions suffering from the disease across the nation and countless families concerned about a loved one, the impact of a diagnosis is huge.

The pandemic has caused critical delays in diagnosing cancers

Coronavirus has caused immense worry for those living with cancer. Isolated from friends, family, and community, the mental health impact cannot be underestimated. Worse still, the pandemic has caused critical delays in diagnosing cancers, and leaves people at risk of suffering the worst effects of this disease.

This World Cancer Day, I would like to commend the bravery of those people living with cancer through this extraordinary period, and pay tribute to all the NHS and care staff consistently helping our loved ones through even the most trying of times.

It is vital the Government now delivers a strategy to ensure all those who have been left behind as a result of the pandemic are offered timely cancer diagnosis and treatment.

They must also push efforts to ensure research keeps moving forward, with the aim of finding a cure.

Lockdown regulations make it more difficult to communicate with voters. That’s why we are offering a new bulk-buy deal to help local campaigners reach residents on Facebook and Instagram.

Our first bulk-buy in January was a big success:

• Campaigners from 1 in 6 local parties bought into the deal;
• Our adverts were seen more than 2.4 million times;
• We reached more than 700,000 people;
• More than 4,000 people signed the Carer’s Allowance petition from our advertising.

In February, we’re offering two strands of advertising:

• Crime Survey – England & Wales (except London and Greater Manchester) – ask people in your area about their experiences of crime, policing and anti-social behaviour ahead of May’s Police and Crime Commissioner elections.
• Party Political Broadcast – England – reach people in your area with our recent PPB. You can check out the PPB here.

We are working with colleagues in Wales and Scotland to develop additional advertising bulk buys, which we hope to launch in the next few weeks.

May 2021 will see the largest round of elections for nearly 50 years. Pretty much everywhere in Great Britain will have at least one election, and many places will have several overlapping elections. 

Whilst it’s vital that we focus our efforts on winning as many Liberal Democrat votes across the country, elections also offer the opportunity to test innovative campaign methods and techniques – helping campaigners win more elections in the future.