General election: 8 ways you can get involved with campaign and help change UK's future

The snap election on December 12 will be one of the most important Britain has faced for decades.

Not only will it decide the direction of the country after three and a half years of Brexit chaos – it will also be instrumental in deciding if Brexit happens at all.

Everyone will have their opinion about who to vote for, and at the Mirror we don’t hide ours – we’ve long supported the Labour Party.

But whatever political stripe you’re from, it’s important to get involved in democracy and help shape things.

After all, otherwise, someone else will shape things for you.

So we’ve put together a guide with eight things you can do to make sure democracy isn’t entirely stitched up by men in grey suits in Westminster.

1. Register to vote

Being able to cast your vote on polling day is the most obvious way to have your say on the election.

Make sure you are signed up by midnight on Tuesday 26 November – preferably well before that.

It could be worth applying for a postal or proxy vote – particularly if you’ve got a holiday booked or aren’t 100% sure where you will be on December 12.

Visit gov.uk/register-to-vote and fill in the quick form. For the full list of registration deadlines click here.

But my constituency is always the same – what’s the point?

Votes may not count towards the immediate balance of power unless your pick gets elected.

But they do give an indication of the health of a party – and the potential promise of a candidate, who could be selected to fight in a more winnable seat next time around.

And there are ways to amplify your voice too by making it heard outside the ballot box…

2. Join a political party

The surprise election announcement is the equivalent of that moment in your exams when the invigilator shouts to say there are 10 minutes left and you still have more than half of the paper to finish.

Parties are frantically working on their policies and manifestos.

The manifestos will set out what policies the parties are being elected on, and may be quite different from what was said last time around so will be worth reading.

MirrorPolitics will be going through them with a fine-tooth comb as soon as they are published. In the meantime, you can get a flavour for the parties and find out how to join here:

What kind of things will the party get me involved in?

Parties want to get as many of their candidates elected to parliament as possible, so will be working hard in the run-up to June 8 to make that happen – and their members can help a lot.

Joining a party means:

• they have your joining fee which they can put towards their work and campaigning
• you can easily receive information on their campaign events
• you can easily get involved to help them campaign

And while Westminster looks grand, your constituency party group is likely to meet in a community centre, village hall or pub back room somewhere near your home. 

It is up to you how much you get involved. Common things include delivering leaflets, canvassing (knocking on doors and speaking to voters about how they are planning to vote and the things they care about) and sharing messages on social media.

If your local constituency is a safe seat, you may be paired with another constituency nearby where the result is more in the balance – a great way to make a difference if your vote has never felt like it actually counted in a result.

The local party are likely to be interested if you have any particular skills – social media, design or even just a car for dropping off boxes of posters to area co-ordinators – but the main things they want are time, enthusiasm and ideas.

3. Support a local candidate

Some constituencies are fought on local issues rather than national party policies. Sometimes an independent MP can beat the traditional parties, as when BBC journalist Martin Bell unseated Tory Neil Hamilton in Tatton in 1997. And there are plenty of MPs who do not toe the party line on a range of issues.

Find out who your local MP is and see whether they represent your views. Entering your postcode at www.theyworkforyou.com will tell you your constituency, your MP and give you a summary of how they have voted during their time in Parliament. It’s to be taken with a pinch of salt – in reality votes are very complicated – but gives a broad picture.

Your council will have a list of the candidates standing once they are all confirmed, but in the meantime look on social media, Wikipedia and in local news coverage to find out who the other options are.

And it’s important this year because there are so many alliances, with Remain parties bandying together in 60 seats while the Brexit Party stands down in all 317 the Tories won in 2017.

If you decide to support a candidate and want to get involved with the campaign, make contact and offer your help.

4. Challenge all the candidates in your constituency

If there is something you care about, ask the people who represent you for their views. Even if your chosen candidate does not win, at least your new MP will know more about what matters to their constituents.

Your newspaper, radio station or even a church or other local group may organise a hustings, where the candidates get a chance to pitch themselves, answer constituents’ questions and challenge each other.

Your local newspaper and its website will be good places to find out more about the campaign and the issues which matter where you live. If they are missing a big issue which matters to you, write in and let them know – they may have a chance to put your concerns to the candidates.

5. Join a trade union

Members of a particular trade union are usually grouped around a particular type of work so are likely to share some common interests. Trade unions fight for their members’ rights and interests.

If your workplace is already unionised, you may want to join a union that way. If your workplace isn’t unionised, but you believe you and your coworkers could benefit from union support, here’s a guide to achieving that .

The TUC (Trade Union Congress) maintains a directory of all trade unions in the UK and also have a handy tool which can help you find which unions best fit for your kind of work.

You don’t have to be employed to join a trade union. Unite, the UK’s largest union, lets anyone become a community member . Contribution rates are significantly lower for those not in work.

6. Get involved with a campaigning organisation

There are many charities and campaign groups that aim to influence the political process and government policy. Different organisations use a range of different tactics.

Here are a few to think about:

7. Take part in social media groups

The arrival of Twitter and Facebook have fundamentally changed how elections are fought.

They are useful tools for political parties, campaign organisations and unions – whether for projecting their campaign messages, providing a forum for discussion in Facebook groups and pages or getting practical messages about where to meet to campaigners quickly on WhatsApp.

Some of these groups may be restricted to organisation members, but many are open to anybody interested in politics and the issues under discussion.

Use the Facebook search to find groups you are interested in, whether they are about a particular party or a specific issue like education, Brexit or the NHS. Once you have shown you are interested, Facebook may recommend other groups to you. And don’t forget to join the debate on the MirrorPolitics Facebook page .

8. Talk to people you disagree with in a constructive way

Politics can be a thorny issue to talk about with friends – or people you bump into at the pub or the school gate. And more than one family will have banned any discussion of Brexit from family gatherings.

But it is also possible to have a positive and informative discussion.

If you know someone with different political beliefs to you, or who isn’t very politically engaged, talk to them about it. Make sure you don’t only give your own argument, try to understand theirs as well.

The goal isn’t to change anyone’s opinion overnight – that’s very unlikely to actually work.

Instead, you’re simply trying to introduce them to points and perspectives they might not have considered, and to be introduced to new ideas yourself.

Just remember, though, sometimes you will probably need to agree to disagree.