- Conference
- 2012 National LGBT Conference
- Date
- 25 July 2012
- Decision
- Carried
Conference notes the poor turn out in the May 2012 Local Government elections. In past elections far right candidates have won council seats by organising their supporters to vote while many ordinary voters, including those who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT), have stayed away from the ballot box and not used their democratic right.
Conference notes that the Police and Crime Commissioner elections, taking place on 15 November 2012, may be particularly susceptible to far right gains due to low turn out. Police and Crime Commissioners from far right organisations are most unlikely to prioritise issues of concern to LGBT communities, such as tackling hate crime.
Conference is concerned that the Tory-led government’s plans to introduce individual electoral registration and to end the existing legal requirement to register to vote will have a further detrimental effect on turn-out and on efforts to defeat the far right in local, regional and national elections. The Electoral Commission, electoral administrators and psephologists have warned that as many as 10 million voters, predominantly poor, young or Black, could fall off the electoral register under these plans.
Conference therefore calls upon UNISON LGBT members and the wider LGBT community to use their vote at all elections, and calls on the National LGBT Committee, working with regional groups where appropriate, to:
1)Update and publicise UNISON LGBT Group’s Fighting the Far Right Strategy;
2)Work with the General Political Fund and the Labour Link to identify and promote specific strategies to encourage LGBT members to register to vote and to use that vote, including using UNISON’s political education materials and creating tailored LGBT materials where appropriate;
3)Participate in and publicise appropriate campaigns that promote voter registration and turn-out within the LGBT community