and below is the email we’ve just sent out:

We’ve got a hung parliament. Despite the best efforts of the Murdoch press to bully us, none of the parties managed to convince enough of us to vote for them to become the next government. Now we need to decide our next steps.

Please take 60 seconds to help decide todaywhat we do next:
http://38degrees.org.uk/what-next

A hung parliament could be an opportunity to force politicians to make real changesto how politics works. Or it could mean seedy back room deals. This hung parliament comes after years of politics and politicians letting us down – we need to work together tomake sure we’re not shut out of what happens next.

There are 130,000 of us involved in 38 Degrees, all across the UK. If we move together, fast, we could have a huge impact on what happens next. Let’s decide on our next move together.

What should we prioritise? Demanding changes to the voting system? Pushing politicians from progressive parties to find common ground for a majority government? Or something else? Help us decide quickly today by voting here:
http://38degrees.org.uk/what-next

Everything is up in the air. Politicians will be trying to understand the public mood to decide what they do next. Vested interests like Rupert Murdoch’s media want to manipulate the situation in their favour. A big, united demand from us for real change, not back room deals, could have a decisive impact.

We’ve had a big impact on this election already, by working together. We’ve challenged candidates to say where they stand on our issues, and we fought back against attempts to bully voters out of a hung parliament. Now, if we work together, fast, we can make sure a hung parliament is an opportunity for change, not just more of the same.

38 Degrees is all 130,000 of us. So let’s decide together what we do next:
http://38degrees.org.uk/what-next

Thanks for being involved,

David, Hannah, Johnny, Nina and the 38 Degrees Team

P.S. Our friends over at Power 2010 are organising demonstrations on Saturday to demand electoral reform. Click here to find out more: http://www.power2010.org.uk/page/event/search_simple

Parliament - is now hung. Click the image to decide what we do next.

Party leaders will debate before the election

With the 38 Degrees’ general election consultation in its final phase, one of the ideas that has emerged has already become a campaign. Several people suggested that the TV leadership debates in the run-up to the general election would be a good way for us to get involved: it’s a chance to make sure that ordinary voters get heard, rather than just the usual suspects.

So, we were concerned when we saw the news that politicians and their spin doctors are already squabbling about how to make the debates work. There’s a danger that it will become another opportunity for polished political performances, without putting our would-be leaders on the spot about the issues that we care about.

At first, these debates seemed like a step in the right direction. But there can’t be open debate if the people that count – the voters – are left out. The party leaders and their teams want to control everything about the debates, so that nothing will be able to spoil their image. That means no questions from the audience and no real debate.

Now, we’re taking action to call on the party leaders to let voters choose and ask the majority of questions during the TV debates. We want to quiz the party leaders directly on the issues that matter to us, like climate change, public services and bankers’ bonuses.

Click here to join the campaign for real debates between the party leaders at election time, so we can get the answers we need to decide who to vote for on polling day: http://www.38degrees.org.uk/open-up-election-debates

I’ve got other questions – who should I contact: To contact the moderator team email support@achordus.com

Our general election consultation has got off to a great start. Thousands of us have signed up to discuss what strategy 38 Degrees should adopt in the run up to May 2010, and there’s a clear sense of energy and purpose in the consultation space.

At the moment we’ve got four discussions running in the space: What are the best and worst outcomes of the election? What are the key issues for us to focus on during the election? How much should we do during the general election? What tactics could we try?

I’ve been taking a look at some of the conversations we’ve been having. One of the busiest areas of discussion so far has been electoral reform. Some of us are fed up with a system that puts the power to determine an election result in the hands of a few voters in marginal seats. As one person put it, “electoral reform is a vital first step to having the views of the progressive majority represented.” Another suggested that voter apathy is a problem we should solve: “I think it’s important to treat the election as something that belongs to all of us.”

Another key topic across the discussion areas is the worry that MPs aren’t accountable to their constituents. One participant said that “the parliamentary whip system generally means that they [MPs] end up representing the position of their party leadership, not that of those who they were elected to represent.” Could 38 Degrees take action to change this?

We’ve already had some memorable posts, too. Thanks to Nemone C for inspiring the ‘How much we should do’ discussion by titling their post “the optimism of the action is better than the pessimism of the thought.”

Please join in our discussion. All you need to do is fill in your details on this form: http://www.38degrees.org.uk/2010-election and we’ll send you login details within 24 hours.

Is it important that we work together in the run up to the UK General Election? Over the last few days thousands of us having been answering that question in the 38 Degrees election survey. We’ve just finished calculating up the results. A staggering 95% of us think it’s important that we take action.

So now what should we do? The next step for us is to work together to decide how we, as a movement of 60,000 people, should work together in the run up to the election.

Today we’re launching our election consultation. This is an online space where thousands of us can discuss our plans together. We’ve teamed up with Achordus, who are experts in enabling lots of people to discuss ideas together over the web. They’ve helped us create a unique online space where we can post ideas, read others’ ideas, prioritise options and discuss next steps.

Please go and get involved now. It’s really easy to get into the space. All you need to do is fill in your details on this form: http://www.38degrees.org.uk/2010-election and we’ll send you login details within 24 hours. So please go and get involved now.

Here are the survey results in full:
76.05% said it was “very important for us to work together during the General Election”
18.71% said it was “quite important for us to work together during the General Election”
3.74% were neutral on the idea that we work together during the General Election
0.5% thought it was “not important for us to work together during the General Election”
0.9% thought it was “not at all important for us to work together during the General Election”

38 Degrees isn’t a political party. We don’t support a political party. Our members all have different political views, many of us support different parties, and many of us aren’t that keen on any of them.

But we do care what politicians do. The Westminster government has the power to act, or to fail to act, on issues that matter to us. Who’s in charge and what they do affects all our lives. Most of our people-powered campaigns have pushed the government to do something good, or stop doing something bad.

So where does the looming UK general election fit in? Is it a chance for us to work together as an independent, people-powered voice? Could an independent voice challenging all politicians be just what this election needs? Or is a general election, dominated be big-spend advertising and media spin, the very worst time for us to be trying to have an impact?

And if we do decide we should work together during the election, what should we do? Challenge all parties on their plans? Provide un-biased information about candidates’ records? Remind people to vote? Push candidates to support a specific policy? Maybe Recall? Something else entirely?

I’m glad that 38 Degrees is a member-driven organisation and I don’t have to work out these questions on my own. I’m looking forward to seeing what thousands of people think – please get involved and fill in the survey here: http://www.38degrees.org.uk/election/