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”

Update: 95% of 38 Degrees members voted in an online survey that we should work together during the election. But what should we do? To give all members a chance to get involved we’ve launched an online consultation. To get involved sign up here

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/

Since 38 Degrees launched in early June we’ve achieved a huge amount together. We’re building a people-powered movement for real change in the UK. From demanding new laws to make MPs answer to us and flooding Parliament with emails about climate change to defending valued public services and calling for the Iraq inquiry be held in public, we’ve made our voices heard.

In just 6 months 60,000 of us have taken action 177,695 times. Across the UK we’ve been signing petitions, calling decision makers and inviting our friends to get involved.

Bankers: take responsibility
We were outraged to see bankers awarding themselves massive bonuses just after the government had to bail them out with our money. When plans to put a 50% tax on bankers bonuses leaked out, bankers went into overdrive trying to force government to back down. We stepped up to outweigh the banks’ pressure – in just 48 hours, thousands of us pressed the Chancellor to stand up to the banks’ lobbyists. People power worked: Alistair Darling stood up to the bankers and imposed the tax.

Tackling poverty, sticking up for public services
We’ve worked together to make sure the recession doesn’t hit poor families hardest. Together we helped convince the government to extend free school meals to protect an extra 50,000 children from poverty – in the words of the End Child Poverty Coalition this was “a major achievement….and could not have been done without 38 Degrees“.

We also took action to protect public services, defend the NHS from unfair criticism from a Conservative MEP and stand up for the BBC against attacks from James Murdoch. Our campaign against top-slicing the licence fee ended with a big success, with the government shelving the idea until at least 2012.

Cleaning up Parliament
The expenses scandal showed us the urgent need to make sure MPs really answer to us. Together, we’ve pushed for a recall law to give voters who have lost trust in their MPs the right to call a fresh vote. It’s great to see party leaders, and even the Prime Minister, slowly coming round to a recall law – but we’ve got a long way to go. Cleaning up Parliament is a big task and we’ll need to continue working hard both to make recall a reality and to force politicians to reveal their links to lobbyists.

Speaking up for Human Rights and Civil Liberties
We helped to convince Peter Mandelson to scale back his plans to disconnect millions of suspected internet file-sharers. We also worked with Tripping up Trump in Aberdeenshire, to oppose Donald Trump’s plans to evict families to make way for his golf course. We’ll continue to work with Tripping Up Trump in 2010. In the meantime, an 85 year old woman named Molly Forbes has begun legal proceedings to defend her home from the threat of compulsory purchase. You can show your support by sending her a Christmas card, addressed to – Molly Forbes, Paradise, Mill of Menie, Menie, Aberdeenshire, AB23 8YE.

Climate, Copenhagen 10:10, Quizzing the Minister
Our campaigning on climate change got the government’s attention. In October over 10,000 of us contacted our MPs in just 48 hours to ask Parliament to reduce its own emissions by 10% next year. This month, 38 Degrees members quizzed Ed Miliband (Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change) in the first-ever public conference call with a Cabinet minister.

A growing team
It’s been a busy few months for our small staff team – David, Hannah, Johnny and Nina. None of our campaigning would have been possible without the help of our volunteers who have worked tirelessly to build and support our campaigns. Thank you Alex, Ashley, Katy, Laura, Louise, Ross, Toby, Tom, and Tosin.

What’s next?
In 2010, it will be more important than ever to keep taking action together. The general election is looming, we’re still in recession, unemployment is climbing and politicians are talking of drastic public service cuts. We’ll be working hard to make sure Blair gets a grilling at the Iraq inquiry, we’ll turn up the pressure for tough action on climate change and will be running local campaigns, like our campaign to make sure Boris Johnson keeps his promise on delivering four rape crisis centres in London.

In the New Year we’ll need to decide together what 38 Degrees should do in the run up to the election. Before that, you can tell us what you think here on our blog.

You are what makes our movement grow. Please keep on telling your friends, family and colleagues about 38 Degrees through Facebook, Twitter and email.

Thanks for being involved,

David, Johnny, Hannah, Nina, Warren and the 38 Degrees team

A seasonal postbox

It’s been quite a year. I’ve been so inspired to see so many people getting involved with 38 Degrees since we launched in June. In the last 6 months 60,000 of us have taken action a huge 177,695 times. It’s fantastic to see that people right across the country have joined in our movement – see our action map here

We’ve been working hard on issues from climate change to cleaning up politics, from tackling poverty and sticking up for public services to speaking up for human rights and civil liberties.

But this is just the beginning. What do you think we should be working on next year? How do you think we should campaign in the election? Are there issues you really think we should campaign on? Let us know in the comments below.