Politics, especially in new parties, is smaller than a lot of people might think. I think a coordinated effort to show up for early governance discussions (they have a conference later this year to set their agenda) would have a big impact if the people going genuinely shared the beliefs of the party and didn’t scan as infiltrators. I think many in the UK EA community fit this description and could be motivated to put something together!
Interesting point, and I agree things like party conferences require you to be a real party member. But once they hold policy positions everyone wants to talk to them and, at least in the way the UK is still functioning, they will have to listen—and it’s tough getting anything in the radar without some previous engagement to back you up. So I think there is value in approaching early, if anything, to at least gauge what are they saying/thinking about any given issue.
I agree heavily with this sentiment, with a possible addendum – I imagine it could still be possible to have an issue-based coalition that attempts to lobby parties but is not seen as endorsing any parties specifically. In this sense, you could still attempt to lobby Reform as a single-issue coalition, although this strategy might be more aggressive/ gain less traction than simply tacking onto Your Party which is generally more value-aligned.
Politics, especially in new parties, is smaller than a lot of people might think. I think a coordinated effort to show up for early governance discussions (they have a conference later this year to set their agenda) would have a big impact if the people going genuinely shared the beliefs of the party and didn’t scan as infiltrators. I think many in the UK EA community fit this description and could be motivated to put something together!
Interesting point, and I agree things like party conferences require you to be a real party member. But once they hold policy positions everyone wants to talk to them and, at least in the way the UK is still functioning, they will have to listen—and it’s tough getting anything in the radar without some previous engagement to back you up. So I think there is value in approaching early, if anything, to at least gauge what are they saying/thinking about any given issue.
Really? I suspect only a small proportion of EAs are pro-Reform UK.
I was referring to Your Party, as the author was
I agree heavily with this sentiment, with a possible addendum – I imagine it could still be possible to have an issue-based coalition that attempts to lobby parties but is not seen as endorsing any parties specifically. In this sense, you could still attempt to lobby Reform as a single-issue coalition, although this strategy might be more aggressive/ gain less traction than simply tacking onto Your Party which is generally more value-aligned.
Isn’t this what most (regular / non EA) charities will do (about their specific issue of concern)?