2010 Election Archive: a preservation of election material; all the hard work is not forgotten

Result in brief (source: wikipedia)

A detailed analysis of the results will follow soon.

Conservative 23,458 48.5%
Liberal Democrats 12,353 25.5%
Labour 8,087 16.7%
UKIP 2,984 6.2%
Green Party 1,126 2.3%

Election Pledges

Click on the leaflet to read it in full. Or if you prefer, click here to view it as a PDF file.

In the run up to the General Election, I'll be elaborating on 5 key pledges for our constituency and our country.

  • Tackling Poverty
  • Nurturing Britain's Future
  • Safer Communities
  • Protecting the NHS
  • Dignity in Old Age

Emily Benn, PPC

Emily BennHey,

I'm Emily Benn, and I'm the prospective parliamentary candidate for East Worthing and Shoreham for the Labour Party.

I was born on the 4th October, 1989 (bang in the middle of Labour Party Conference), at Mayday Hospital in South London. My parents are Stephen Benn and Nita Clarke, and I've got a brother Daniel who is 2 and a bit years younger than me. I'm very proud of my family's heritage around the world, as my Dad is half-American and my mum is Half-Indian.

School-wise, I went to Woodside Primary School, Wallington High School for Girls for my GCSEs, and then St Olave's for my A levels. To keep my geek factor up, I did A level Latin (and loved it). I'm starting at Oxford University in October 2008, to study History and Politics. As I was selected when I was only 17, I had my A level year at school while being a PPC, which at times was an interesting combination.

I got into Labour Politics relatively early, first-off with my family from about the age of 2, and 1997 is one of my strongest memories (partly seeing my Mum the happiest I think she's ever been in her life). Then I got involved in my own way, forming my own ideas, and I got the chance, finally, to join the Labour Party on my 14th birthday. Since then I've tried to get involved in earnest in many different campaigns, both for and outside elections. I'm particularly interested in international development, ensuring every child has a high-quality education to be able to reach their potential, and helping the most vulnerable in society. I'm not good with injustice or things I perceive as being unfair, which is the main reason I've tried to 'get into Politics', as people call it.

People do ask why I'm getting involved so heavily so young. Well, there's an easy way of answering that. I don't want to sit around and accept things that I know can be better, so that when I'm 55 I've become older and bitter. If people in my generation can get active, to work with people of all generations together, then we have a far greater chance of sorting out the problems we face. It is only by getting involved early that we can help shape the world we want to live in. You cannot exclude a whole generation of people out of the political process just because of their age. The representative body of this country should be truly representative of this country.

I have much respect for people whose views differ from mine, and that's what's great about politics - my opinions are being constantly challenged and I do the same to others. I don't hate the 'other sides', just try to get our views across. I know that MPs and PPCs of all parties work incredibly hard, and I recognise their efforts. I don't believe personal attacks, or rudeness, have any place in politics, so criticise my policies by all means, but none of the 'fat git' stuff, cheers!

Aside from politics, my great passion is playing music. I started playing the violin when I was 5, and it has given me fantastic opportunities since then. I got to lead the Croydon Youth Orchestra when I was 14-15, and I led Stoneleigh Youth Orchestra for the past year, going on tour with them to France, Italy and Austria. When I was 15, I got accepted into the Royal College of Music Junior Department, 9-5 every Saturday, which quickly became the highlight of my week. This has made me committed to ensuring every young person in this country has access to affordable and quality music education - music should not be the preserve of solely those who are luckily enough to afford it.

I also love watching sport. I support Tottenham Hotspur Football Club (go Spurs!), Cincinnati Reds Baseball team, and the Kolkata Knight Riders Cricket team.

My ultimate dream is to become an Olympic athlete, but I fear I've left it too late for that. Maybe I'll wake up and suddenly be an amazing hurdler, but somehow I doubt it.

Anyway get in touch with me, via email or post, as I really want to hear from you.

Get in touch

  • Emily Benn
  • c/o CLP Secretary, 27 Brunswick Road,
    Shoreham by Sea, West Sussex,
    BN43 5WA
  • 07787 723710
  • emilybenn
    @ewaslabour.org.uk

Future Events

Writings

  • An Evening with Emily Benn

    A fantastic evening to remember! Check out this video and click here to view lots of pictures of the event, which were taken by a guest, David Nicolas.

  • Shoreham Academy

    It was a pleasure visiting the Shoreham Academy on Friday morning for a very rewarding question and answer session. Hazel Thorpe for the Lib Dems was there, too. She’d taught at the school for 25 years, so you might think she had a head start! But there again, I’m only a couple of years older than the students, so when we talked about education and scraping along on a grant that doesn’t even cover the cost of accommodation, they knew I was telling them how it is! Hazel and I came at the questions from different angles, but it was striking how much common ground exists between the parties of the Democratic Left. Also commented on was the complacency and arrogance of the Tories, who didn’t bother even to send a representative.

  • Another hustings, 26th April

    Come to the hustings on Monday April 26th! Head down to the Shoreham Centre (location shown below) at 7pm. If you can’t make that one, don’t forget that Broadwater Baptist Church is also holding a hustings a few days later on April 29th, 7.30pm at the Wave Centre.


    View Larger Map

  • PPC Pop-ups…

    This is just a quick one to let you know what I’ll be doing in the constituency in the run up to the election. Apart from speaking at a few schools in EWAS, I’ll be at what is hopefully the first of many public hustings to come. Broadwater Baptist Church is holding the event for the 3 main candidates, giving us all an opportunity to let local people know what we and our political parties stand for. Head down to the Wave Centre (part of Broadwater Baptist Church on Dominion Road, BN14 8JL) for a 7.30pm start on April 29th. See you there!

  • First Match of the Season

    At the end of last year I was appointed captain of the New College Women Football Team. While I was hugely honoured at being given the opportunity, I was rather daunted by the prospect.  We had a fantastic captain last year, but we didn' t get the best results. Our worst defeat was 15-1, while the best was a mere 4-0. Even though I was in goal for much of the season, I still had a great time and made lots of friends within the team, not to mention getting fit playing week-in week-out.

  • Action on Poverty

    For the last 6 months, I’ve been involved in a number of events focused around ‘Poverty in Worthing’ - highlighting problems of poverty in Worthing, and more widely, nationally and internationally.

  • Now that was a good conference!

    Last week I took the Labour campaign for East Worthing and Shoreham to the party’s Annual Conference in Bournemouth.  I was lucky enough to be called to speak in the debate on prosperity and work on Tuesday afternoon - the day after Prime Minister Gordon Brown gave his fantastic address in which he set out his vision for our country.

  • Excluded from the Future, the waste of Potential

    I’ve just finished my last ever ‘first week’ back at school. As I start my 14th year of schooling, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about the education system, its strengths and its weaknesses. 

  • A day out in our constituency

    Hi Everyone!
    I thought I would use this first post to talk a bit about one of my visits to the constituency last week - I had a great time looking around, getting a feel for the constituency. I saw for myself the issues I’ve been researching.

Happenings

Adur Festival 2010. Runs from 4th-20th June. http://www.adurfestival.com/

Tony & Ian

Campaign Concert with Tony Benn and guests

the Square that Labour built - Southwick

the Office

Abdul’s generous contribution

Speaking to the school council in April at St Andrew’s CofE High School for Boys, Worthing, after giving an assembly to the school about poverty

At the poverty hearing in Worthing

The CLP laid a wreath of poppies for rememberence outside St Mary’s Church

Tim and I at the One World Week launch at Shoreham Library