Mike Dixon, the Chief Executive Officer of the Liberal Democrats, has recently written to activists about campaigning in the pandemic, as follows:
In the last few days, anger has been growing about the Tories’ brazen attempt to skew the May elections and stop elected councillors and volunteers doing their jobs by safely delivering literature. Independent councillors and other parties have now joined us.
We have spoken with the Electoral Commission and National Police Chief’s Council at the highest level. In some circumstances it is legal and permissible for volunteers to deliver leaflets.
We have therefore issued updated guidance to local parties about how to make decisions locally about campaigning, in line with the police’s internal legal advice. We have also been in contact with all police forces to offer our help in dealing with vexatious complaints.
As ever, we’re doing work to contact people safely and in line with public health guidance, and your local party will be in touch with more detail about opportunities to help.
Also – I want to say a huge thanks to everyone who joined our virtual phone banks last weekend. We spoke to thousands of people and will be putting their concerns at the heart of our work over the coming weeks.
It’s clear people are finding this lockdown much harder than previous ones, and that parents are really struggling with home-schooling, for example.
If you’ve never done a phone bank before, I’d really encourage you to. It’s an incredibly rewarding way to spend a few hours.
Here you can read Mike Dixon’s letter to Assistant Chief Constable Owen Weatherill, who is the Commander of Operation Talla, which was set up by the National Police Chiefs’ Council to manage the police response to the pandemic.
On the Liberal Democrat party website, there is a page about campaigning in the pandemic, which is regularly updated with the latest information.