SNP TO LAUNCH NEW WEBSITES TO TARGET AND MOTIVATE VOTERS
Posted on Monday, October 9 2006
The SNP will this week launch its election website and a new campaign tool to help target potential voters in the run up to the 2007 elections.Party chiefs say they have put together an integrated web strategy which is now comparable with any in the world.The Party's new website, launched on Wednesday, no longer represents a passive information source; it is at the heart of "a call to action".And its web-based campaign system, "activate", enables members to help the SNP top up its knowledge on voters by making phone calls from their homes.The development and implementation of new technology takes the party's ability to run effective campaigns to a new level as the head to head race with Labour next year heats up.Key points of Activate:• Activate is a groundbreaking, unique campaign system• It enables efficient, effective and co-ordinated use of our expanding activist base across the country• It enables the party to utilise cutting-edge market-research techniques to more effectively target voters across the countryKey points of www.snp.org :• The SNP are the first party to launch their new campaigning website ahead of the 2007 election• Snp.org will be an action focused communications medium designed to harness support for the SNP, rather than a static, news focused site• The site has been developed based on the latest campaigning techniques currently being used in the USA• The site will incorporate blogs, video feeds, news feeds and podcastsAnnouncing the details of Activate and the new snp.org, Campaign Director Angus Robertson MP, said:"The SNP is better prepared than at any time in its history to win an election."Activate is the most sophisticated campaigning tool available to any party in the country, and will give us a significant electoral advantage as we prepare to win the Holyrood election next year."With this significant advancement in our campaigning potential, we are now the only political party in Scotland to have an integrated, online campaigning system for activists, and this will deliver a significant difference to local and national results."Activate has been developed in-house, yet has the potential to deliver campaign intelligence far ahead of systems on which our opponents have spent millions of pounds."This system has been rolled out across the county over the summer, and already we have more of an in-depth understanding of our support, potential support and opponents' areas of strength and weakness than ever before, and that understanding will continue to deepen. In the last four months we have doubled the total number of contacts the SNP have made with voters."With our new website we have learned from existing good practice in the USA, and have developed an action-focused website designed to harness our growing activist base. We already have more active members than any other party in the country and this new site will help to employ them even more effectively."In addition, our new website will harness new methods ofcommunication in order to reach out and interact with a new audience for the SNP. We want to reach out to new SNP voters, and to hear what they have to say to us. That's why we will develop the use of blogs, video, and the web as a fundraising resource from now until next May's election."The SNP now has the capability to communicate specific policies directly to specific voters, and to help both local and national candidates get our message across most effectively. We will translate our grass roots support and local success into a national movement."Over the coming weeks and months we will continue to roll out new, groundbreaking initiatives like this one to help ensure the SNP leads the agenda, nationally and locally, on behalf of the people of Scotland."Next year's Scottish election is a two horse race between the SNP and Labour. We are preparing to win, and these exciting new developments will give us a further competitive edge as we move closer to May next year."ENDS
SNP SUPPORT FAIR MILITARY PAY
Posted on Monday, October 9 2006
ROBERTSON: PROGRESS SHOULD INCLUDE REVIEW OF COUNCIL TAXThe Defence spokesman of the Scottish National Party (SNP) Angus Robertson MP has welcomed new tax breaks for military service personnel.Speaking following a statement on the House of Commons the Moray MP said the move was "long overdue" and also called for a review of Council Tax liability.Mr Robertson represents two large RAF bases and the biggestconcentration of service personnel in Scotland. He believes that more needs to be done on the whole issue of pay, tax liability and conditions of service:"This tax-break for the military is to be welcomed and highlights the need to end a whole series of unfair anomalies. Pay and conditions need to be sorted out as a matter of basic fairness and because they are essential to the morale of our armed forces. As a next step there should be a review of Council Tax liability for service personnel who are stationed abroad"."During the House of Commons proceedings Mr Robertson also highlighted the issue of the return of military casualties from war zones. 12 of the 14 recent Nimrod fatalities in Afghanistan were from RAF Kinloss based personnel. The SNP Defence spokesman and local MP sought assurances from the Secretary of State for Defence that the remains would be returned to families "as soon as possible".ENDS
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