YI Elections Officer election

We've already brought you election statements for Young Independence Chairman and Events officer and there's one final statement to publish: Gareth Shanks for elections officer.

We asked both Gareth and his opponent, Ross Taylor, to send us a statement for the website.  Unfortunately, only Gareth sent a statement so here it is:

We need to be looking outwards, not inwards, council seats are the seeds which very well might one day create UKIP strong holds!

I have worked with Jonathan Arnott on his PCC campaign, done countless days of leafleting and campaigning, both for UKIP campaigns and for the Doncaster mayoral referendum, furthermore I have organized and will be running a YI election action day for the Rotherham by-election. I believe I have enough experience from within my region of Yorkshire to hold this post as well as more than enough enthusiasm!

Things I will bring to YI if elected:

• Help and motivate YI members to become more involved in elections at every level.
• Concentrate on local elections as these are the key to building up local support for National and EU elections. 
• To give individuals who may not have a local branch the ability to stand for local councils via supplying an election pack containing leaflet designs, advice and support for the election.
• Having a YI regional head in charge of campaigning for that area.

Young Independence elections

Elections for the officers of UKIP's youth wing, Young Independence, are upon us and two posts are being contested - elections officer and chairman.

Ross Taylor and Gareth Shanks are both standing for YI elections officer, an increasingly important role for UKIP thanks to the vital support YI members have been giving to election campaigns all over the country.

But the main event is (naturally) the election of a chairman and the two candidates for that post are Matthew Smith and Olly Neville.

This will be the last YI election I will be eligible to vote in, being officially relegated to the old gits section (35 and above) of the party in January so I'm going to follow this one with some interest, not least because any election involving Olly Neville is bound to be entertaining.

The two candidates for chairman are setting out their stalls at opposite ends of the room - Matthew Smith is pitching himself as "the serious choice" whilst Olly Neville is ... Olly Neville.  Matthew's website is a bit light on content, as is his Facebook page.  Olly's website is pretty comprehensive and his Facebook page is fairly active.  Matthew cites his experience through self-employment and masterminding the target seat campaign as YI elections officer as qualifications for the role of chairman.  Olly says he will stop making gaffes on Twitter and make YI fun to be a part of.

He may be a walking, talking diplomatic incident but Olly is the man with the plan and his campaign is head and shoulders over the competition already.  Matthew may pull something compelling out of the bag when he updates his website with the promised reasons to vote for him but if he doesn't do it quickly he's going to lag even further behind.

Update:
As Mr Shanks just pointed out on Twitter, there's also a contest for events officer that wasn't mentioned in the original email between Reece Warren and Rob Comley.