Influencing Manifestos

After a turbulent 6 months in politics and beyond due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Senedd is now in recess mode over the Summer. Whilst many of us will be planning our “staycations” this Summer, recess provides a crucial opportunity for elected members to focus on their deliberations as policy makers and legislators.

With only 8 months to go until the 2021 Senedd election, politicians and their policy teams will now be gearing up their manifesto development process - outlining their policies and legislation should they form or be part of the next Welsh Government.

With the polls showing that Labour could lose their status as the largest party for the first time in the history of the Senedd, opposition parties will be working hard behind the scenes developing their own programmes for Government. The most recent opinion polls suggest that it’s unlikely that a single party will have an outright majority next May – and therefore we could see a formal coalition, or an agreement between parties. It is therefore important to consider influencing the contents of all the main parties’ manifestos as we could be faced with multiple scenarios.

Parties will be looking for new, innovative and radical policies - offering a great opportunity for external organisations to have their say and contribute towards the policy activity for the next 5 years.

With all the parties following different processes in terms of their manifesto development, we are here to help and can offer advice and support with the influencing process in order to maximise your organisation's impact. As well as identifying priority engagement, we can help you to engage and build relationships with key individuals within the main political parties that will be leading on shaping the manifestos - increasing your chances of influencing policy.

If you’d like to find out more about how we can help to navigate the way through the manifesto development process, please get in touch with elin.llyr@deryn.co.uk for more information.

In the meantime, how about taking a trip down memory lane and refreshing your knowledge of manifestos from over the years? Our dedicated site Maniffesto.com includes nearly every manifesto that’s been produced by the main political parties since the first National Assembly for Wales election in 1999. Our special microsite gives an interesting insight into the parties’ pledges on different issues over the years, tracking how policies have changed over time in Wales.