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My name is Oliver Tucker and I am standing to be the next Youth Representative to Labour's NEC. This page is all about you getting to know me a bit better.
I have been a Labour member for almost two years now, joining shortly after beginning my A-Levels at school. I was inspired to join for two reasons: Firstly, Jeremy Corbyn's leadership enthused me, like so many other young people, and secondly, I was shown the importance of politics through my academic subjects.
Politics affects us all - every political decision, whether that's a vote in the House of Commons or a petition to a parish council has the capacity to improve someone's life immeasurably but also has the capability to change their life for the worse. I see this weekly when I'm volunteering at my local food bank; the rush of people who were not able to access food during the Stay Home period was breathtaking.
I live in rural Devon, which gives me an unusual perspective on the Labour party. In my constituency, the Conservatives are in power with a huge majority, one so large that my MP can almost endlessly follow the party whips, sell out the constituency and still be voted back in. However, Labour has the second-largest vote and a majority on my local town council - no easy task in an area where the Liberal Democrats used to be the second-place vote. I've helped in my CLP through canvassing, physical Voter ID, leafletting, Dialogue and running a social media account. We keep busy fighting for a fairer country, even though the achievable change in our area is limited.
All of these experiences and skills are the ones which I will take forward to the NEC if elected. I've learnt to be organised, thick-skinned and principled. All of this is what will make me the ideal candidate to fight for the youth's place in the Labour Party.
