What next?

We’ve started 38 Degrees because we are sure that there are lots of people all over the UK who feel like we do: tired of hearing about things we want to change and not feeling like there was a person or a party we could vote for who would see that change through on our behalf. If we want change to happen, we’re going to have to demand it ourselves, day by day. We believe that people power holds the key to making the UK more democratic, more environmentally friendly and more socially just.

38 Degrees will be different to most campaigning organisations you’ve come across before. Here are some important ways in which I hope we’ll stand out:

We’ll act fast: We’ll respond immediately to real world events and give you the chance to take action on the issues you care about, not just hear about them on the news.

We’ll work on a broad range of issues: There are a lot of organisations already doing important work within different policy areas like the environment, or poverty, or Human Rights. We respect and work with those organisations, but we’ll also make the links between them and avoid getting trapped in “single issues”.

We’ll get involved in elections: We need to keep the pressure up on all politicians all the time, however good the promises they make during elections. But it does make a difference who is in power, and elections are a chance to make an impact on the issues we care about. We’ll help people make informed choices about how to cast their vote, and at times lend support to the candidates we judge most likely to do the right thing.

We’ll listen to our members: We believe that change happens when lots of people get involved. And if we want you to get involved, we need to know what you think. We’ll make choices about what we campaign about, and how we get involved in elections, with a close eye on what you’re telling us.

What do you think we should be campaigning about? We’ve had to make our first few choices without your input – instead relied on a mixture of polling data and instinct. We’ve listed a few more issues to try out in our survey . But what do you think are the big issues we should be campaigning on? Are a new Recall Law to give voters the choice to sack their MP, home repossessions and stopping the BNP in the European Elections good places to start? Please post up you ideas here, I’ll be reading them carefully.