Rod Cantrill interviewed May 6th, and Spencer Haggard interviewed May 4th.

As described by the depositor:

Rod told us: The rules are very precise, all parties have to submit a quarterly return to the Electoral Commission, by the Federal Party to indicate donations of £500 or over. And the Federal Party has to declare to the EC any donation over £1,500. We don’t have trade unions, we don’t have businesses, so our money comes from individuals small amounts from a lot of people. We have raised over £22,000 on a new crowd funding site and the typically amount given is £50 or £100. The Liberal Democrats’ core donors give £25 or £30 a month by Direct Debit. It is the small amounts that add up and which enable us to fight the campaign.

“Our success is based on two things, people and money, and both of those things are interlinked and you need those two things to succeed. I am a big supporter of a proper capped public funding method of supporting political parties nationally. We have got our funds from three different things, crowd funding which is new to us, secondly a big political beast visiting the patch, Vince is a good pull at an event so people will give a lot of money. And thirdly the local event the fish and chip quiz night, where people get together.”

Spencer told us: “We have 500 posters up, what we call stake boards – three times the number at the last General election. You knock them into ground, stick them into fences, and then repair and replace them when they get damaged. Getting 300 posters up very quickly boosts morale, and puts Labour on the back foot. It was really important to say re-elect Julian Huppert and the showing of the other party’s posters were much smaller.

“You can be beaten on the day by a better organisation that has got its vote out. The weather will make a difference but nobody agrees what difference!”