Pledge 1 - Support and Empower All Members & Branches

North East members of Conservative Future are arguably the most dedicated, and passionate members nationally. With this comes a great deal of potential; whether it's helping members to become Councillors, or set up branches, I pledge to ensure that the means of support and assistance for members to achieve this potential is provided by the Regional Executive.

It is equally important that members are not only supported, but also empowered. I pledge to empower North East Conservative Future members by introducing means by which every voice and opinion is heard, counted and considered by the Executive.

I will do this by:

- Appointing a Membership Support Officer, who will bear the responsibility of dealing with members' queries, supporting members the set-up and maintenance of branches, and ensuring opportunities are presented to all members, and not just the minority. - Encourage members to progress to become Council Candidates in the Local Elections. - Introduce the use of an Interactive Poll system accessible for every Regional Conservative Future member regarding major Executive decisions and issues - empowering the voice of every individual.

Pledge 2 - Decentralisation of Conservative Future

Conservative Future has great potential and strength in the North East, and it is with this increase of influence that we must ensure we install a solid structure whereby all members can be involved, and participate frequently, regardless of their geographic situation. Many rural members of North East Conservative Future feel that Regional events and activity have been for too long focused in one area, and therefore I passionately believe that it is time to give greater emphasis on encouraging the opportunities of wider participation of Conservative Future members.

I plan to achieve this by the following:

- Alternate events and meetings around different areas across the region;

- Aim to base Regional activity around a geographical central point - Hold frequent Skype conference calls to engage members who may live great distances away, particularly those in rural areas. - Support the National Decentralisation strategy in order to develop the North East region as a stronger and more involved working component of Conservative Future.

Pledge 3 - Concentrate Campaign Efforts to Return Councillors in May

I pledge to place emphasis on the support the Conservative Party's aims to increase electoral influence across the North East, further ensuring that target Councils such as Northumberland, and the campaign to have our North Tyneside Mayor Linda Arkley re-elected, are given the optimum campaign support to ensure suc- cess.

This will be ensured by the following means:

- Introduce a CF Regional Campaign Committee, which would be Chaired by the Deputy Chairman Political, to work with Local Election candidates - specifically in target and marginal wards. - Ensure high activist turnout on campaign days - Hold frequent Campaign Action Days with Regional focus, alternating between different areas each time for a fair geographic distribution of campaign efforts. Also contributing to the efforts of Regional Decentralisation. - Focus on supporting our Councillors and gaining new seats in Northumberland and Durham next year as well as supporting the efforts to re-elect Mayor of North Tyneside, Linda Arkley. - Ensure continued support on marginal and targeted constituencies for the 2015 General Election, such as Berwick, Stockton South and Middlesbrough SE & Cleveland in order to support the efforts of returning a Conservative Majority.

Pledge 4 - Improve Regional Communication; Unite North East Members

North East Conservative Future has seen great progress over the last year, however, Regional Communication is in urgent need of improvement. Communication is a crucial component in building a strong and effective Regional Structure.

I therefore pledge to introduce and improvise means of increasing communication effi- ciency as a Regional unit, in order to boost productivity, and unite members under the North East Conservative banner with great ease of co-operation. This will ultimately increase the rate at which we can coordinate campaigns regionally, and make a greater difference.

I pledge to achieve this by:

- Introducing quarterly meetings of representatives from each North East Conservative Future branch. - Create a quarterly Chairman's e-Bulletin sent by email to all Regional Conservative Future members. - Introduce Bi-Annual Executive Reports written for all North East Conservative Future members, in order to highlight Regional achievements and progress, as well as further objectives and aims. - Consider the idea of introducing a Regional Conservative Future Conference. - The introduction of frequent Skype meetings, as prior mentioned, in order to increase the rate of communication between the Executive and individual members.

Pledge 5 - Increase Regional Conservative Future Membership

Membership is a crucial part of the continuity of the success of Conservative Future as an organisation. Our membership has long been one of our greatest prides, with Conservative Future being the biggest youth political organisation in United Kingdom; and without our North East Regional members making both the Party and the North East proud - proving ever more our dedication and passion towards spread of the power and influence of progressive Conservatism every day demonstrating that the Conservatives are very well and alive in the region that Labour sadly takes for granted.

It is therefore one of my primary objectives to ensure a rise in membership of over 20% over the next year in the North East, against the trends of an average dip in National Conservative Future membership.

This is the golden opportunity for the North East to prove our true calibre, and this is how I plan to do it:

- The introduction of a radical Membership Recruitment Campaign, the same type of which had a test-run with Hexham Constituency Conservative Future, and saw a direct increase of approximately 800% over a short time frame of 6 weeks. - Introduce more Social Events for both members and non-members, which will both give more appeal and attraction for young people to join; and also engage non-members to sign up to the Party, and truly become part of something great. - Use indirect and discrete methods of which have in the past proved very effective in recruiting and involving people who would not have otherwise been recruited, an example of this is Guy Opperman MP's Work Experience Programme.

Pledge 6 - Design an Effective Fundraising Plan

With an optimum standard of fundraising, North East Conservative Future can af- ford to operate effectively, as a means of funding Membership Recruitment campaign literature, transport to campaign days, frequent social events (such as Drink Receptions, Quiz Nights, and BBQs) and action campaigns.

Fundraising will take place in the following forms:

- An introduction of events whereby Conservative Future will host Drinks Receptions and such to Senior Conservative Party members, in order to generate fundraising revenue from donations, raffles and RSVP fee. - Appeal to individuals to become official patrons of North East Conservative Future in return generous financial assistance.

Pledge 7 - Take a Lead on Social Action and Charity Projects

Conservative Future has long been the standard bearer of progress and change among the youth party political organisations. Over the past year specifically, North East CF members have proven their calibre in ensuring the continuity of this label. It is my priority to see the ethics of hard work and dedication of North East CF members increasingly channeled into something progressive both inside the Party, and externally in the local community.

It is time that we take on a leading role in protecting and bringing change for the vulnerable people of the North East; not only will this prove to the electorate that the Conservatives are best suited in looking after the interests of the people of the North East, but it also gives us the opportunity to make a real, active and positive difference in the wider environment, and North East local communities.

I plan to achieve this by the following:

- Frequently organise Social Action projects across the North East, such as Community Clean-Ups, helping the elderly, and painting allotments. - Establish links with charities across the Region and begin to work with them in order to fulfil their objectives. - Organise our very own fundraising events and sponsorship methods in aid of charitable organisations.

Pledge 8 - Engage with Young People

North East Conservative Future now needs to begin investing our efforts in engaging with, and involving young people across the North East. The objective of becoming further integrated with communities of young people will inevitably expand our power of influence as a political organisation, and further begin to increase the potential number of new members.

This is essentially taking North East Conservative Future into the next stage of evolution; finally developing from the strictly internal Conservative Party organisation as current, to a youth Party Political organisation representing the best interests of all young people.

I will carry this out by:

- Holding social events for non-members, hosted by members. - Introducing Consultations and Focus Groups for and with young people. - Improvising a Youth Engagement sub-committee, chaired by the Deputy Chairman Membership, to focus on engaging CF with wider communities of young people.