Emma Strain, City Hall’s Assistant Director of External Relations, discusses her role and how the pre-election period will affect our work…
I’m in charge of how we communicate what we do here at City Hall to Londoners. That means my team works on everything from web content to blogs, social media, posters, ads, merchandise, events and sponsorship. I also look after London Elects communications. You may have seen our eye-catching election posters in jaunty shades of pink and turquoise in Tube stations, at bus stops and on the sides of buses.
Talking of which, today 21 March, is the start of the pre-election period for the Mayor of London and London Assembly elections. It runs from now until polls close at 10pm on Thursday 5 May, London’s election day.
In the past few weeks, you may have noticed we’ve been busier than usual on our blogging, social media and news channels. That’s because we’ve had lots to tell you before the start of the pre-election period. However, from now on, there are some restrictions on how we communicate the work of the Mayor and London Assembly, to ensure we don’t issue any publicity which may influence voters.
While it may appear that we’re in a ‘quiet’ period, we’re still busy behind the scenes. In fact following last year’s brilliant celebration we’re already planning London’s next New Year’s Eve fireworks. We’ve also got a number of events coming up, like Find Your London, which is happening all over the city until 28 March. Next month, we’ve got Vaisakhi at City Hall on 9 April and Feast of St George in Trafalgar Square on the 23rd.
In the meantime, if want to keep up to date with the elections, follow @londonelects or visit the London Elects website.
While we're on the subject of elections, if you haven’t done so already, don't forget to register to vote by 18 April. You can do it online. It takes about five minutes.