Tories short of candidates for local elections
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Your support makes all the difference.The Conservative Party has attracted so few candidates for May's local elections that its activists are being advised to place adverts in local newspapers for would-be councillors.
The revelation, in a leaked internal bulletin issued to constituency associations, came as the Conservatives launched their campaign for the 11,500 seats up for election across the country.
According to the document, the party still has not selected candidates for key seats. By the end of January, not a single candidate had been selected for Manchester's 33 seats, Salford's 20 or Congleton's 16, The Independent has learnt.
The situation is so bad that Theresa May, the party chairman, has advised Tory associations that they should place advertisements in their local papers to attract potential hopefuls.
The figures emerged as Mrs May was left to launch the party's local election campaign on her own after Mr Duncan Smith decided not to attend.
The pair had been due to appear alongside each other last week, but the launch was postponed after the latest bout of infighting between modernisers and traditionalists.
The move was aimed at preventing further embarrassing questions about changes at Conservative Central Office and claims that Mr Duncan Smith's allies had briefed against Mrs May.
But it triggered allegations that Mr Duncan Smith was being kept quiet in the campaign because of his negative image with the voters. Several councils have told the Tory leader they do not want him to make campaign visits.
With such a large number of council seats up for grabs in May the elections will be a test of Mr Duncan Smith's leadership, and Tory MPs are ready to trigger a vote of no-confidence if the party fails to do well.
The internal bulletin makes clear that the campaign will be based on local issues, not national ones. Its slogan will be "Local Conservatives, Local Issues, Local Action".
In the bulletin, Mrs May suggests that associations that have a full complement of candidates should help out neighbouring councils and even offers to write personally to persuade "Conservative-supporting Independents to stand for us".
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