Trudi Davies The Politics Show South East

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The Politics Show is live from Hastings Old Town

The Politics Show for the South East is leaving the studio and coming live from the Fish Market Caf� in Hastings.

On the menu will be two exclusive behind the scenes looks at life during an election campaign.

In Hastings a group called PART (people against rises in council tax) and the Hastings Democratic Alliance launched a campaign to remove Labour Councillors from office. How did they do it?

Why did they do it and did they succeed? All will be revealed in their diary report.

Meanwhile over in Crawley, Eugene Sully the runner up in the Big Brother house in 2005, launches his political career by standing as a Labour Candidate.

His diary reveals life on the stump as he tries to increase the interest of young people in politics and takes on the BNP. Is he serious and will he win?

Presenter Paul Siegert will talk to the diarists about their experiences during the campaign trail and analyse the results with the help of local MPs and Councillors affected by Thursday's vote.

A recent survey indicated that many people are unsure about which services their various council's actually run, so we may conduct a quick audience poll to see if they really knew exactly what they were voting for.

Let us know your opinion of the results by texting us on 07786 209252 or email us via the link below.

Feedback

We take a look at some of the texts from last week's show which generated a variety of opinions on the elections and voting in general.

Campaigns

On 14 May The Politics Show will be running a Campaign Special programme.

Following the pieces run in the local press requesting campaign groups to contact us, we have been inundated with responses from groups wanting to take part.

We have decided to run two programmes, the first will look at two groups based in Sussex, and in June we will be looking at two pressure groups in Kent.

If you have information that you would like to share with people organising campaigns or suggestions of the kinds of actions that work or don't work then please get in touch.

We would like to feature your comments on the show.

Join in

Do you have a strong opinion about something? Education, fox hunting, or chewing gum on the streets?

If there's an idea or a point of view that you are dying to share then here's your chance. Rant of the Week gives you 60 seconds to share your opinions with our viewers. Or do you have an idea for a story or issue that we should be covering?

Paul Siegert's overview of the election

People living in 14 boroughs and districts will get their say on who runs council services on Thursday May 4th.

The seats were last up for grabs in 2002 when Labour councillors did reasonably well so it may be harder for them to match that performance this time around.

With any election it's always difficult to know what factors people will take into account before deciding who to vote for and with local council elections it's even trickier, especially with the turnout likely to be low.

But Council Tax may turn out to be one of the key influencing factors all across the region, with bills now over �1,200 per household.

Indeed, in at least two areas, Hastings and Swale, parties have been formed purely on an anti council tax ticket.

All the adverse publicity about the NHS could affect the Labour vote.

No more so than in Crawley. Residents there have already lost their accident and emergency department.

The trust now has the country's largest cash deficit and recently announced it was axing hundreds of jobs.

The May 2005 general election very nearly cost Labour's Laura Moffat her Parliamentary seat when she scraped home with a majority of 37, the lowest in the country.

This time it could be even closer as Labour currently control the council with a majority of just one.

Another council too close to call is Eastbourne where the Conservative's have a majority of one from the Lib Dems.

That would be tough to hang onto under any circumstances but a recent row over parking in the town could have played into the opposition's hands.

Places like Mole Valley and Woking will offer an interesting first check on David Cameron's appeal across the South East.

The contests here are finely balanced. Issues like John Prescott's new house building plans are to the fore, with worries that the local infrastructure won't cope.

Water shortages, traffic congestion and lack of NHS facilities are already big issues.

Many locals are worried about what will happen if huge new estates are built to meet the demands for affordable housing.

And if you are bored with the three main political parties then the place to be is Elmbridge.

Council services there are run by a mixture of 31 independents.

Whether that is still the case here or indeed anywhere else on 5 May is of course now down to you, the voters.

Paul Siegert

The councils holding elections are:

• Sussex Adur, Crawley, Worthing, Eastbourne, Hastings
• Surrey Mole Valley, Reigate and Banstead, Runnymede, Tandridge, Woking, Elmbridge
• Kent Maidstone, Swale, Tunbridge Wells

How to take part in the programme:

To rant or to suggest stories that we should cover you can send us an email on the link below with your contact details and the subject that you would like to talk about and one of our producers will be in touch.

To get your views on the programme:

Text us on 07786 209252 or Email us via the link below

The Politics Show South East

Join Paul Siegert on the Politics Show on Sunday 14 May 2006 at 12.00pm on BBC One.

Disclaimer: The BBC may edit your comments and cannot guarantee that all emails will be published.