In a recent Sky News debate, Conservative MP Lee Rowley claimed that “thousands” of Tory activists were fighting hard on doorsteps up and down the country ahead of next week’s local elections. One can only wonder what conversations these activists might be having. What can a proselytiser for the establishment preach right now? The fact that economic growth has fallen by an estimated half in the first few months of this year? The burgeoning crisis in the retail sector? Or perhaps the shocking rise in homelessness and Theresa May’s catastrophic handling of Brexit negotiations? Or the latest twists in the Windrush scandal?

Such speculation matters relatively little, since Rowley was merely saving face; the fact is that there is no Conservative campaign to speak of.

In Liverpool, Conservatives are said to have struggled to find people to stand as paper candidates in wards they are sure to lose. In most other parts of the country too, the Tory ground game is weak to nonexistent.

The decline of the Conservative party is no secret. According to statistics released last year by the Economic and Social Research Council’s party members project,fewer than one in 20 active Conservatives is under 24. Nearly half of all signed-up Tory members openly admit to having spent no time campaigning in the 2017 general election and a greater number play no role whatsoever in the party’s internal life.

In the absence of any real activist base, the Tories have historically been able to rely on the rightwing media. But unfortunately for those happy with the status quo, public scepticism about the press’s role is growing, and last year’s general election – when an army of enthused Labour volunteers convinced the disillusioned, roused the apathetic and mobilised the loyal – marked one of the biggest upsets in British political history.

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Labour supporters piled into Momentum-organised meetings in droves, offering their various talents and discussing how best to get Labour’s message across. Innovative phone apps such as MyNearestMarginal allowed individuals to identify closely contested seats near them so they could work out where they could fight the Tories the most effectively – and, conveniently, making politics possible for those with often pressured, busy lives.

Particularly useful were lessons from Bernie Sanders’ staff and volunteers, who taught Labour supporters persuasive conversational skills to utilise in campaigning. This style of campaigning – long championed by American political scientists such as Alan Gerber and Don Green – seeks to create a conversation with every single voter. Political activists are encouraged to identify the differing concerns, priorities and values of those they meet. Starting from the simple premise that voters are individuals, not “categories”, this kind of authentic engagement has started to change the way campaigning is done.

Only the willingness of Labour’s mass membership to fight made this strategy viable. Our numbers are even better this time round: Young Labour, the majority of whose leaders are Momentum members, is now an organisation of more than 110,000 people. And with its own membership of more than 40,000, Momentum now has a larger paying activist base than all but the largest UK political parties.

In last year’s Greater Manchester mayoral election, Andy Burnham beat the Conservative candidate, Trafford council leader Sean Anstee, by a landslide. While this was not a surprising result in the red bastion of England’s north west, Burnham also got nearly double the vote of Anstee in his home borough of Trafford.

Next week, the party hopes to go one better by winning the council from the Tories, who have run it for 14 years. Meanwhile the #Unseat campaign has been mobilising people in high-profile Tory seats since June last year – including those of Iain Duncan Smith and Jacob Rees-Mogg. I recently joined hundreds of activists for an Unseat day of action in Tory-controlled Wandsworth, all of whom are hoping to win this council for Labour for the first time in more than 40 years.

But to overcome relentless anti-left media bias, the mobilisation of hundreds and thousands of people is vital. For us, the “ground game” is no game at all, but a serious opportunity for everyone who is committed to reversing the devastating impact of austerity.

We can change Britain for the better not at the behest of media barons but because we are mobilising the “ordinary” people across the country whose needs politicians should put first. If we are successful, the combined might of our movement will lead to a significant disruption for Theresa May’s government on 3 May.

• Laura Parker is Momentum’s national coordinator