On Friday, Angela Eagle claimed that “the way that we make policy in the Labour Party is changing“. But for delegates to Labour’s national policy forum in Birmingham this weekend, the jury is out on whether the times they are a-changing, or the policy process just ain’t going nowhere. Certainly, Angela’s words are carefully chosen. […]
Posts Tagged ‘Party Conference’
Ed has one chance left to breathe life into the party’s policy process
Apr 4th, 2013 by Jon Lansman.What makes a good policy process? A process that produces good policies, of course. Policies that are radical, innovative, resonate with our target voters and are up to dealing with the problems Labour will inherit. And Ed Miliband promised, through Refounding Labour, to give it to us – “to draw on the whole of our […]
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London Labour: in need of some refounding
Feb 20th, 2013 by Jon Lansman.In a packed hall a mile from London’s Olympic park, the London Labour Party’s biennial conference was in bullish mood this last weekend. In spite of the loss of last year’s mayoral election, delegates and platform alike sounded confident that London Labour is in good shape electorally, as well as determined and radical in its […]
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Ann Black’s report from September’s Labour executive and conference
Oct 11th, 2012 by Ann Black.National Executive Committee (NEC), September / October 2012, in London and Manchester NEC Meeting, Tuesday 25 September Ed Miliband previewed the themes of his conference speech: continuing to attack the Tories for unfairness, incompetence and failure even in their own terms; showing how Labour could make a difference now; developing an economy that works for everyone; and […]
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The state of party conference: fixing, stage management and interior decoration
Oct 9th, 2012 by Jon Lansman.Labour conference last week was as frustrating as ever. Stage management is thriving: new decor, billowing flags, ever changing sofa arrangements. Orchestrated panel discussions on the sofa and lectures from American philosophers still take precedence over delegates. Much effort is still made to control what gets onto the agenda, and who gets to speak. It […]
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Ed fails to deliver on his promise of empowering members
Sep 26th, 2012 by Jon Lansman.At Labour’s national executive yesterday, Ed Miliband failed to deliver on his leadership campaign promise to give members more say in policy making. The final package of Refounding Labour measures they have agreed is shrouded in the language of empowering members, as were those introduced by Tony Blair in 1997 and Gordon Brown in 2007. The reality, […]
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Labour’s policy statements published in secret, members’ opinions suppressed
Sep 18th, 2012 by Jon Lansman.The posting, sometime in the past couple of weeks, of the national policy forum annual report on membersnet, Labour members’ private intranet, reveals that little has yet changed in the way Labour makes its policy since the bad old days of New Labour. No press release, no email to members, no reason why anyone would […]
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What does Party Conference say about us?
Aug 31st, 2012 by Darrell Goodliffe.Mark Ferguson has kicked off an interesting debate over at LabourList about Party Conference. Let me start with where I agree with Mark. Many of his substantive criticisms of Party Conference being nothing more than a glorified social gathering with little real role or power in deciding the course the Party takes are, of course, […]
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Time for motions to Labour conference (though they’ll do their best to stop you)
Aug 23rd, 2012 by Jon Lansman.You have only four weeks left to submit motions to Labour’s annual conference in Manchester which starts on 30 September. The deadline for submission is 12 noon on Friday 21 September (here’s the letter inviting them). We set out below some draft motions which have been proposed by CLPD and Labour CND which you may find […]
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At last, let’s have a policy process which empowers members
May 21st, 2012 by Jon Lansman.Last week we welcomed Ed’s replacement of Liam Byrne with Jon Cruddas and his nomination of Angela Eagle to chair Labour’s national policy forum. The fact was that Liam Byrne had wasted 18 months without any genuine advance in the policy review, and Peter Hain had failed to establish a working model of member participation […]
