Ed Miliband is taking some very big risks with his proposals for the union link today. Open selection primaries, which the Blairites are pressing for, are a nonsense if it means members of the general public, the majority of whom are not Labour supporters, are permitted to choose a Labour parliamentary candidate from a list supplied by the party. The 60-70% who are non-Labour will simply choose the one they think they can most-easily beat.
Indeed, why should Labour Party members, registered supporters and levy payers be deprived of the right to choose the person whom they will then be expected to support at the election? That’s one crucial issue that must be faced up to squarely before this appendage from Falkirk is set in stone. But there’s another equally important issue. How will Ed’s proposal for a contracting-in method of paying the political levy be made to work?
