Tagged with NPF

Ed has one chance left to breathe life into the party’s policy process

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 movement, to harness the ideas, innovation and expertise that lies within“.

But there is another aspect to a good policy process. It must energise and enthuse the membership, give them (and even activists outside the party, trade unionists, and those campaigning against NHS cuts, bedroom taxes, work capability assessments, tax avoidance and the rest) a sense of ownership, recognition that they are being heard. But we remain a long way from this — and it’s down to Ed, even though, back in his leadership campaign, he recognised how necessary it was: Continue reading →

The People’s Policy Forum: a different sort of politics? Only if the people engage…

Mick Archer was at the People’s Policy Forum in Birmingham last Saturday.

“This is the time, this is the day we’ve been waiting for...” The chorus of Shine by Shannon Noll fades and Ed Miliband strides confidently on to the stage. Around him sit 1,000 people who have braved snow and sub-zero temperatures to hear the Labour Leader speak and to ask him unscripted questions. The session will last for 90 minutes and will be broadcast live. Questions will be submitted via email and Twitter as well as from those in the hall.

We are at the final session of the People’s Policy Forum in Birmingham’s International Convention Centre. Most of those present have already spent the morning at one of three One Nation Workshops on crime, health and the economy, or pitched their own ideas to Angela Eagle, Chuku Umunna and Lord Bassam in ‘The Lion’s Den’. Others have dropped in on a range of sessions taking place simultaneously in four zones covering the Economy, Society, Politics and International issues. It is, says Miliband, “about doing politics in a different way… about giving politics back to the people to whom it is supposed to belong, which is you.” Continue reading →

Opening up Labour’s policy process

On the face of it, Labour’s new all-singing all-dancing policy process is open for business. We’re pleased but it’s got a long way to go before we’ll see if it will make a difference. Will policy-making really become less top down? Will party members, constituency parties, and affiliates really have some influence or will the tracking system (which I haven’t yet located) merely trace the path of their views into the abyss? Will more than the geekiest amongst us really engage with it and how will we engage the rest?

We shall see. But in the meantime, there’s another more old-fashioned method of injecting new life into the process. An election. For the Joint Policy Commission (JPC) which oversees the process (unless it’s snatched away by the Leader and his policy review supremo). Until now, it has consisted mainly of yes-men (some women but this is, uniquely in the party, a body with no gender balance requirements). Most of whom don’t turn up. Now there’s a election, and a real chance of the odd critical friend emerging. Continue reading →

The state of party conference: fixing, stage management and interior decoration

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 is the constituency parties that bear the brunt of this – though Unite and other unions  were clearly resentful about it too this year – and we consider why it happens and how to end it. Continue reading →

Ed fails to deliver on his promise of empowering members

Where next for the party?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, once again, will be very different. If party members want a democratic party, they will have to fashion it themselves. And if trade union members do not want their members’ interests and concerns to be ignored again, they would do well to support those efforts, starting with rule changes submitted by CLPs for debate this year. Continue reading →