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 wide ranging policy discussions. Unfortunately the reality is that Refounding Labour passed by the London Labour Party. It’s run from HQ, and the only devolution that’s going is to town hall bosses. Continue reading
Tagged with Party Rules
Labour candidate selection: UPDATE
Yesterday we reported on changes to Labour’s parliamentary candidate selection procedures. We did so on having spoken to members of the executive about the meeting and the content of the papers they had received. Unfortunately, we got it wrong in some respects — and fortunately the changes turn out to be better than we’d understood (though improvements are still needed). However, the reason we got it wrong is that executive members were not provided with updated papers agreed by its organisation committee. If they are not members of that committee, or if they were not physically present when the updated papers were tabled, they were not made aware of what they were agreeing — such is the low status of the national executive in the management of the party. Continue reading
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Labour executive tinkers with candidate selection but radical surgery needed
(With Postscript on by-elections and late selections and please also see this update)
Selecting a parliamentary candidate in a winnable seat is perhaps the greatest influence a party member has on the political process. And it might happen only once in 20 or 30 years. You would think Labour’s national executive would give it serious consideration once in a while, and especially after the furore in Rotherham two months ago but yesterday it nodded through a revision to Labour’s selection process without discussion. The change is a first stab at improving the process and moves it in the right direction, but there is still a long way to go. Continue reading
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Ann Black’s report from September’s Labour executive and conference
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 giving a sense of the kind of countryBritain could be with Labour in government. Continue reading
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Ed fails to deliver on his promise of empowering members
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
