There's no better time than now for party reform

Many Labour activists breathe a sigh of relief when August comes around. The vast majority of Branches and GCs skip a month which leaves hard-working branch stalwarts to enjoy the sun rather than continue the often thankless task of drawing up the next agenda and trying to pull unseen members out of the woodwork to attend the next meeting.

These summer months also hold the promise of a real change in the party’s policy-making machinery and the way we communicate with the public following the launch of the Party’s consultation ‘Extending and renewing party democracy’ and the Fabian Society’s pamphlet ‘Facing Out: How party politics must change to build a progressive society’.

Some people with long memories will remember back to the 1999 21st Century Consultation party consultation which, with the exception of a few forward-thinking CLPs, resulted in very little change in the way local parties engaged their members and wider electorate. Now there looks like there might be a potential shift in the way the Party involves members in policy-making as well as ensuring local parties are more outward-looking.

Gordon Brown’s proposals include new rights for members to be consulted by the National Policy Forum (NPF) in policy discussions; a new contemporary issues process at Annual Conference; and making final NPF policy documents subject to a One Member One Vote ballot. This is a bold move to try and overcome the criticisms that submissions through the Partnership in Power process tend to disappear into a black hole and that little real debate takes place at the Party’s Annual Conference. Such a plan is not without its risks – while it’s important that the membership feels able to sign up to government policy, whole programmes of beneficial reform must not be stymied by implacable opposition to individual elements of the government’s yearly programme. A balance needs to be kept between ensuring that members’ views and ideas are used to shape future policy and the need to keep the fast pace of government business rolling.

The consultation also suggests that policy forums in every CLP would be given much better support and that there would be increased briefings for representatives on the NPF. This would be hugely welcome, but I wonder how this can happen without adequate resources. It would be a shame if members’ hopes were raised just to be dashed because of a lack of funding.

It’s the final proposal in the consultation which I find the most interesting. It suggests that there ought to be a duty on local parties, Local Groups and other party stakeholders to consult both their members and the communities in which they are based. The Fabian pamphlet focuses much of its attention in this area, arguing that political parties must change to engage more of the electorate or face inexorable decline. While maintaining the constitutional priority of membership, the report proposes creating a ‘variable model’ of participation in the party building on the principles behind the current Labour Supporters Network. Drawing heavily on lessons from successes in the NGO movement it suggests that the Labour Party needs to centrally support local activity which works with other organisations to build a progressive consensus behind Labour’s most compelling reforms such as Sure Start, tax credits and increased working rights.

All of this will require a lot more in depth thinking, and no doubt there are going to be some tough debates ahead with those in the party who feel this is a road to nowhere, or worse, a deliberate attempt by the centre to stifle debate on the left. It is neither of these things and a vibrant and frank debate about the future of the party could be another refreshing outcome of the new government, as long as this time we really make the change.

Comments

[Graeme Kemp]

The Labour Party needs to communicate more with its members!

Since joining over two years ago, I've had just two copies of the quarterly 'magazine'! Surely a party of government with thousands of members can manage something more regular and a bit more 'weighty'? If that means a subscription newspaper/magazine, so be it.