One of the most encouraging aspects about the National Policy Forum I chaired in July was that, amongst the serious debate about our current priorities, the discussion was alive with new ideas. This was wholly consistent with my experience of the NPF over the last six years. I would not have expected anything less.
The Labour Party is setting the pace with our way of making policy through the NPF and local policy forums. Parties on the European left are looking with great interest at our model. They have noted that the policy forums encourage participation, high-quality discussion and robust policy.
The challenge that faces us now is to develop the Partnership In Power process. We must facilitate robust debate and capture ideas that are produced in local policy forums across the country.
In the second cycle of Partnership in Power we can reach beyond the party and involve local communities in the process. Those involved in delivering and using public services have a great deal to teach us about what works and what doesn’t, and can feed us new innovative ideas based on local experience. Local parties will be strengthened if we can reach out to the community more, in a two-way dialogue whereby we seek views on future policy and campaign on our achievements.
Members of Parliament can play an important role here by helping to interest and involve local community groups. We can link up with local tenants’ groups, residents’ and neighbourhood associations, health groups and patient forums, black and ethnic minority groups, local regeneration projects and trade unions.
But improving and strengthening the Partnership In Power process will require big changes. We need to relaunch and invest in the system. All branches and constituencies need to be involved. Members need to feel confident that the outcomes of their discussions are fully taken into account by policy commissions and the NPF. We need to help members track the progress of their ideas through the system by using new technology to improve information flows. We should be proud of ideas that are kicked off at a local level and become national policy.
As chair of the NPF I will be consulting with its members and with conference delegates on new proposals for the next programme of policy development. These proposals will be discussed at the NPF in November. We welcome comments on the process from all perspectives, in order that we can build on the best of what we have achieved so far. I hope that members and local parties, trade unions and socialist societies will feed in their comments about how the process can be strengthened and improved.
Our commitment and vision to renewing democracy should be reflected in the way in which we reform our party. I believe that the relaunch of our Partnership In Power system can energise our party democracy and ensure real quality in our policy making. Rt Hon Robin Cook MP is Chair of the National Policy Forum