Ask someone why they join the Labour Party and it is likely that they will tell you that they want to make a difference. Through working and engaging with local communities, having a stake in party policy and campaigning for Labour in local and national elections, they want to effect change in society for the better.
Yet, after ten years in government, party membership has declined, activism in many areas is low and many members feel disengaged from the policymaking process.
As a party, we need to look outwards. Not only do we need to re-engage with our members, we also need to reach out to local communities. Local Parties that reach out to the community around them have proved that through this collectivism they can achieve so much more. Take Lambeth as an example; a mini-Warwick agreement between the local party and local trade union branches showed the party‘s ability to be outward looking and dynamic. The result was clear; Lambeth enjoyed the biggest swing to Labour in the country in the 2006 local elections.
Gordon Brown’s consultation, ‘Extending and Reviewing Party Democracy’ which was broadly welcomed by the NEC when he presented it at the Manchester Conference recognises the two-fold need to better engage with local communities whilst at the same time enfranchising members by giving them more ownership in the policymaking process.
At the heart of the consultation is the role of the National Policy Forum (NPF) and Partnership in Power. As a London Representative on the NPF for five years, I have witnessed local members’ declining confidence in the NPF process. All too often, members do not know who their regional NPF representatives are. They may have never attended a local policy forum, and if they have, their qualitative experience of it may have been low. If they made a submission in response to a NPF policy document, it is unlikely that they would have received any feedback. This has led to a loss of trust in the policy-making process.
Local policy forums can also become insular, not engaging with the community around them. For example, education policy forums need to reach out to local stakeholders – teachers, school governors and the teaching unions. Through working with local communities, sharing their concerns and listening to their experiences, the party is at its strongest.
Brown’s proposals for strengthening Partnership in Power should be welcomed. But for the proposals to work, local policy forums must be of a high standard and allow for member participation and debate rather than simply providing a platform for keynote speeches from ministers. Regional offices must be given the support and resources to run effective regional policy forums.
Representatives on the NPF must be given policy documents well in advance of meetings so that they can consult with their constituents before debating them at the NPF. And for members to have a renewed confidence in Partnership in Power they have to receive feedback on policy submissions so that they have a stake in the process. A new Executive of the National Policy Forum, accountable to party members, will help to ensure that the NPF can achieve these aims.
With this renewed democracy from the very start of the policy making process, it is only right the members should be involved with the process until its conclusion. That is why the consultation also looks at the role of party conference.
As a Party we should not be afraid to reform our structures. Where our policy process is leaving members feeling disenfranchised, we should not cling to the status quo, but instead ask ourselves important questions about what we can do better.
The contemporary resolution structure fails to engage the vast majority of members in policy making. Late night composites at party conference with only a handful of other members present and frustration when resolutions are ruled out of order for not being contemporary add to a sense of disillusionment. It’s equally frustrating when important issues are ignored. Take corporate manslaughter as an example. A resolution passed at conference last year calling for jail sentences for Directors convicted of corporate Manslaughter, supported by unions and my own CLP, Lewisham Deptford, has not been implemented, leaving the members and unions involved feeling as though they have not been listened to.
That is why I welcome Gordon’s proposals that contemporary issues be referred back from conference to the strengthened NPF, for detailed scrutiny involving all the stakeholders. The Sustainable Communities Commission Housing subcommittee is an example of how this can be achieved. Made up of representatives from the government, constituencies and trade unions, they have built up a consensus about the future of social housing. It is this consensus building which will drive forward a policy agenda that members can share ownership of.
And because we need to give members a stake in the policy process from start to finish, I welcome the proposal that, once per parliament, the membership will be given a vote on the party programme. Such a move would enfranchise the membership, through debate, dialogue and then by decision.