Labour’s National Policy Forum meets on Saturday for the first time since our defeat at the general election. In addition to discussions with shadow cabinet ministers on current policy issues, NPF members will also get an opportunity to set out their views on the Labour party’s current review of the Partnership in Power policy process.

The review of process is just as important for Labour as the discussions we’ll have on policy issues – if we get the process right we’ll get the policies right. If we’re getting the policies right then it’s more likely the public will think of us as in touch and on their side.

We shouldn’t be fearful of radical change to the policy process. But we should start with some truths about what happens now. We operate under an illusion that members make policy. More specifically, we operate under the illusion that members used to make policy and now don’t so much. This has never been true. When we had a resolution based conference, policy was made in smoke filled rooms with deals between ministers or shadow ministers and trade union leaders who commanded 90 per cent and then 50 per cent of the vote on conference floor. The Partnership in Power system has massively increased member involvement in policy making but the feedback mechanisms were never sufficient. Members felt like their submissions went into a black hole and NPF policy commissions didn’t respond to their concerns.

The starting point for the review then has to be a clear understanding of what we want to achieve with the policy process – establishing policy propositions that reflect our values and our desire to advance the causes of social justice and greater prosperity for working people and, crucially, are attractive to voters, chiming with the hopes and aspirations of those we seek to represent.

Meeting these criteria requires a policymaking process with the following characteristics:
• It must be rooted in the experience of ordinary working people – there must be mechanisms in our policymaking for members and for our wider supporters, from trade union members to Labour voters, to let us know what they want, and critically if our proposals have unintended consequences

• It must balance the interests of different groups from trade unions to environmental groups, from voluntary organisations to business interests, from pensioners to students – there must be mechanisms in our policymaking for external organisations to feed in their views and provide new ideas

• It must be considered and deliberative – complex issues like welfare reform, the future of the UK independent nuclear deterrent or the balance between protection for workers and flexibility in the labour market should not be reduced to simple yes or no questions

Our policymaking must draw on the widest possible range of inputs and it cannot be based simply on members votes – issues needs to be properly debated and our leadership must then be trusted to make some of the complex decisions after listening to the party’s and wider public’s views. The Partnership in Power review should judge any proposals for new structures and processes on the extent to which they possess these characteristics.

Now is the time to be honest about the limits of the role that 200,000 members or three million affiliated members can play. We should do everything we can to ensure they can contribute to our policy process – using traditional communication methods and social media tools – and give them confidence that their views are heard and considered at the highest levels. We should also be honest that that the leadership of our party, democratically elected by MPs, members and unions, should be given space to lead. We put our leaders there so must trust them to make leadership decisions.

Let’s be clear that members and affiliates should have the opportunity to put significant, public, moral pressure on the party leadership through our policy process. And let’s also be clear that the leadership needs to be held to account and justify decisions they make when entrusted to make them.

This review presents a rare opportunity to have an open and honest dialogue with party members and affiliated members about how they can maximise influence in developing policy and how they can ensure our policy making process is mature, inclusive and outward looking. We shouldn’t allow those who want to return to a past that never existed or hide behind warm words and rhetoric to impede radical change.