The NEC held its bi-monthly full meeting on 29 March.
The key item of business was Peter Hain introducing the consultation document on party structural reform. I would encourage you all to read it – www.refoundinglabour.org – and submit your views both as individual members and through your CLPs and affiliated organisations. The role of registered supporters in party elections is clearly the proposal likely to generate the most heat. The consultation ends on 24 June and concerns were expressed that this means a very tight timetable – CLPs will need to discuss their responses at their May GCs.
A report was presented on the May elections. A Labour majority is just about possible in the Welsh assembly but in Scotland the electoral system precludes this. Cold water was poured over predictions by psephologists that Labour might gain 1,000 council seats – this would imply a 10 per cent swing from the Tories which is not what the opinion polls are saying. I was pleased to hear that a major effort has gone into fielding more council candidates in regions which were short of candidates in 2007 when these wards were last fought. The percentage of seats being contested is up in all except one region, and by 26 per cent in the southwest, 25 per cent in the east of England, 22 per cent in the west Midlands, and 10 per cent in the southeast. This is extremely important as it means voters will hopefully not be confronted by ballot papers with just the two coalition parties on them.
Ed Miliband gave his report and said he was focusing the political message on the gap in living standards between the people right at the top and the squeezed middle, and on public concerns that the next generation will not have a better life than this one. He thought that a very weak Liberal Democrat performance in the local elections would precipitate thinking among Liberal Democrats about what Nick Clegg’s impact is on their party. From the elections through to conference issues would be:
• The party reform debate – Ed wants members and union members to feel they have more of a voice in the party; CLPs to be genuine community organisations and outward looking in their communities; a bigger role for councillors and other currently underrepresented stakeholders in party decision-making. If members have more rights than now, membership will remain distinct from the new supporter status.
• To consolidate policy thinking so that our message is not just about the cuts now but about how we build a successful economy in the future.
• Replacing Ray Collins who is stepping down as general secretary having taken a party that was in deep trouble and stabilised it.
• Ramping up pressure on the government over the NHS reforms.
Ed concluded by saying the party was far more united and focussed on fighting the Tories and Liberal Democrats than anyone had predicted a year ago or had been the case last time we went into opposition.
We also had a report from Ed Balls – his first to the NEC. He said the budget was a non-event that just confirmed Osborne was sticking to the dangerous course set in his June 2010 budget. It wasn’t working as the economy was flatlining, unemployment was up, inflation was up. People are no longer saying there is no alternative, they are asking what our alternative is. The questions for the next election are whether we can deliver a strong economy and run the public finances in a sound way. He reminded us that the Tories had attacked us for being too tough on banking regulation in the last decade, not too soft, as was now clear was the case. We hadn’t regulated enough but nor had any other country. But we had not spent too much – our national debt was lower than that of other major countries when the global financial crisis started. Economic credibility will come by Labour setting out a strategy for more fairness, stronger economic growth and a more balanced economy versus the government’s ideological cuts to the size of the state.
He set out our basic economic narrative as ‘It was a global recession, not made in Britain. We had turned the economy round by May 2010. Osborne is cutting too deep and too fast so unemployment is going up and the recovery is faltering. There are tough choices needed to tackle the deficit but it needs to be done steadily and whilst creating jobs to sustain the recovery.’
Other business included:
• The NEC officers said they will discuss the next steps of an investigation into the Tower Hamlets mayoral election.
• Members of the Joint Policy Committee expressed their unhappiness that one of the Liberal Democrats co-opted onto a shadow cabinet policy review as part of outreach to anti-coalition Liberal Democrats had been exploiting that position in his council election material.
• It was agreed that an NEC panel, including me, would look into issues regarding council selections in Birmingham after 5 May.
• Tribute was paid to Tom Watson MP, Michael Dugher MP and Paul Nicholson as Agent for their role in the Barnsley Central by-election victory, which had seen the highest swing to Labour in a by-election since 1997.
• It was announced that the next NPF meeting will be in Wrexham on 25 June.
• Rachel Maskell of Unite was co-opted onto the trade union division of the NEC to replace Diana Holland who is now treasurer.
• The dispute reported on some blogs over whether trade unions had to have 500,000 members before they could have two NEC members was resolved as it was clear the NEC view was that this pre-1997 requirement had never been re-agreed by conference and had been erroneously reinserted in the rulebook and should be removed.