I have been published on Labour Hub. In the article, I reflect on the powerlessness of Labour’s ordinary members, and look at the long term plans of Labour’s right and PLP starting from Evan’s 1999 report proposing the destruction of membership rights and diminishing of the CLP influence.
I look at the introduction of all-member meetings and registered supporters and their later repeal and the reforms and their repeal to conference procedure that have the same effect.
I am of the view that the registered supporters made no [arithmetic] difference to Corbyn’s victories and the whole experiment was based on a right wing fantasy of their true popularity, as was their experimenting with all-member meetings. The true reason that they can’t win modern leadership elections is because the LP elects the most left wing person that they think can win. Corbyn won because we thought no-one could do so, and Starmer won because he lied.
On Conference, once the Parliament of the movement, I said,
The Blair reforms were designed to isolate the membership from policymaking. The creation of the NPF and the contemporary motion threshold for Conference made member-led policy formulation difficult. The restriction of the number of debates and the preference given to first-time delegates also made the development of policy, unless on the inside track, remote. This leadership have reintroduced the ‘contemporary’ criteria for motions and prohibit motions that reverse the NPF report. They have also abolished the right to ‘refer back’ parts of the NPF report.
Dave Levy @labourhub
I also comment and regret Labour’s poor use of even enclosed/private social media to develop policy and consult with members and supporters, although its difficult to do well. See Digg and Steemit.
I look and comment on Labour’s announcement that they plan to merge the Policy Director and Communications director illustrating a relegation of resource to policy development although they are paying £105K p.a.
Despite my sadness and feeling of powerlessness, I am standing for election to the National Policy Forum, if elected, I promise to consult and be available.