Reset the Labour Party

After a disastrous result in the recent Gorton and Denton byelection, when Labour lost a safe seat to the Greens and came in third after Reform, figures from many left and centre left Labour Party groups have come together in support of a statement entitled Reset the Labour Party, including Mainstream, Momentum, and CLPD, the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy.

As Sheffield Labour & Cooperative Councillor Minesh Parekh and Kerry Postlewhite, chair of Mainstream Labour say in a LabourList announcement, they have come together ‘not because we agree on everything, because we don’t. But because we agree on something fundamental: that Labour succeeds when we are broad, open and pluralist; when our party listens to its members; and when it reflects the diversity of views that exist across our movement.’

In contrast to ‘the insular, centralising approach’ of the current leadership, Reset the Labour Party (RtLP) statement calls for a different path which includes:

• fair taxation of the wealthiest
• real investment in public services
• taking essential services like energy and water into democratic ownership, and
• promoting peace and internationalism abroad.

May Elections Threat to Labour

The statement recognises the growing electoral threat exposed by Gorton and Denton – and the Caerphilly and Runcorn & Helsby byelections in 2025 and 2024 respectively – as well as the difficulties Labour is facing in Wales, Scotland, and England on 7th May 2026. This is the biggest set of elections since the 2024 general election.

Voters in Scotland and Wales will elect representatives to the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Senedd. Around 5,000 seats across 136 local councils in England are up for election, They include 30 councils where the government had planned to postpone elections until May 2027. Six Greater London mayoral elections will also take place in Croydon, Hackney, Lewisham, Newham, Tower Hamlets and Watford.

Restoring Democracy

The statement signed by Labour MPs, a Welsh Senedd member, councillors, trade unionists, from around Britain, pledges to reset the party. MP signatories include those associated with the Socialist Campaign Group, Mainstream, and the Tribune Group.

Labour can only survive, they say, if the government delivers for people and communities. The signatories call for:

• rebuilding basic democracy, pluralism and fair process within our party
• restoring genuinely open parliamentary and other selections
• ending the suspension of MPs for legitimate scrutiny of the government, and
• moving away from the kind of top-down control that prevents local members from choosing their own representatives and engaging in meaningful debate and participation.

The statement identifies the upcoming National Executive Committee elections later this year as an opportunity to reset. Statement signatories include Centre Left Grassroots Alliance (CLGA) and Mainstream candidates for seats in the CLP section.

LABOUR CND SAYS

Labour CND supports the Reset the Labour Party statement’s broad commitment to ‘promoting peace and internationalism abroad’.

We welcome the RtLP’s statement’s commitments to fair taxation of the wealthiest, real investment in public services, and taking essential services into democratic ownership, We regret the absence of a commitment to cut back on military spending in the RtLP statement.

The Labour government’s commitment to European rearmament is already diverting much-needed resources away from investment in public services. Cutting military spending, rather than acceding to Nato’s demand for 5% of GDP on defence, is an important factor in achieving real investment in public services and taking essential services like energy and water into democratic ownership.

With no end in sight to the continuing cost of living crisis faced by the majority, the US-Israel war on Iran is now driving up energy prices. We have already seen its effects at the petrol pump and in heating oil costs. If the Labour government takes adequate steps to ameliorate this burden on the household budgets this is to be welcomed. With no clear end to the war in sight, however, economists are already warning that rising oil prices could tip the world into a global recession.

A commitment by all progressives in the Labour Party to cut military spending plans is indispensable.

Labour CND will continue to prioritise support for CLGA candidates in the NEC elections, whose platform includes a clear statement for peace, defence of international law and against racism:

The Government must be much bolder in supporting peace and justice internationally, and stand up to Trump’s belligerent agenda for US dominance. The government should act on last year’s overwhelming Labour Conference vote to suspend arms sales and trade with Israel and recognise the genocide in Gaza, as well as take the approach of the 2025 Trades Union Congress in prioritising wages not weapons by cancelling proposed increases to military spending. Instead of pandering to Reform, Labour must reverse its plans to attack migrant rights and make our asylum system even more draconian. Labour should not be attempting to out-Reform Reform and instead champion the contributions of migrants to society.