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Is annual conference rolling back party democracy?

In a personal view of Labour’s 2022 conference, Labour CND Vice Chair Christine Shawcroft suggests it’s slipping back into being a leadership rally

I didn’t have very high hopes for this year’s Annual Conference, but even so I was bitterly disappointed. You’d think that the Forde Report had never even mentioned factional behaviour by Party staff, and certainly not pronounced it completely unacceptable. Several delegates found themselves suspended or even expelled in the run up to Conference, two north London CLPs with very large card votes found that all their delegates were barred from attending Conference, and even a newly elected NEC member found herself suspended. Again.

We campaigned for many years to transform Annual Conference from a leadership rally to a democratic, decision- making Conference. We managed to get rid of the pointless time-wasting videos, the sofa chats, the unamendable Policy Commission documents (not to mention the policy statements which had never been anywhere near the National Policy Forum) and make more time for debate from rank and file delegates. Yet it’s all creeping back – and when there was time allocated for debate, it became clear that PPCs were being called to speak much more frequently than ordinary delegates.

The ‘theme’ of Conference could have been ‘Rolling Back Democracy’. There was an NEC Rule Change for the constituency reps on the Conference Arrangements Committee (CAC) to be elected by Conference delegates in future, instead of by a ballot of all members (usually called OMOV for One Member One Vote). The proof that this is a really backward step was shown on Tuesday, when the National Constitutional Committee (NCC) reps were elected by Conference delegates. The mis-named ‘Labour to Win’ faction had placed flyers calling for a vote for their candidates on the delegates’ seats. Now, leafletting inside the Conference centre is strictly prohibited by the Rules. Many times, I would try and sneakily give out CLPD leaflets, only to be stopped by Party staff. Putting leaflets out in the actual Conference chamber could not have been done in secret. After protests, there was an announcement from the platform the following day that there was to be no leafletting in Conference – coincidentally, there were no more elections left anyway.

However, the days weren’t all doom and gloom. The fringe meetings were often very useful, informative and inspiring. The CND fringe meeting was particularly good, with brilliant speeches from scientist and campaigner Stuart Parkinson, our dedicated supporter of peace and disarmament Jeremy Corbyn MP, and MPs Bell Ribeiro-Addy and Beth Winter. Our own Kate Hudson had also been due to speak, but had been unable to get a train due to the intransigence and refusal to negotiate of Avanti North West. There was standing room only at the meeting, and many young people, lots of whom made good contributions when the meeting was opened to the floor. The chilling descriptions of what a nuclear war would actually be like exposed all the macho posturing and demands for leaders to say that yes, they would ‘push the button’ if it came to it. What they’re promising to do would destroy civilisation and possibly the human race as well.

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Trident: NPF reps need your views

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Click to lobby your NPF reps.

George McManus is a member of the National Policy Forum from Yorkshire and the Humber region, and sits on it’s Global Role Commission.

Here he explains why you need to tell your NPF reps your own views on Trident replacement which will discuss Trident before Annual Conference.

 

“In recent weeks, senior Labour figures have been getting stuck into the Trident debate and the question of whether the UK should develop a new nuclear weapon system.

Des Browne, Labour’s former Defence Secretary, recently wrote in the Daily Telegraph, ‘Since 2006, important things have changed and it is time for a more honest debate about the defence choices facing the country’.

John Hutton and George Robertson hit back, writing ‘there is no magic alternative to Trident’

More recently, John Prescott, in the Sunday Mirror this week, said, ‘for David Cameron to claim that the North Korea situation proves why we must spend £20billion on a new Trident nuclear defence system is just absurd … let’s not be conned into replacing Trident, which as well as the £20 bilion price tag will cost £3 billion per year for the next 30 years to maintain.’

And former chief whip Nick Brown, wrote, ‘The answer to international uncertainty is not to buy the most powerful weapon system available and threaten all comers.’

So MPs and Peers are having their say – and they’re not all saying what you might expect. But what are the views of the party membership? How can ordinary members contribute to the debate?

Last year a meeting of the NPF’s Britain in the World Commission lots of NPF members expressed opposition to Trident replacement. But how many of you knew?

The official report said there were a variety of views and agreed that the same Commission should discuss Trident again this year.

This discussion may be hinged on the terms of the Lib Dem Trident Alternatives Review, but I think it’s important the party has a much more important debate, about whether we have nuclear weapons at all.

Being frank, my position right now is that we shouldn’t replace Trident – the UK shouldn’t have nuclear weapons.

The UK signed a deal in 1970 that we would get rid of our nuclear weapons. Both we and the Tories say we’re committed to that deal but no-one believes the Tories will carry it out.

I think we should do the right thing and stick to our promises on nuclear disarmament.

As a member of the Global Role Policy Commission, I am delighted that CLPs have been writing to me saying that there is no moral, economic or strategic case for Trident renewal.

But more importantly, I’m glad that we may now be in a position to have a mature debate about the issues. But this will only happen if you, the members, demand that such a discussion takes place.

The YourBritain website is a major step forward in facilitating this discussion and I would urge you to engage with it.

That’s why I’m delighted that Labour CND are encouraging you to write in to members of the NPF’s Global Role Commission and tell us your views on Trident.”

 

 

 

George McManus  

NPF CLP Rep Yorkshire & The Humber