LABOURS AIMS TO CREATE A MASS PARTY FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

UNLIKE the Conservative Party, which is in hock to millionaire hedge fund managers and City financiers, Labour is in the process of creating a 21st century mass party.

There will be a special conference next month to decide on these changes that are designed to give a voice to millions of ordinary British citizens. The changes will also strengthen Labour’s historic links with the trade union movement.

The need for a strong trade union movement and a Labour Government in Britain is as essential today as it was in 1945. We need to capture that spirit of 1945 to shift the balance of power away from the rich and powerful into the hands of ordinary people.

QEUSTIONS & ANSWERS

Q: What is the proposal on the Labour-union link?
A: The federal structure of the party should be retained and Labour’s link with the trade unions also retained. Trade unions and other affiliates should continue to have a collective constitutional role inside party structures, but on a more transparent basis. After a transitional period of five years affiliation fees shall only be accepted on behalf of levy payers who have consented to the payment of such fees. At that point, the scale of a trade union’s collective affiliation shall be governed by the number of levy payers who have consented to the payment of affiliation fees.

Q: What does this mean for our relationship with trade unionists?
A: Levy paying trade unionists should have the ability to become affiliated supporters and to receive certain individual rights, by signing up to Labour values and providing the party with verifiable personal details.

These individual rights should include the right to be attached to a CLP and to vote in leadership elections. This means for the first time CLPs and MPs will be to properly involve affiliated supporters in the trade unions because they will have their contact information.
Affiliated supporters will not be able to represent the Labour Party or to participate in the election of party representatives – with the exception of primaries and leadership ballots – unless they join as full members.

Party systems should be in place to enable a new category of affiliated supporters to be established before the end of 2014.

Q: What do the reform proposals mean for how we elect our leader and deputy leader?
A: The reforms mean that all levy payers, current and future, will make a positive individual choice over the payment of affiliation fees to the Labour Party; and that those levy paying trade unionists should have an opportunity to choose to formally support the party on a direct personal basis.
The Labour Party would be able to conduct the ballot of those affiliated individuals directly. That means it will be possible to end multiple voting and to end the weighting of votes in the Electoral College. Therefore for the first time, moving to One Member One Vote is possible.

It is proposed that the Electoral College for leadership elections should be abolished and replaced in party rules by a new system based on the principle of OMOV. Multiple voting in leadership elections should be ended. The eligible electorate should be composed of members, affiliated supporters and registered supporters.

Members of affiliated organisations who are not already party members may take part in the ballot if they register with the party as affiliated supporters. This will require them to declare their support for Labour values, provide the party with personal contact details and be on the electoral roll.

Individuals who are not already party members or members of an affiliated organisation may take part in leadership elections by registering with the party as a supporter. This will require them to declare their support for Labour values, provide the party with personal contact details, be on the electoral roll and pay the party a fee.

Q: Why are MPs losing their share of the Electoral College?
A: The Electoral College reserving votes for members of affiliated unions and MPs is being abolished because we want a system which reflects OMOV principles. In the 21st Century it is wrong for someone’s vote to be worth 1,000 times more than someone else’s.

MPs will retain their role in nominating candidates for the leadership to reflect their unique perspective and duties. MPs will determine the field of candidates who go forward to the ballot. It is proposed to strengthen the role of MPs in nominating for the leadership and deputy leadership, and Ed Miliband is consulting PLP colleagues on what that should mean.

Q: Does this mean a change to how trade unions affiliate?
A: Yes. This gives people who pay the levy a direct choice about whether some of it can be used to support their union’s affiliation to the party. This is the first time, outside of Unison, that union levy payers will have been given such a choice.

Q. Doesn’t that apply just to new members?
A: It will apply first to new members but over the course of a five year implementation period it will apply to all members of affiliated trade unions.

Q: Why does it take five years to implement?
A: This was the time frame recommended by Sir Hayden Phillips and Sir Christopher Kelly, when they proposed changes to the way unions affiliate to Labour as part of wider proposals for party funding reform.

Q: What happens if people don’t reply within that five year period?
A: Then they cannot be counted as having affiliated to the Labour Party. The union is affiliated, but on the basis of the individuals who consent to fees being paid on their behalf.

Q. If they agree, do they automatically get a vote in leadership elections?
A: No. If they agree they will then be asked - in a separate process - if they want an individual relationship with the Labour Party. This means saying they support Labour and no other party and that they want to be registered as an affiliated supporter attached to a CLP who will receive communications directly from the party.

Those will need to register directly with the Labour Party and provide the party with their contact details including postal address.
They will also be asked to take part in local campaigns, fundraising and meetings.

Only then will they get a vote in leadership elections.

Q: What about the transition period? Will all the 3 million union members currently affiliated be eligible to vote in a leadership election?
A: No. Only those who have both given positive consent to paying a fee and then signed up to being Affiliated Supporters with all the conditions set out above will be eligible to vote.

If agreed at the special conference, the change to the rules for the leadership and deputy leadership elections would take place with immediate effect.

Q: But there have been reports that millions of union members are going to enter leadership election. Is that right?
A: It's wrong and based on a fundamental misunderstanding of how this works for FOUR REASONS.
1. Only those who have first given positive consent to paying an affiliation fee and then signed up separately to become an affiliated supporter will be able to vote.

2. The relationship is with Labour not with any other organisation. Affiliated Supporters and Registered Supporters are people who have decided they want to become part of our party and work with us.

3. The lists of Affiliated Supporters and Registered Supporters will be controlled by Labour. It is Labour which will issue the ballot paper and it is Labour which will ensure fair access to those lists for all candidates
4. It is patronising to think that individual trade union members or anyone else will have their minds made up for them because someone who runs their union supports one candidate or another.

Q: Who else will get a vote?
A: Party members and Registered Supporters from all walks of life who pay a fee to help fund the party. Ed Miliband wants to open this up as widely as possible so that anyone who supports Labour and is ready to help fund our campaigns can have their say.

Q: How is this different to what happens now?
A: We are abolishing the Electoral College which allowed multiple voting and gave different weight to different votes so that we have a system based on the principle of One Member, One Vote.

One of the biggest differences is that Labour will have the details of each Affiliated Supporter and the election will be run by Labour, not affiliates. Labour, not the affiliates, will issue the ballot papers. It will be up to the party to ensure that all the candidates can contact Affiliated Supporters directly.

Q: But won’t unions still be able to tell their members what to do?
A: No. Affiliated Supporters will be individuals and can make up their own minds. Affiliates will be able to campaign as much as any other organisation within strict spending limits. But the Affiliated Supporters will have a direct relationship with the Labour Party because they will have made an active choice to be part of the party.

Q: What happens to other affiliated organisations like the Fabians?
A: Members of socialist societies, like all members of affiliates, will only get a vote if they are already members of the party or register as supporters.

Q: Won’t these new Affiliated Supporters and Registered Supporters be getting the same rights as Members for a fraction of the cost?
A: No. Party members will still have rights which no-one else gets including selecting MPs, council candidates, standing for office and being officers of the party, being delegates to GCs, at Conference or the Policy Forum. And it is important to remember that we have lots of different rates of membership – such as £1 for members of the armed forces, for young people and for students.

Q: What would the role be of registered supporters and affiliated supporters in Westminster and Council selections and reselections?
A: Only full Labour Party members will be able to participate and vote in selections or reselections.

Q: What about the party’s finances – will we have enough money?
A: There is a five year transition period as recommend by Hayden Phillips and Kelly reports during which we will continue to receive affiliation fees. Although we favour a cap on all big donations this has to be done in agreement with other parties like the Tories who are disproportionately reliant on donations from millionaire hedge fund managers and City financiers. We do believe, however, that the introduction of Affiliated Supporters and the growth of Registered Supporters gives us new opportunities to change our funding base in favour of many small donors rather than a few big ones. Already our members and small donors give us more money than anyone or any organisation including the unions.

Q: What happens to the block vote at Conference?
A: There are 50% of votes reserved for delegates from affiliated organisations at Conference. Over the last 30 years this has come down from a proportion of around 90%. What these changes mean is that at the end of the five-year transition period, the voting strength of each union’s delegation will reflect accurately the number of members who have given positive consent to paying an affiliation fee.

Q: How will the transition be overseen?
A: After special conference an implementation group would be established to oversee transition, agree best practice guidelines and address any issues that arise.

Q: Why are you limiting primaries to just London when you said there was a case for using them in moribund constituencies too?
A: London is the right place to begin because it has an electorate of many millions of people and a mayoral contest for the biggest directly-elected position in Britain. We already have an Electoral College system in London for mayoral selections and we think it’s right to introduce a closed primary for affiliated supporters, registered supporters and ordinary Londoners who back Labour.

Q: What are the checks and balances for the London primary?
A: It is proposed to agree a rule change to give the NEC a power to determine when closed primaries may be used in a mayoral selection.
Registered supporters will be unable to participate without paying a fee and providing full contact details. This will enable electoral register checks and other oversight by the NEC.

Q: What happens next?
Labour’s NEC will discuss the proposals for party reform this month. If agreed, rule changes will be put to a special conference on March 1st.