Is Labour’s policy making process fit for purpose? Len Johnson looks at a modern process that’s not a patch on the old days.

The London Mayoral Manifesto Meeting was a strange event. There were no votes and not even plenary debates. The manifesto is largely written anyway, but there was no text before us. We have come a long way since the Manifesto Conference in October 1980 at which the programme of Ken’s first term as leader of the GLC was agreed – a long way in the wrong direction.

Then, there were heated debates and votes. There had already been extensive discussions about the details by policy working parties and by party members. The result ran to 50,000 words (complete with a Militant amendment calling on the next Labour Government to nationalise the banks, with compensation on the basis of proven need). I remember Ken’s disappointment and regret that, as Chair of the Transport working party (he was not yet Labour Leader), he had been forced to shift from a policy of abolishing bus and tube fares to a compromise with the trade unions of a 25% fares cut followed by a fares freeze. Happy days!

This time, Ken had already announced a 7% fares cut followed by a fares freeze and that he would reverse Boris’s cut of 1700 police jobs. At the conference, he revealed that housing would be his third priority. Given that the London Mayor has only a fraction of the GLC’s powers and the background of austerity, this is not a bad start (although we might have preferred a different emphasis). Ironically, it turns out that the last Labour Government did nationalise at least some of the banks.

The problem is that no one had even given thought as to who is responsible for making the policy, It’s not a priority issue for New Labour. It matters to activists, but not party officials. Nor can we blame Ken Livingstone, who had enough trouble wresting control of his campaign from party officials who were actively undermining it. Pressure from CLPs and Regional Board members eventually resulted in what could only be, at this late stage, a token effort.

The Conference was surprisingly well-attended. Most time was devoted to workshops, at which leading members of the London Assembly Group and Regional Board answered questions and dutifully took notes. Will any of the “suggestions” make their way into the manifesto? Possibly… a handful…

The lesson of this saga is about the importance of reforming the Party’s structure and policy-making process. The 1980 London manifesto conference took place in the middle of the last great attempt to democratise the Party. Control of the manifesto was one of the three key demands – alongside mandatory reselection and election of the leader by a wider franchise. The second issue of London Labour Briefing, as it then was, carried a front page lead by a young NUPE official and Regional Board member (one Jeremy Corbyn). Under the headine “GLC Manifesto: this time we’ll decide”, Jeremy contrasted London’s democratic procedure with that which had determined Labour’s General Election manifesto the previous year – an election which Thatcher had won.

This year, we have the possibility of serious reform of the policy process. The details of the trade unions’ submission to the Refounding Labour consultation have recently emerged. It involves a new annual policy cycle in which constituency parties and affiliates could propose amendments to between six and eight policy documents between October and March each year. Any policy positions that attracted at least 25% support within the National Policy Forum each June would go to Annual Conference in September for a final decision. This position could prove unstoppable – barring outrageous manipulations of conference procedures. This is a key priority for 2012. We’ll keep you posted.

Kate Osamor is a new name on the Centre Left Grassroots Alliance NEC candidates’ slate. She tells Briefing about herself, her political activity and why she is standing for Labour’s top body.

I am a Party member in Tottenham, CLP Women’s Officer and Chair of Governors of my local primary school – and I am standing for the National Executive Committee. For more than 20 years I have also been involved in a wide range of local community campaigns, such as defending social care provision and opposing NHS closures. I work to link up the local communities with the Party.

Unemployment is rising in Tottenham, with 6,607 people or 8.5% of the population claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance. With only 252 registered jobs on offer, it means there are 26 people chasing every position. More than a fifth of claimants are aged between 18 and 24, and more than half have been out of work for over six months.

The claimant count in Tottenham reached a peak last August, in the same month that riots left businesses torched along the High Road. Cameron’s response to the national  figures is disappointing and the Government has done little of use to get people back to work as they claim.  Six months on from the summer disorder, 30% of Tottenham businesses are still waiting for insurance payouts. Small business owners in Tottenham are being treated as second class citizens.

Despite this massive setback, traders are desperate to see construction work start on the £400m Northumberland Development Project. However, Tottenham Hotspur have abandoned their commitments to build 100 affordable homes and spend £1.2million on school improvements. Bearing in mind Northumberland Park Ward is one of the poorest wards in the UK, Tottenham residents were desperate to see the Spurs project move forward in order to ignite regeneration of the area. The whole face of Tottenham could change and bring in other investment, because people will see the stadium and look at Tottenham with fresh eyes.

Most recently I have been taking steps to encourage women in the borough to stand for political office and I am working with our GLA representative and local councillors to establish a councillor mentoring scheme for prospective women candidates.

On a local and national level, the main task confronting the Labour Party now is to put forward policies that can solve the economic problems created by the Government. The Tory view that wealth can be created by reducing peoples’ standards of living is plainly false. The result of their austerity programme has been deterioration in the economy. It is clear that the Government’s deficit reduction strategy is unfair and will disproportionately disadvantage women and families, particularly those on low incomes.

Many women choose to work in the public sector because it offers a pension and secure, flexible work which allows them to combine work with their caring responsibilities. In Haringey over 1,000 council employees lost their jobs last year. Over 75% of Haringey council workforce are female, meaning a disproportionate number of women have lost their jobs.

As the full impact of public sector job losses becomes clear, many women could find themselves having to take lower skilled work and a significant pay cut, or struggle to find work at all. This would be a shocking waste of talent and have a devastating impact on family incomes. Public sector job losses and welfare cuts will disproportionately hit women’s income and set progress on closing the gender pay gap back years.

Alongside the attacks on public sector jobs and pensions, women are more likely to depend on the welfare system and will be hit hardest by cuts to benefits. These include the three year freeze in the value of Child Benefit, in addition to the withdrawal of Child Benefit from women living in a household where one adult is a higher rate taxpayer. Also, the abolition of the Baby Element of Tax Credits (worth a maximum of £545 to eligible families) and a reversal of Labour’s commitment to introduce a Toddler Tax Credit (worth a maximum of £208 for eligible families) will hit women hard. The abolition of the Women’s National Commission, cutbacks and a review of the functions of the Equality and Human Rights Commission and cuts to legal aid are further examples of recent government announcements which will have a direct, negative effect on women. To that end I ask that you all support the needs of women and families during this time of austerity.

The Tories are creating a society that is less safe. They are offering no way forward: they resort to fostering division and whipping up prejudice. However, there is already significant opposition to the Government’s austerity programme. In March 2011, the TUC demonstration saw around half a million people march through London in protest against cuts in the public sector.

On 30th November last year, public sector workers joined in a mass walkout to protest against government pension reforms. Around 750,000 public sector workers voted for strike action across four sectors – health, education, civil service and local government. The Labour Party must provide a lead to this opposition and, since the Coalition attacks on the public sector will hit women hardest, women must be central to this opposition.

With Ed Miliband as leader we have come some way in rebuilding our lost support. Now the NEC needs to focus on developing policies and campaigns that pin responsibility for the current situation on the Government and indicate the difference Labour will make. Our message has to be one of decisive action to help people through these tough times. Labour should be investing in key sectors of the economy, including public services, to create jobs that will provide real help and support to families.

The party needs a range of people with different experiences at the NEC, to help ensure our campaigns are relevant across the electorate. With the involvement of a black woman, the NEC would better reflect the diversity of voters we seek to represent. We also need to reconnect with younger people who worry their future is being sold off to pay for the mistakes of the “buy-now, pay-later” generation.

I support core Labour values of social justice, peace and public ownership, particularly of the public services. I encourage party members to become more involved including getting more women to stand for office. The NEC’s focus must be on winning the next General Election and if elected I could use my breadth of experience to assist that work. I would take account of the views of party members and be accountable.

NEC Elections

Nominations for candidates for the NEC have to be returned by 30th March. Make sure your CLP has this on the agenda in March, if it hasn’t nominated already. Check that literature from candidates supported by the Centre Left Grassroots Alliance (CLGA) is available at meetings.

The is supporting three woman candidates: Ann Black, Kate Osamor and Christine Shawcroft. There are four excellent male candidates seeking nomination: Gary Heather, Ken Livingstone, Darren Williams and Pete Willsman. When nominations close, the CLGA will support the three who get the most nominations.

If your CLP secretary is geared up to using the CLP page on Membersnet, make sure they send in your nominations in good time and get an acknowledgement. If not (or just to be doubly sure – it’s surprising how things can get lost at party HQ), make sure your secretary sends the form in – by recorded delivery!

Darren Williams (Cardiff West CLP) reports on Wales Labour Party Conference.

Since May 2010 Wales’s First Minister, Carwyn Jones, has been the most senior Labour politician holding elected public office in Britain. So when Ed Miliband and other senior Labour figures visited Welsh Labour conference, as they did in Cardiff on 18th-19th February, a degree of humility is called for – along with a willingness to listen and learn. Here is a Labour Government that has, thus far, managed to retain office.

Miliband, Iain McNicol and Douglas Alexander duly paid tribute to Welsh Labour’s achievements. However, while Alexander was keen to co-opt the Welsh example of successful devolution for his campaign against the SNP’s independence plan, he was notably reticent about the content of the “distinctly Welsh social-democratic offer”. Its commitment to equality of outcome and rejection of the New Labour/Tory/Lib-Dem approach to the “reform” of public services contrasts too sharply with Scottish Labour’s more Westminster-friendly approach. Miliband heaped praise on Carwyn and Welsh Labour’s values of “community, solidarity and responsibility”, but again he had relatively little to say about the policies – although he did at least acknowledge, approvingly, that Wales had a rejected the “free market free-for-all” in the NHS.

Carwyn Jones’s own conference speech was a powerful re-statement of Welsh Labour’s commitment to “fairness and social justice”. On healthcare he was particularly emphatic, saying that Welsh Labour believed in “citizen-centred public services for all, not ‘choice’ for the few”, publicly funded and delivered. He added that the “privatisation and marketisation of the NHS will stop at the border” – although there are some concerns that the competition clauses in Lansley’s bill might affect Wales because only the UK as a whole is seen a relevant jurisdiction under EU competition law.

There was little controversy on the conference floor, with the motions tending to offer encouragement to the Welsh Government rather than criticism or demands. Aslef welcomed plans for a “not-for-dividend” Welsh rail franchise and Unite praised the launch of Future Jobs Wales, which will provide 4,000 16-to-24 year olds annually with six months of work or training at the national minimum wage.

As ever, some of the most interesting discussions took place at the fringes – particularly the well-attended meeting held by Welsh Labour Grassroots. Cardiff Council candidate Siobhan Corria argued that Labour needs to engage with local communities if it is to win back Welsh town halls and run progressive Administrations after 3rd May. Assembly Member and Welsh Labour policy guru, Mark Drakeford, excoriated Europe’s disastrous austerity policies and observed that the Obama Administration, in contrast, had promoted growth and jobs – although, in a grossly unequal society, the benefits were flowing predominantly to capital and the rich. He hoped that, in Wales, we could “get both the economics and the politics right.”

Unite and Labour NEC member Martin Mayer described his union’s strategy for building an activist base in the Party, able to develop and fight for socialist policies and secure the election of union-friendly MPs. Welsh Health Minister, Lesley Griffiths, reiterated Carwyn’s message about the NHS in Wales, reaffirming that reconfiguration would be governed by the best way to deliver quality services, not by neoliberal dogma. These discussions continue to play a vital role in arming activists for the battles ahead.

• Contact WLG at:33 Lansdowne Road, Cardiff CF5 1PQ, email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Simon Deville reports: Glasgow City Council has narrowly passed a £24 million cuts budget by 40 votes to 38. Before this Labour had a majority of 15 but now it may well lose overall control of the city.

When it became clear that the Labour Group was about to lose the vote, Council leader Gordon Matheson was saved by city treasurer Paul Rooney, who asked for an adjournment so that the Labour Group could consider the alternative budget put forward by the opposition parties. By all accounts Labour used this adjournment to avoid defeat, bullying and harrasing would be-rebels to change their votes. It has been reported that one of the rebels Anne Marie Millar was reduced to tears when it was hinted at that her disabled son would lose his job on a local quango if she voted the wrong way. Taxis were sent to bring in other councillors who were off sick.

Three councillors have resigned over the issue, and another three have had the whip withdrawn. This leaves Labour with just 43 councillors – including the three who have had the whip withdrawn – against 36 from other parties and independents.

Many Labour councillors were already angry following 17 sitting councillors not being allowed to stand again in the May elections. Veteran councillor Stephen Dornan wrote in his (public) resignation letter: “I believe that the decision to prevent my candidacy was taken under the dual influence of London officials who, as usual, think that they know best what the people of Govan and Glasgow need; and by cliques within the Labour Party in Glasgow.”

Three rebel councillors have registered a new party, provisionally called Glasgow Labour. They claim they will stand in over 20 seats which, given the balance within the council, could be enough to split the vote and lose Labour control of the council.