How to lose members and alienate people

Sometimes – nay, oftentimes – the structures and processes of the Labour Party leave me utterly lost for words. The embarrassing problems with local Labour ‘democracy’ were laid bare at my last constituency meeting.

First up, we had a motion with seemingly no proposing branch. After minutes of discussion about who brought it forward, someone finally pipes up and stakes their claim on the motion. The fact that the proposers couldn’t remember they’d even put the motion forward did nothing to convince me or their belief in, or passion for its contents.

Secondly, we had a divisive motion on Israel and Palestine congratulating our MP for signing an Early Day Motion. Since when was a motion required to congratulate anyone? Call him, write to him, or the next time you see him, just shake his hand. Much of the debate came down to whether the proposer could prove something. Suffice to say, they couldn’t – or at least they could offer up no more ‘proof’ than I could obtain after about ten minutes of browsing biased websites and the ultimate uncertainty of Wikipedia on my iPhone. If you want me to quickly understand a complex issue, then you’ve got to convince me with information, and reassure me to have the confidence to support you.

Most shamefully, the local party turned its back on someone wanting to get involved and make a difference. I have voted for quotas, positive action and greater equality whenever I’ve had the chance. At this meeting, someone put themselves forward to be involved (and indeed had gone through all the due processes of a branch nomination) as a constituency officer. The Labour Party Rule Book states that half the full officers must be women and I have no issue with this rule. It is worth noting that the constituency isn’t fulfilling this rule and hasn’t done so for some time. For some reason, the meeting chose a moment when someone was actively putting themselves forward as the only nominee for a crucial campaigning role to pay attention to that fact.

Funnily enough, there isn’t really any sort of sanction for breaking the party rules. The sanctions exist, but they are completely toothless. They state that whilst the General Committee must take steps to ensure the rules are followed, any complaints are initially referred to the Executive Committee, which becomes problematic if the Executive Committee is not constituted according to the rules…

Ironically, people asked who had specifically targeted women in the constituency to run for the position, having listened seconds earlier to a speech by the candidate pledging to focus on equality and diversity and in particular to encourage more women to put themselves forward for such roles. Rather than recognise this pledge and welcome someone who has put themselves forward for a voluntary position, the meeting chose to argue about what had and had not been done, rather than focus on the future and embrace the motives and ideas of someone clearly committed to making change.

An alternative was proposed by the chair and nominee that they act in an ex-officio capacity until the annual general meeting when the re-election of all roles would take place again anyway. However, rather than accept the sensible proposals and have someone in place to, you know, do the work, the meeting decided in an act of sacrificing democracy for expediency to postpone the issue rather than act decisively.

Rules become ridiculous when they prevent us getting things done. I have been a Labour Party member for fewer than two years. The Labour Party is undoubtedly the right vehicle for my idealism, but often it seems utterly incompatible with my pragmatism.