Time to transform Labour

By Gavin Hayes

On the eve of an historic Labour conference Compass has published a 10 point charter for party renewal Transforming Labour that we believe if implemented could represent a new covenant between the party leadership and the wider membership and rebuild the basis for mutual respect and greater trust. In essence it is a plan to re-empower Labour’s grassroots and build the foundations for a genuine movement for real and meaningful change.

In its clause IV the Party states clearly: ‘The Labour Party is a democratic socialist party. It believes that by the strength of our common endeavour we achieve more than we achieve alone.’ If Labour is to rebuild and revive, crucially it must become the change it wishes to see in the world. It must become democratic again.

It must embrace and include its members and supporters in ways that will enable it truly to become the party that achieves more than it can achieve alone by the strength of the common endeavour of its members. It must hand power back to every Labour Party member and give them far more say over the party’s future, so that power is in the hands of a movement of the many, not just a machine of a few leaders at the top.

To become a real movement for change once again, the party must become a moral crusade for its values, principles and the good society. Harold Wilson once said ‘The Labour Party is a moral crusade or it is nothing.’ When Labour transforms itself into a moral crusade for its values it will win back the hearts and minds of not just hundreds of thousands of party members, but also millions of progressive people across Britain.

In the future the Labour Party and the way that it is run should be a precursor to the way we want to run the country. Labour should look and feel like the good society it seeks to create: it should be a party that promotes tolerance, rights, respect, openness, democracy and inclusion, and treats its people – Labour members – on equal terms. A party that cannot trust its own members cannot expect to win the trust of the British people.

This is why we have set out today some ideas for the party’s organisational renewal under a new leader. Whilst they may not be an exhaustive list of changes, we do nonetheless believe that if implemented they would act as a sea-change for a process of implementing the deeper cultural and institutional changes the party urgently changes.

Now is the time for all sections of the party and all sections of our movement worked together to transform Labour.

The charter for party reform to transform Labour

1. The chair of the Labour Party should be elected by a one-member one-vote ballot.
2. Before a general election there should be a process by which all Labour Party stakeholders are given the opportunity to submit their ideas for the manifesto, followed by a one-member one-vote ballot of Labour members on their top ideas for inclusion in the manifesto.
3. Immediately after a general election a formal process should be initiated involving all Labour Party stakeholders to debate and restate Labour’s traditional aims and values.
4. The Labour Party conference should be given a formal policy-making role; any resolution receiving the support of at least 2% of all Labour Party members should be guaranteed to be debated and voted on at annual conference.
5. There should be a mechanism for holding a party referendum as part of the formal policy-making and constitutional renewal process; any referendum question receiving the support of at least 5% of all Labour Party members should be put to a one-member one-vote ballot.
6. The chair of Young Labour should be made a full-time sabbatical support office, in paid employment and elected annually.
7. There should be an annual youth conference.
8. Incumbent MPs should face an automatic formal mandatory reselection process before every general election.
9. Local parties should be granted more flexibility in their organisation, adopting a structure that best suits their circumstances, while meeting minimum standards nationally.
10. Primaries should not be imposed on the party from the top or rushed to be implemented, not least before first adopting other reforms to re-empower the membership first and only then after an extensive consultation linked to a final democratic vote of the wider membership.

Gavin Hayes is the General Secretary of Compass.