Ideas for electability – A voice for the voiceless (Labour Diversity Fund)

By James Mills

The Labour Party has traditionally always been the platform which gave a “voice to the voiceless”. However in recent years we have been a voice for the voiceless which is not quite the same thing. There is now a growing economic barrier in the form of the cost of candidacy, which will prevent us from creating a platform in parliament to allow unrepresented groups to be heard. Since starting the Labour Diversity Fund campaign I have had newly elected MPs tell me that they have spent anything from £4,000 to £10,000 in their selection process. This is well beyond the means of the average member let alone ordinary low and middle income voters.

The end result of this for me is best captured by a BBC poll in the middle of the last parliament which showed that almost 60% of white working class people felt unrepresented compared to well over half of all white middle class people who felt that they were represented at parliament. When you compare that poll with our share of the lower income D/E voters at the last election (down by a third to 40%) it tells the its own story.

This is shown even more brutally when one examines the social backgrounds of MPs over recent years. The total number of MPs who previously were from low and middle income background such as manual workers was 8% in 1997 this figure had reached 6% by 2005. Now in 2010 the current crop of MPs from manual working backgrounds equates to a mere 4%. Amongst Labour MPs the figures aren’t encouraging either. In 1998 13% of the 418 Labour MPs were from a manual working background, whereas by 2010 this has dropped to 9%.

Many people from under-represented groups will be disadvantaged by the cost of candidacy. Women, people from BME communities and disabled people are more likely to be in low paid employment meaning the cost of candidacy reduces their ability to be on an equal footing with other candidates. This means the very people who will be at the forefront of the cuts in this parliament will have a further barrier put in their way in terms of speaking out at the next election on these issues.

If we create a Labour Diversity Fund then a percentage, for example 5%, of all donations would go into the Fund and out of this central pot of money grants could be applied for by any member of the Labour Party from a low income background during the selection process. Subsidiary budgets for all unrepresented groups who are seeking selection as a candidate for the Westminster parliamentary elections would also then be created from this central pot. The Diversity Fund could also be drawn upon by Constituency Labour Parties to support the work of developing talented individuals from under-represented groups and to provide bursaries to individuals who would otherwise be unable to sustain the costs of candidacy. Even just a few pence in every pound could make a real difference to those that need help to stand, and would give a voice to those who struggle to be heard.

At the heart of all the ideas for electability on LabourList has been the ethic of speaking up on issues that affect those who cannot do so themselves. But there has to be a vehicle that allows individuals the opportunity to be able to do it for themselves. The solution to our electoral problems will only come from producing a more socially pluralistic and inclusive party that enables and empowers members from all social and economic backgrounds to be parliamentary candidates and ultimately MPs. However, the lion in the path to achieving this is the cost of candidacy. We must lance this boil if we are to truly return to being the ‘people’s party’ and rediscover that voice – the answer is the Labour Diversity Fund.