A cold but optimistic day in Gillingham

By Emma Hoddinott

Saturday was the first meeting of the National Policy Forum since I was elected by party members in Yorkshire and Humber over the summer. The purpose of the day was to launch a new direction for our party in terms of party reform and policy debate. We’ve spent the months since the election looking back at our mistakes and re-running our defeat. So, it was refreshing to have a meeting that focused on the future and more importantly focused on our policies and setting out an alternative to the coalition.

It is a long road ahead, with the next general election not likely till 2015. There is a balance to be struck between setting out our broad aims and values against tying us down to detailed policy which will not be relevant in four years time. The National Policy Forum therefore flung open its doors and launched these two reviews with Ed Miliband’s keynote speech.

Party Reform

The document Partnership into Power is a review of the Labour Party policy making process. The National Policy Forum is just part of the structure in place including Annual Conference that formulates our policy. I attended a workshop about this review on the day. Initial thoughts are that the structure is not that bad, and includes all parts of our movement, but the process has not been great. Too many CLPs have spent time organising policy forums, writing up good submissions then watched them fall down a black hole, with no feedback as to what happened to their ideas. As a start, Peter Hain committed to ensuring there was an audit trail of policy submissions. Luke Akehurst made a good point in my workshop that some of the infrastructure at CLP and regional level has disappeared, and we need to ensure this is addressed so those members rooted in communities can feed their views up. This sense of cynicism felt by members that previously engaged in our policy process will have to be overcome for any new reforms to succeed.

Policy Consultation Launch

The party needs new politics and fresh ideas. The economy, government and people’s lives have changed dramatically since the election and we need a new narrative to address that. Liam Byrne is heading up a policy consultation : Fresh Ideas which anyone can feed into till next summer. This work will then feed into Annual Conference 2011. At the National Policy Forum there were workshops on contemporary issues, and I attended the ones regarding economy and welfare. These are very welcome forums, where members can have a frank dialogue directly with shadow ministers away from the media. Current issues discussed included low carbon economy, tax evasion, public services and housing benefit. It is important that there is that link between politicians and members, that we don’t become disconnected but more rooted in people’s lives.

The key to the success of the policy review is there is a narrative that members feel they can engage positively with. It’s right that we re-examine all our policies and ask for fresh ideas, but they need to be pinned onto a statement of our direction as a party which can only come from the leadership. Overall the day was an upbeat fresh start for the Labour Party and the call has gone out for party members to contribute over the next six months.