Hain and Miliband set out to ‘refound’ Labour

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk

Today Peter Hain and Ed Miliband have set out for the first time some of their thoughts on how the Labour Party needs to change, in a document called “Refounding Labour”, which is likely to frame much internal party debate in the coming months.

What has been trailed already is the potential for Labour supporters to have a say in Labour Party elections. That may well be a hard sell for some Labour Party members, as we’ve seen with a survey that we conducted back in February. However what Hain and Miliband appear to be considering is a much broader range of party reforms than just how we select our leader. From GCs, to party membership to community campaigning, little, it seems, is off the table. Party members will hold consultation meetings in May – perhaps not the best time in light of elections – before reforms and rule changes are considered first by the NEC and then annual conference in September.

Announcing the review today Hain said:

“It is imperative we use this period of Opposition to leapfrog the other parties by refounding our own, so that Labour emerges refreshed and reinvigorated.”

“Fewer voters are wedded to one particular party these days. Just as politics has become more global it has also become more local. So what matters more than ever is how Labour engages with people in their neighbourhoods on local issues.”

“Since the 1950s membership of political parties has been in decline across Europe’s established democracies. The UK now has one of the lowest rates of party membership of all. The 1.5 per cent of the electorate who belonged to parties in the UK in 2001 compares to nearly 5 per cent elsewhere in Europe in the late 1990s. By 2005 only 1.3 per cent of UK voters were members of any of the three main political parties, down from nearly 4 per cent in 1983.”

“The Labour Party’s basic structure is essentially that adopted in 1918. In today’s much more diffuse, individualist political culture, how can we maximise the potential for participation by ‘Labour Supporters’ – those who would not join the Party, but who could be mobilised to back and work for us? How do we manage this in a way that does not undermine the rights of ‘full’ members?”

“How do we equip ourselves as a party to meet the challenges of the new generation? How must we change to better reflect the modern Britain we aspire to govern again?”

“The analysis in this consultation paper pulls no punches, so people can expect to feel unease as they confront some facts that we might all prefer to forget, but cannot afford to ignore. The Labour Party is a great organisation but it is only by facing up to our flaws and responding to the new reality that we will resume our winning ways.â€

This is certainly a weighty document, and there’s a greatd eal to analyse and digest. We’ll bring you a more in depth response to the report later today, as well as analysing individual challenges for the party over the coming weeks. We’re also hoping to hear more from Peter Hain himself later today.

You can read “Refounding Labour” below, or here.

Refounding Labour