Refounding Labour should go to a special conference

By Darrell Goodliffe

It is with an increasing sense of anger and despair, in about equal measure, that I have followed the development of the Refounding Labour “consultation”. I put consultation in quotation marks because I am increasingly questioning the consultative value of the entire exercise. My notion of a consultation is a continuous, two-way dialogue in which both sides feel they have had an equal input. Put plainly, it doesn’t seem to me that Refounding Labour fits that description.

In fact, the standard of ‘consultation’ is so poor that I genuinely feel that our annual conference should not now take the final decision over Refounding Labour because delegates can’t possibly be adequately mandated to make a decision that reflects the popular will of the party. Instead, its quite clear to me that more time should be allowed for a proper ‘national conversation’, if you will, but this time one within the Labour Party.

Stories like this one are too numerous to ignore. I’ve also had Labour Party members tell me that they have been to Refounding Labour consultations where 30 minutes (yes you read that right, 30 minutes) was the time allocated for discussion. This is obviously unacceptable, and then we have the case of the missing submissions. Granted, I can imagine this being a huge logistical exercise and we should of course allow for that but making those submissions open for all to see is key for the consultative process to function fairly.

Firstly, we are entitled to see if the final proposals reflect the balance and thrust of the proposals submitted. In this way we judge whether they are a fair reflection of what is wanted – it is simply not enough for the authors of the final document to assert it is as an a priori fact. Secondly, the point of seeing the contributions is to further enrich the inner-party debate and of course inform it with the standpoint of different perspectives openly accessible for all to consider.

All these things together mean Refounding Labour is losing credibility as a exercise in party reform that seeks to involve the members. It is, as Mark Ferguson rightly warned, starting to look an awful lot like a fix. It’s starting to look like the tired, top-down bureaucratism which should be a thing of the past, because that is what we were promised it would be. People will say it’s an unnecessary distraction but I say to them, this is so important it is worth taking the time to ensure we get it right. Its highly unlikely there will be a general election any time soon – maybe not even for another four years – and campaigning for the May 2012 elections can still run alongside this exercise. No rational reason exists why we cannot hold a special conference early next year or even indeed arrange a special Spring conference solely dedicated to the discussions and necessary decisions that flow from the final Refounding Labour document.

If the leadership is serious about treating Labour members as genuine partners in this process then it should make this proposal itself. However, I am not going to hold my breath for that, so it then becomes incumbent on the National Executive Committee to stop the leadership in its tracks over this and insist a full and proper consultation takes place. It is particularly incumbent on all those representing the CLP section to make a stand for the interests of the membership of this party.

Refounding Labour is in serious danger of becoming yet another in a long-line of leadership fixes. This is not good enough for something that promised so much. Let’s hope that the NEC can now step-up to the plate and be the tribune of the membership it should be.