Could rule changes help tackle the “metropolitan centralisation” of our party?

After a faltering start the Party is beginning to pick up some of the issues around the Collins Review which will culminate at the Special Conference in March.

Ed is very clear that he wants to strengthen the link between the Party and the Trade Union movement – he wants many thousands more people joining the party and becoming active in it. People from all sorts of backgrounds who want to build a better community.

Labour has nothing to fear, and everything to gain from that.

In fact too often in the past our problem is that we have not been close enough to Trade Unions and people at the work-place. How many times when there is a threatened closure do Labour politicians sail in to see the management without meeting the work-force? How many Council leaders could name the convenor of their local engineering works? (If there still is one!) Closer campaigning links between the Party, Trade Unions and elected politicians would be a win-win situation.

Getting that will require a real culture change in some parts of the Party – not so much rule changes but making the Party more friendly and welcoming. It might sound trite but the number of times I have heard new members complain of feeling shut out and not welcome is painful and its something we can all do our bit to change.

The Review gives us the chance to look at how to improve the party and how it works and one area I would like to see improved is how members are represented in the running of the party. Currently we elect 6 people to represent members throughout the Country from John O’Groats to Lands End. In my experience those people elected are very diligent in their duties. I ask to be invited to CLPs and do my best to get to every CLP that invites me and have done meetings from Devon up to Glasgow but it is obviously easier for me to get to CLPs in the North and the Midlands (nearer where I live) and, more importantly understand the political culture of the area I am in. (In fact the two outstanding invites I have got are in Hampshire and Devon and I will do my best to get there).

If NEC reps were directly elected to represent specific geographical areas, party members could reasonably EXPECT them to get along to their CLP meetings and be actively involved in local and regional issues and campaigning-building the Party on the ground.

It would be a big step towards tackling the metropolitan centralisation which affects our party as much as British politics in general. It’s important to understand that this is not just a North-South issue-members in Cornwall and Suffolk feel just as marginalised – as I suspect might members in the Elephant and Castle and Tottenham.

I have heard some say “it doesn’t matter – not an issue”. For me that just shows how out of touch they are with party members views. Members in Scotland, Wales, the Midlands and the South West all have their distinctive political cultures and we are stronger as a party when we recognise this.

It goes without saying that members in Scotland and Wales deserve their own direct representation – they are nations in their own right – but reform cannot stop there. It’s about members feeling they have some real say in the running of the party.

Without getting too technical such a change would be easy to introduce and ensure gender balance. Two reps each for Scotland and Wales, two for the North, two for the Midlands /east, two for London and two for the South/Southwest. It’s not perfect and people can, rightly argue the details. The important thing here is to get a party where the members voice is taken seriously.

Peter Wheeler is a member of Labour’s NEC