Labour’s 2019 campaign blighted by “bureaucratic inertia” and “inappropriate factionalism”, says Momentum

Labour’s 2019 general election campaign was blighted by “bureaucratic inertia” and “inappropriate factionalism”, according to a report by left-wing organisation Momentum.

The group has released its submission to the Labour Together 2019 election review that is engaging with organisations from across the labour movement to develop a shared understanding of the result.

In the document, the activist network that grew out of Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership campaign fiercely criticises the party’s operations based on its own experiences of the effort on the ground.

It lists a “litany of structural problems”, including “bureaucratic inertia and hostility to organisational innovations; poor hiring procedures; and inappropriate factionalism that undermines the ability to deliver strategic objectives”.

The submission also highlights failings of the Labour Party where it did not “adequately support local activists”, such as updated electoral registers not being uploaded and variable guidance on how to access data of newly registered voters.

It brands Labour’s social media campaign “inadequate”, arguing that it “went backwards compared to 2017” and that problems included content quality and “inappropriate use of split testing” despite increased spending on digital advertising.

The submission says: “Labour achieved 29.4m video views during the campaign, less than 1/3 of Momentum’s total, despite having drastically greater resources to work with.”

Describing Labour’s digital tools as “undeveloped and faulty”, Momentum praised targeting tool Insight but detailed the following problems with others:

• Dialogue (Labour’s phone banking app) was “extremely unreliable”
• Doorstep (Labour’s canvassing data entry app) “cannot be used in tower blocks” and therefore cannot be used in many areas
• Contact Creator (Labour’s voter information database) “crashed frequently”
• Labour Connects (Labour’s online tool for creating leaflets) is “extremely difficult to use” according to activists
• Promote (Labour’s digital advertising platform) was “rarely used” by local parties

Noting that data analysis by Datapraxis estimates that 16 Labour seats could have been saved with more defensive targeting, Momentum says it was “guilty of being over-optimistic” in 2019.

But it also asserts that in the 2017 general election Labour could probably have won more seats – such as Southampton Itchen, Pudsey and Harrow East – with more support and mobilisation.

To combat these difficulties, Momentum proposes a “greater degree of transparency of the methodology, data, and assumptions involved in targeting decisions” as well as more oversight by Labour’s national executive committee.

Other recommendations include:

• A review of the structure and culture of Labour Party HQ from recruitment practices to pastoral care of junior staff;
• Clear lines of oversight and accountability;
• Building up engaged party membership bases in constituencies currently lacking them;
• Encouraging local innovations in campaign organising;
• Making available within the party the methodology and summaries of the data used for targeting;
• Combining a “normal ‘next-election’ focus” with a long-term strategy for targeting.

The release of Labour Together’s election review has been delayed due to coronavirus but commissioners are continuing to work on the comprehensive report.