Personal Submission to the 21st Century Commission

At the last annual conference of the Labour Party, in Wexford in November last year, a commission was established to investigate structural aspects of the Labour Party, and whether the party needed to be modernised, or structurally modified in any significant manner.    Below is the submission I have made to that commission:

Further to your invitations for individual submissions to the 21^st Century Commission, please find below my submission, comprising 4 major points – the relationship between the Labour Party and the trade union movement, the future of the Labour Party in Northern Ireland, potential for NEC reform and candidate selection processes.

Please note that this represents only my personal views, and not the views of any section, grouping or constituency of the Labour Party with which I may be associated.

1. Labour Party and the Trade Unions:

• The Labour Party currently have approximately six thousand members (total electorate for the deputy leadership election was 4,661, and we can assume a sizeable number of members not in benefit)
• The total Trade Union membership in Ireland was estimated at 515,000 in 2003 (source: European Industrial Relations Observatory)
• Regardless of the ebb and flow in the nature of the relationship between Labour and the trade union movement, research consistently shows that the Irish electorate firmly believe there is a strong link between the two
• Any further diminution of the relationship between the Labour Party and the trade union movement is likely to lead to additional union disaffiliations from the party, and potentially, the affiliation of those unions to other parties (notably Sinn Féin)
• The current relationship, whereby the Labour Party are perceived to be weak on support for the trade unions, and trade union members are not voting for the Labour Party, cannot continue

Proposed strategies for improvement:

• Begin a dialogue between the Labour Party and each of the non-affiliated Trade Unions, particularly those who have been affiliated to the Labour Party in the past, with a view to encouraging those trade unions to re-affiliate
• Establish a Trade Union and Labour Leadership Committee (TULLC) equivalent to the TULO in the UK), comprising the General Secretaries of each affiliated trade union and the officers of the Labour Party, to deepen the relationship between the Labour Party and our affiliated unions

2. Labour in Northern Ireland

• A great deal has been written regarding the presumptive attitudes of SDLP members towards various merger options in recent months, much of which has been wholly inaccurate to my mind, as someone who retains close links to the SDLP, and attend their conferences on an annual basis
• The overwhelming majority of SDLP members wish their party to retain it’s independence, in the short to medium term at least
• Quantifying the number of SDLP members sympathetic to each of the southern parties is an extremely difficult task. However, there are some notable trends. Many older members retain a very strong Labour mindset, viewing social justice as their primary political aim. Equally, SDLP Youth are currently dominated by a strongly left-of-centre grouping who believe their party should be setting a more radically left-wing agenda – their sympathies would also be very much Labour-minded.
• There are a sizeable percentage of SDLP members, who believe that electoral victory over Sinn Féin should be the primary concern of the SDLP. This inclines such members towards sympathy towards Fianna Fáil, and to a lesser degree Fine Gael (more common in some rural sections of the membership)
• The stances of the elected representatives of the SDLP have been very unclear in many cases. Their Deputy Leader, Alasdair McDonnell has been very pro-Fianna Fáil in his public statements, but his fellow MLA for South Belfast, Carmel Hanna has taken a very pro-Labour line at all times. The disparity between these views in one constituency is a fairly accurate barometer of feelings across the wider party membership

Proposed future strategies

• It is important that Labour continue to have a strong presence at all SDLP events, and particularly their annual conferences
• We must focus on our joint membership of the PES, and seek to encourage the PES to hold more events/meetings in Ireland (North and South) at which we can engage with SDLP as fellow PES members
• During European campaigns/elections, we should seek to organise regular exchanges between groups of members and representatives from both parties
• Labour Party members in the North should be permitted to stand for council election. However, this should only be done after discussions with the SDLP leadership, to ensure that Labour candidates do not detract significantly from the electoral prospects of our sister party

3. Potential NEC Reform

• There is a commonly held view within the party that the membership of the NEC is too large to be productive, and that PLP and sectional interests too frequently dominate the NEC membership
• There are concerns within the party membership that the NEC operates with too little transparency and accountability to the membership
• Despite their relative strength, there is often a feeling within the PLP, Labour Councillors and our affiliated Trade Unions, that they do not have sufficient representation on the NEC
• There are concerns about the relative ease with which members may be appointed to the NEC by non-direct election (either as co-options or as the representatives of Labour Youth, Labour Women, Labour Equality, Labour Councillors and Labour Trade Unions)
• There are enormous concerns both within the NEC, and among the party membership generally, about the use of the co-options, which were constitutionally designed to allow the co-option of members with particular expertise or from under-represented geographical areas, but which in reality are regularly used to co-opt unsuccessful NEC candidates

Proposed reforms:

• The NEC shall consist of 25 members, as detailed below:

The six Party Officers, comprising:

• The Leader
• The Deputy Leader
• Party Chairperson
• Party President
• Party Treasurer
• General Secretary

Four representatives of Trade Unions

• TULLC representative, elected by the TULLC proposed above
• Labour Trade Union Representative
• Two trade unionists, elected by trade union delegates to Party Conference (one to be of each gender)

Four representatives of Labour Party Public Representatives

• Two members of the PLP, elected by members of the PLP
• Two members of Labour Councillors, elected by the Labour Councillors group

Eight representatives of ordinary party members

• Eight members as elected by the ordinary delegates to party conference (to be elected on a three panel system, with one male-only panel electing three members, one female-only panel electing three members, and one mixed-gender panel electing the final two members)
• Trade union delegates shall not be permitted to vote
• Trade union delegates and public representatives, shall not be permitted to stand for these positions

Party Section Representatives

• One representative of Labour Youth, as elected at their annual conference
• One representative of Labour Women, as elected at their annual conference
• One representative of Labour Equality, as elected at their annual conference
• If any of the above sections fails to hold an annual conference in a given year, they rescind their right to a seat on the NEC for that year
• The General Secretary shall appoint a member of staff to provide administrative support top each of the above party sections. Failure to provide genuine evidence of regular activity, and an active membership of over 100 members, shall result in the suspension of the entitlement to a seat on the NEC for that section, until they can once again satisfy the General Secretary that their section has become active again

4. Candidate Selection

• The one-member, one-vote system was designed to enfranchise all party members in relation to selection to candidates for their area
• Unfortunately, this system has led to the proliferation of the habit of ‘branch stuffing’, requiring no regular contribution from party activists in return for voting entitlements
• There is a view within sections of the party, that unsuitable candidates have on occasion been selected for electoral outings for the party, through abuse of the above system

Proposals:

• All interested parties shall notify head office in advance of their interest in contesting a selection convention
• All potential candidates shall be interviewed by a panel comprising the General Secretary (or another person nominated by him/her), the Chairperson of the Organisational Sub-Committee (or another member of that Committee nominated by the Chairperson) and the Party Leader (or another person nominated by him/her)
• These interview panels shall only permit candidates whom they deem to be suitable (political stances shall not be viewed as an indication of suitability) to be presented to the membership at selection convention
• All results of the Interview panels shall be forwarded to the OSC, for ratification by that body and the NEC
• If the panels deem there to be no suitable candidate(s) in a particular area, the OSC will be tasked with recommending a solution to the following meeting of the NEC
• Only party members who have attended at least one branch/constituency meeting in the previous 24 months (attendances as recorded in the official minutes of those meetings lodged with head office) shall be permitted to vote in selection conventions
• Any appeals to the outcome of interview panels and/or the eligibility of members to vote in selection conventions, shall be directed to the General Secretary