From the Canal to Sevenways

Category: Labour Party

  • Choosing the next MP

    Choosing the next MP

    We’re in the middle of our selection as Labour candidate. It’s an important choice and the three candidates left standing are of a really high quality.

    I’m having trouble choosing the candidate

    This is really an open set of five political questions to them as well as one operational question on an issue that has really troubled me.

    My Five Political Questions

    Economy – Are you up for the epochal reset of the economy that we need? How will you promote creating the green and sustainable economy where a family home does not earn more than the people who live in it?

    Europe – Are you up for a closer relationship with the EU? Starmer says no going back, but will you push for single market entry?

    Tax – Are you up for shifting the tax emphasis from work and onto wealth. Will you support a Land Value Tax?

    Democracy – Will you be prepared to devolve much more to regions? Will you foster democratisation of devolved bodies, including citizens assemblies and for instance greater user representation in health and transport?

    Education – Will you never forget the impact in terms of education and socialisation that Covid had on a generation of children and work to create a permanent lifelong learning infrastructure that supports them and wider society?

    That troubling Operational Question

    Let’s bite the bullet and tackle that operational question. There’s no easy way of broaching the subject. It’s on the issue of racism within the Labour Party. The party actually recognises it needs to do better and certainly has a focus on increasing diversity in its latest recruitment.

    My issue is that it’s not just the regional party that needs to do better, our MPs are failing the diversity question in terms of the staffing of their constituency offices.

    In terms of a selection, having worked for an MP, even for a short time, does give an advantage. It was notable that more than half the constituency’s longlist had at some time worked for an MP. However, the most important aspect is that these offices ought better reflect the places they serve.

    Q. When elected, will you work with neighbouring MPs and trade unions to review current practice in order to diversify recruitment to parliamentary offices to better reflect the diversity within the population?

  • Labour’s Runners 4 next MP

    Labour’s Runners 4 next MP

    We have a longlist for Labour’s replacement to stand for parliament when Kate Green’s term ends.

    It looks a quality field

    This will be the third selection since the constituency was created and we can already say that once again there’s been no parachute in of a favourite candidate and no stitching up to prevent a local candidate from standing. We have a reputation in Stretford and Urmston of choosing good Labour MPs and we’re trusted to make our choice.

    All those who declared their candidacy before this first stage have got through. I’m pleased to say I’ve not heard of anyone else coming forward to complain. So the selection is running smoothly.

    The candidates:

    *Link to dedicated Stretford and Urmston Campaign Page

    I’m sure that now the longlist is published there’ll be a web presence to support all the campaigns and I’ll provide links when I get them.

  • A slight change to the Labour rulebook

    A slight change to the Labour rulebook

    Warning: this is really an issue internal to the Labour Party. I try to keep my comments on these things to a minimum but this has been such an irritation for so long I’m sure you’ll forgive my indulgence.

    I know rule changes can be boring but this one from conference is big. It’s the only change coming from the membership that was passed and it’s something that has long been infuriating to members. It’s come from Momentum, so praise where praise is due; and I’m not normally a supporter of them.

    Perhaps the Hartlepool by-election finally got us over the line on this one. Our candidate in the by-election, Paul Williams an arch remainer and only recently defeated in Stockton South, was chosen by the local party in Hartlepool from a shortlist of one. In a seat like Hartlepool it really couldn’t have been a worse choice. It was unfair to constituency and it was actually unfair to the candidate. The shortlist was drawn up by the NEC with no ‘official’ input from the local party and it was a disaster.

    It was quite extreme for the party to only give the members one choice but manipulation by the national party and leadership is nothing new. They’ve always tried to control by-elections. Sitting MPs have also sometimes contrived to leave their departure before a General Election to the last minute, in order to ease in the successor of their choice. It’s been going on for years, not always with bad outcomes but invariably leaving resentment on the ground from good local candidates that were denied access to the shortlist.

    In one fell swoop the party conference has killed this procedure. From now on where time constraints mean the normal selection can’t take place emergency panel will be set up, with an inbuilt-majority of CLP members to draw up the shortlist.

    While you can’t rule out those CLP members being led by the national party to choose a contrived shortlist favouring a particular candidate, I think the chances are better of being presented with a proper choice and reflecting the locality.

    I’m surprised how little attention this rule change has attracted and I’m sure the leadership will come back trying to change it but in many ways it’s seismic.

    I don’t know how Stretford and Urmston delegates voted. I hope they voted for the change. I can see from the votes it was by no means unanimous (62% to 38%) with the NEC recommending it be voted down.