Peter Kenyon

Breaking News: Brown promises 'fairer Britain'!

Across the country tonight regional papers  are carrying this vital news - my headline comes from today's Southport Visitor. This has been what the Labour Party has been striving for for over a century. It's a goal still to be achieved. But as news editors decide: its still news.

So it is for the content of the Labour Party's 2010 general election manifesto. I attended a meeting of the Labour Party's Clause V committee on Thursday last week. I sketched out that final stage in the process here. Brief ministerial presentations were made, points were put, possible amendments were discussed. But I have searched in vain for evidence that any points made were actually incorporated as amendments. That's a problem with having abandoned resolution driven policy making. No one is obliged to formulate a precise form of words for an amendment, put it to the vote and abide by the outcome. It's far too late to bemoan that state of affairs with only 26 days left to polling day. But it is worth putting down a marker for the future.

Thankfully there is only one reference to New Labour in the whole document and that is in the context of 1997. Though that didn't stop Party Leader Gordon Brown making use of the term both at the beginning and end of his introductory remarks at the launch in Birmingham. Quite which constituency in the country is being appealed to with those words baffles me. I encountered too many wavering voters on the doorstep in social housing off the Edgware Road in Westminster North yesterday who wanted a change from Blair - deeply etched on their minds for his warlike, privatising tendencies. So it helped when I told them that Tory leader David Cameron wanted to mimic Blair. And Gordon Brown is now prime minister.

Policy under Brown has been recalibrated - taxation is fairer (a little), better redistribution is being achieved, more homes for rent are to be built, including council house for the first time in a generation (too few), the commitment to maintaining frontline public services is paramount and genuine, bankers will be made to pay back the cost of the bailout, and better global regulation is within sight. We are out of Iraq. With a democratic president in the White House, there is a fighting chance of managed exit from Afghanistan. Climate change measures are in prospect. Investment in public infrastructure - new schools, hospital, utilities and transport has been stupendous since 1997. With recession now tamed (just) industrial policy is back. The main themes are right, and should resonate well with the electorate.

This is what Labour is about. Let's not spoil it with some tired old 'New Labour' branding.

Labour manifesto have a say, but pay?

Labour Party efforts to reconnect on line with its members, core vote and that elusive coalition that will guarantee a fourth term continue apace.

The Labour Party website's home page provides a clue. Members have been emailed. Election manifesto coordinator Ed Miliband is using Twitter to help generate momentum.

Avid followers of the activities of Save the Labour Party will find this unsurprising. We have been campaigning for members to have a say for years . The next question is whether members and supporters would up their donations if it became clearer that the Labour Party was listening.

Housing - another failed market example

News from the National Housing Federation of a prediction that 2009/10 will see the smallest number of houses built since 1923 comes as no surprise to those of us familiar with market weaknesses. The lesson for Labour election strategists is that we have to go to the electorate with credible promises. We can demonstrate how Labour in government can no longer rely on market forces. Labour can show it is intervening to lift new starts now. And we need to offer bold commitments to build large numbers of affordable units wherever they are needed to reduce waiting lists, create jobs )mopping up slack in the construction industry), and training anew to keep pace with labour market shortages of skilled trades people. Tory Councils holding up house building, and /or refusing to insist on at least 50% affordbale social housing igrantin planning permission should be exposed for denying people affordable homes.

Of course,  Conservative 'shadow' housing minister Grant Shapps claims the data is "another failed Labour statistic". No, more a load of Shappstrap - it's a failed Blairite/New Labour statistic. That's why I remain puzzled by the idea that Tony Blair who vetoed council house building as Prime Minister can be of any help to Labour in the forthcoming election.

I just hope these NHF figures are a further reminder to Prime Minister Gordon Brown to reposition Labour as the party of government that intervenes in markets to ensure people's needs are met.

Party politics: swimming against the tide

There were reports yesterday that Dan Martin, a teacher and athlete from Peterborough plans an 18-month triathlon, including swimming the Atlantic. A doddle compared with the struggle to keep the idea of party politics alive, in the face of the findings of the British Attitudes Survey published last week.

I missed the BBC's Mark Easton's blog highlighting how nearly 50% of respondents appear indifferent about voting in a general election. He went into the detail. In short, only one in six of the electorate feels strongly about any political party, compared with nearly 2 in 5 in the run up to the 1987 GE.

At the root of this problem IMHO are political party leaders and their contempt for having to give account of themselves to their members, let alone the public. In power they pass laws demanding accountability from everyone else. Labour leader Gordon Brown was mocked in in PMQs today in the House of Commons by Conservative leader for having never been elected. While sloppy political journalists continue to opine about re-electing the Prime Minister in the same breath as the General Election, those of us trying the revive party politics face a tsunami.

Party politics is a collective activity for like minded people to take part from a neighbourhood/electoral ward level, day in day out. Putting a 'X' on a ballot paper, or 1,2,3 (if the latest Labour Government rabbit out a hat were ever to make the Statute Book) comes round at least once every five years. It marks the culmination of party politics whether at a parish council, local council, devolved nation, national or European level. Forget about what marks the difference between the political parties and they end up like soap in a supermarket. Labour should want its members and supporters to know precisely why they will be voting when the GE is called. That can only be achieved by continuous engagement, political debate and involvement in decision-making. That is why belated attempts to engage members in shaping the Labour Party 2010 Manifesto still matter. Hence the race to make it radical here, here and here.

PM speech: Towards a new politics - reality checks for Labour

Prime Minister Gordon Brown's speech to IPPR yesterday was well-crafted. But for me it omitted simple reality checks for the Labour Party - a democratic socialist party. Our politics demands among other things mutual respect, meticulous record-keeping and a willingness to accept the outcome of a vote when decisions are required. New Labour lacked all three. Our Labour leader's speech lacked any reference to those requirements too, in the context in which I think they are relevant to the task Brown set out:

So we will change both the Commons and the Lords, because we are so profoundly committed to the renewal of parliamentary democracy. We will ensure that the new politics will be delivered in the House of Commons, and we will do more to restore the relationship of mutual respect between MPs and those who elect them.

I see this as work in progress between now and the election. But if we neglect the machinery of government, the patronage exercised by the Prime Minister, the deployment of the Whips, political party infrastructure and so on, Labour will continue to fail to convince.

That is why as a member of the Labour Party National Executive Committee, I am calling for any member of the Labour Party's Special Selection Panel to be debarred from applying to run as a PPC in the General Election in less than 100 days time. It will simply be seen as 'parachuting' by the local electorate.

That's why having seen an internal report on Stoke Labour Parties, I am calling for an urgent review to enable members to unite to fight the BNP, and the other opposition parties.

That's why Save the Labour Party continues to campaign for an ethical, solvent, democratically run, mass membership organisation. Many say, rightly, it never has been. But that doesn't mean it shouldn't aspire to those goals. On the contrary, a radical manifesto presented to the electorate in less than 100 days time by such a party would be far more credible with the electorate than farcical efforts to revive 'New Labour'.

Labour Party radical policies: the race is on

Liberal Conspiracy is carrying news that 40 MPs have signed a statement calling for radical policies to be adopted in the 2010 Labour Party election manifesto. As a representative of the Centre Left Grassroots Alliance on the National Executive Committee, thanks to 16,464 members voting for me in the 2008 elections and my fellow members of Save the Labour Party making me their second preference in an all-member ballot to decide whom to back as part of the 2008 CLGA slate, we had a consult about our position ahead of the election.

Though STLP doesn't take policy positions in its work, we had a prior view of the MPs' version. Here's our write through:

1. We want Labour to make a clean break with market fundamentalism, deregulation and privatisation. People who hold or share Labour values can see the difference between public provision inspired by service, and private sector greed. That's why Royal Mail must remain wholly in the public sector.

2. Equality, fairness and social justice can only be achieved by Labour making a much bigger investment in council housing for rent. Greening the economy is vital to tackle climate change and create more jobs. Fair pensions for all must be a right . Spending has to be increased in the NHS, state education, renewable energy and public transport. .
3. Wealth creation goes hand in hand with more redistribution to boost living standards of the low-paid, unemployed, disabled , elderly and anyone disadvantaged. High pay should be regulated like the minimum national wage. Union rights to help safeguard employees from exploitation should be strengthened. Personal liberties are as important as national security.
4. The whole of the financial sector, including retail and investment banks , must be taxed to pay for the global bailout. Savers and investors have to be better protected from wanton greed. Lending for social purpose must be restored
5. Our international aid must be increased to 1% of GDP, and paid for by abandoning Trident, and bringing troops home from Afghanistan. Social Europe must be strengthened, and our commitment to the rule of international law never put in doubt again.

CLGA organisations also believe that Labour must rebuild membership and activity . Internal Party democracy is essential. Interim reforms set out by the LabOUR Commission are in hand. Adoption of one member one vote -OMOV for National Policy Forum representatives at Conference 2009 was a start. We support an urgent review of party structures so essential reforms can be decided at Conference 2010. Members rights' to table resolutions and amend policy at Conference must be restored. Current CLGA NEC members are working now to restore full supervision and control over the party’s operations and finances to the NEC. All members must have confidence in the integrity of Labour's employees as its 'civil service', whose values of impartiality, integrity, honesty and objectivity should be beyond reproach."

Labour activist exposes Tory debt scaremongering

This posting on the Compass website is a must read for any Labour activist, economics editor and political correspondent and commentator, and the Labour Party Clause V committee charged with signing off the 2010 Manifesto.

Ann Pettifor writes:

In 1946 Britain's debt was roughly 5 times what it is today - a staggering 250% of GDP. At that point an extraordinary thing happened. The heavily indebted Labour government began to spend - as soon as legislation was agreed by Parliament.Labour invested in a bold and visionary project: - a publicly funded health service free at the point of use - the NHS. There was a slum clearance and housing programme. They revived the ancient universities, provided pensions and welfare to the poor.......

My emphasis. The rest speaks volumes too.

Labour Party: members on Manifesto pledges - poll

Politics Home has just published the results of a poll about Manifesto pledges. Not edifying reading for our Ed. Ed Miliband is the Labour Party's Manifesto co-ordinator. 

Save the Labour Party is experimenting with the use of polling to gauge opinion, and possibly rebuild morale among some members.

It would be good if some of the investment in web services by the Labour Party was known about by members in the first place, and trusted to be used more frequently.

Was Brown bonkers to bail out the bankers?

It's two weeks since I last blogged. My only excuse is fighting an election campaign. Not your usual Town Hall tussle. This is the Labour eight against the Guildhall (club, line and sinker). You can read about it here. Barring unforeseen hitches, we will be fielding eight candidates in six wards enabling over 50% of the total electorate of 21,332 to choose who represents them in a contested election. Tomorrow is just the deadline for nominations. If there are contests (as we hope) in at least the six wards (out of 25) in which we are standing, then voting for 41 out of 100 seats on Common Council will take place on Monday 16 March. Among the hot topics are the state of social housing and was Brown bonkers to bail out the bankers? On the latter subject (sort of) I was quoted in the Guardian here. It read as though I was blaming Common Council for the recession, triggered as it was by systemic banking failures. I was simply trying to draw attention to the dual role played by leading City figures who act as ambassadors for London as a world financial centre, and also run the local authority known as the City of London on behalf of local residents and businesses. 

Our Manifesto says:

Mismanagement of financial institutions has put people’s savings at risk. Labour members of Common Council would maintain a proper balance between the interests of residents and developers.

In short, we don't think our Prime Minister was bonkers to bail out the bankers. We hope our modest campaign will give the wider electorate an opportunity to appreciate the far greater catastrophe in terms of lost savings, pensions and jobs that would have followed if Brown had not been decisive and intervened back in October last year.

Miliband E: manifesto process to reopen

Watch Labour Space - a feature of the Labour Party website. I'm told this is where ideas for the next election manifesto can be posted. An official announcement may come Tuesday or Wednesday. As a member of the Party's National Executive Committee, I'm curious about the process leading up to this development. As soon as I find out, I'll let you all know. In the meantime you can check out Ed's thoughts on Next Left - the Fabian Society blog. http://www.nextleft.org