CPLD held its Annual General Meeting on Saturday 23 February at Conway Hall in central London. It proved to be a lively and well attended event, with a number of decisions taken in preparation for this year’s Labour Party annual conference. Pete Willsman, a member of Labour’s National Executive Committee (NEC) and CLPD secretary, reported on proposed rule changes for conference including a Party Members’ Charter, One Member One Vote (OMOV) for election of the National Policy Forum (NPF) and increasing the number of Constituency Labour Party (CLP) seats on the NEC. A rule change on removing the artificial restriction of "contemporary" in relation to "contemporary issues" for debate at conference met with widespread approval. Resolutions carried at the meeting were opposition to breaking the Labour link with the unions and on restoring existing Labour Party conference decisions as policy on issues such as returning the railways to the public sector, restoring the earning link to pensions and a return of fuller trade union rights.
Walter Wolfgang gave his last NEC member report to CPLD, as he stands down in October. Walter criticised the NEC for giving too many powers away and losing control of the party finances, saying the NEC was happy to be "a foot stool" to the leadership. He also touched on Gordon Brown’s concerns on Party democracy which had in fact led to a further restriction of democracy. Mohammed Azam, Centre-Left Grassroots Alliance (CLGA) NEC candidate this year, spoke of the need to encourage Black, Asian and Ethnic Minorities to join the Party but this could only be achieved by the Party taking up progressive polices. Mohammed warned of the danger of the BNP in the upcoming GLA elections and the need of ensuring Londoners are registered to vote. NEC member Ann Black reminded the meeting that CLP’s can, during May and June, submit textual amendments to NPF documents for the first time.
Kelvin Hopkins gave the Parliamentary Party Report. Kelvin said that although there had been a continuation of Blairite policies under Brown, changes were happening below the surface. The Commons’ vote by 140 Labour MP’s to support agency workers’ rights yesterday was a sign of that change. With the three main parties occupying the centre, there was a gap on the left that Labour should fill. The policies of New Labour were now looking old and tired. The Labour Government should seek to manage and intervene in the economy. Policies which could win the next election include a huge increase in council house building, raising the basic state pension and restoring the earnings link, free long term health care and abolishing student fees. Such measures will attract voters to Labour.
Jon Cruddas MP spoke of his deputy leadership campaign which had been based on issues and policies and not personalities. Jon said going around the country for 12 months campaigning had shown him there was a demand to restore basic democracy in the Party. The Party is to the left of the cabinet. The Northern Rock nationalisation had triggered debate on the role of the state and the mixed economy.
Mick Loates, CLPD Press Officer
Notes: CLPD was formed in 1973 by a group of rank-and-file activists, with support from about ten Labour MPs. The first President was Frank Allaun. The main motivation for the Campaign was the record of the Labour governments in the sixties and the way that Annual Conference decisions were continually ignored on key domestic and international issues. The immediate cause was Harold Wilson's outright rejection in 1973 of the proposal to take into public ownership some 25 of the largest manufacturing companies, covering the major sectors of the economy.
CLPD's first demand was therefore for mandatory reselection of MPs so that they would be under pressure to carry out Conference policies. This demand was achieved in 1979/80 through the overwhelming support of CLPs and several major unions, especially those unions where the demand for reselection was won at their own annual conferences (e.g. TGWU, AUEW, NUPE).
CLPD also sought to make the Leader accountable through election by an electoral college involving MPs, CLPs and TUs. Hitherto Labour leaders were elected by MPs alone. This demand was achieved in January 1981.
CLPD also promoted a range of reforms to give Labour women and black members greater representation within the Party. The main demand for a woman on every parliamentary shortlist was achieved over the period 1986 - 1988.
In addition CLPD also promotes non-democracy issues, such as the significant extension of public ownership, defending the welfare state and the first-past-the-post electoral system.
The major focus of CLPD's work in recent years has been to win back power for the rank-and-file, which has been surreptitiously transferred to the centre under the pretext of "modernisation".