Six years ago I joined a group called Save The Labour Party which was set up to improve Party democracy and call for greater accountability to members. It would be nice to report that since 2003 we have made great inroads into the processes which, since Partnership Into Power was agreed in the early 1990's, have only closed down democracy and taken the decision-making processes further and further away from the grassroots.
The sad truth is that things are worse than ever. In 2006, the Party Conference was persuaded, thanks to a deal with the unions, to abolish contemporary motions. This year's Conference must, as a matter of urgency, restore the right to vote.
But all that frankly pales into insignificance with the current furore over the way in which postal votes are being used to outweigh democratic hustings at Parliamentary selections. One achievement STLP can be proud of is electing Peter Kenyon to the NEC. Peter is one of the most rigorous and fair-minded people I have met in my many years in the Party.
He wouldn't mind me saying that , though we differ on many issues, we have always shared a quest for fairness and accountability. His take on the postal votes issue is here:
http://petergkenyon.typepad.com/peterkenyon/2009/04/labour-ppc-selections-and-postal-voting.html#comment-6a00d8354c43ba69e201157025cfbe970b
Friday, 17 April 2009
POSTAL VOTES - A VIEW FROM THE NEC
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4 comments:
Glenrothes 2008.
Surprise swing to Labour
Postal Votes up by 80%
Missing Electoral Register
Just how low would Gordon brown's clique go to protect Gordon brown, losing Glenrothes would have likely toppled him.
If it's ever shown that Labour fiddled the voting here, your party will be destroyed.
We haven't even started to ask questions about the Holyrood elections and the fiasco that disenfranchised over 100,000 scots.
The SNP and Tories just dont get
get over it
you lost as you did Southall
Just a question, how many postal votes applications were there in the first Calder Valley selection? Have they stayed stable or incresed in the second selection?
Anonymous, the issues in Calder Valley are not just about postal votes. And the circumstances of the second selection were very different from the first.
There was a big number of postal votes first time round - the goalposts - and the selection timetable - were very different.All queries are now being dealt with by the labour Party....
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