Reviewing Labour Party Democracy, and Scrapping Universal Credit
Day 1 at Labour Party Conference 2018
I kicked the day off listening to John McDonnell and Diane Abbott speak on the absurdity of austerity, and Labours alternative economic plans, at the Labour Assembly Against Austerity fringe and debating Labours justice policy at an early morning seminar.
It was an inspiring start to the day. Being a delegate is a hard gig — just being heard is a constant struggle, and long sessions with complex debate makes for a tiring day. But conference has been a great experience so far and the mood at conference has been extremely positive. As John McDonnell said, “we are ready for the election — bring it on, and let’s make a fairer better Britain”.
Debating NEC rule changes
The main session got into full swing as National Executive Committee proposals recommending implementation of the democracy review were debated. The Labour Party democracy review contained proposals for increased representation for women, disabled and BAME through party structures which were unanimously approved. The afternoon session was dominated by discussions on 8 NEC compromise rule changes, and whilst most motions were near pretty uncontroversially taken as a step forwards, amendments 6 and 8 were heavily debated.
Amendment 6 comes after calls to improve leadership election processes, ensuring we get the best candidates and that leadership has the support of membership. It states that a candidate for leader should have to get 10% backing from the PLP AND either 5% from Constituency Labour Partys (CLPs) or affiliated trade unions, whilst current rules mean that leadership hopefuls require the backing of 10% of MPs (down from 15% in 2015). Thought proposers thought it was important candidates had support from across the party, not just the PLP, many opposed the amendment because they thought it was too exacting to ask candidates to jump extra hurdles to qualify for the contest.
Amendment 8, on the issue of MP re-selection and triggering processes, was even more controversial. The NEC proposal involved lowering the threshold for forcing a sitting MP to stand for re-selection from 50% to 33% for a CLP membership. Democracy review consultation recommended full mandatory re-selection processes for MPs, meaning that constituents have a way of holding their MP to account without. Although the reduction from 50% to 33% is an improvement, this is a far cry from the mandatory re-selection CLPs have demanded, and as a result conference was encouraged by many to reject this amendment to allow time for a more detailed debate on the policy (passing this meant that the motion on mandatory re-selection brought by Labour International would be invalidated).
In the end, amendments 6 and 8 received 64% and 65% approval respectively — a far cry form the 90%+ support each other amendment received. In these votes, large trade union blocks have a large influence, and unions were, on the whole, in support of each amendment.
#ScrapUniversalCredit
Mary Mason from our CLP spoke passionately in support of our motion to stop and scrap Universal Credit, which comes to Haringey this October.
In the end, our motion was not prioritised by conference, but we will still be pushing for a serious and timely opposition to this destructive government policy. At the heart of our Welfare State are rights and universality. We deplore the rollout, against numerous warnings, of Universal Credit (UC) — a draconian system leaving many facing debt, eviction and hunger.
The proportion of UC claimants whose payments are being subject to deductions of up to 40% of a standard monthly UC payment to pay off arrears in rent, council tax and utility bills, has risen from 10% to 33% in the year up to May 2018.
- Universal Credit is deliberately opaque for cutting costs at the expense of quality of life and dignity
- Universal Credit is based on conditionality not rights
- Universal Credit is paid in arrears, often delayed 6 weeks, leaving claimants in a cycle of debt and hunger
- Universal Credit is paid in single monthly payments for the household facilitating economic control by abusers
- Universal Credit is subject to benefit freeze causing reduction entitlement to free school meals and will leave around 1 million children living in poverty, ineligible for FSMs and passported benefits.
We believe that these and numerous other documented issues with UC demonstrate that it is beyond fixing and therefore calls on an incoming Labour government to #ScrapUniversalCredit. We call on the Shadow Secretary of State to lead a nationwide campaign to oppose the rollout of UC and to propose a social security system putting claimants’ rights at its heart with a commitment to reimburse councils putting interim support in place.
You can find out more about our manifesto and what’s going on in Hornsey and Wood Green on our new website, Twitter, and Facebook.
