Making Labour our party - 7 comments

Peter Kenyon, on behalf of the 'LabOUR Commission' has started a pledge to fund an investigation into the decline in Labour Party membership since 1997. Here's more about what they have in mind:

An independent commission of Labour Party members chaired by Michael Meacher MP, a prominent backbencher and former government minister, has been meeting since the General Election in May to inquire into why Labour has lost so many members [200,000 souls] since 1997, and more recently 4 million voters; and make recommendations.

As a first step a formidable academic team has agreed to undertake fresh research into Labour Party membership, and report on why Labour is finding it difficult to recruit and retain members when millions are willing, for example, to take to the streets in support of Make Poverty History campaigns and Stop the War.

Leading national polling organisations have submitted tenders to support this work. To do the job properly we need to raise £25,000 to pay for the first phase. This will focus on the aspirations of members past and present; both when they joined, during membership and if they are one of the 200,000 plus that have resigned since 1997, why they left and what Labour will have to change to encourage them to rejoin. We are also keen to find out more about the millions of politically active members of British society - men, women, young and old - who are NOT members of the Labour Party, but, given their interest in the world we all live in, ought to being targetted to join the Labour Party.

Bob Piper has also picked up on this, and a healthy 11 comments can be found on his article.

Bob pins some of the blame for the losses on 'luvvie-friendly' policies like foundation hospitals, PFI, and the scrapping of Clause IV. This may be true, though I'd rather the team avoided the temptation to jump on the anti-Blair bandwagon and bring the 'ideologically pure' (but hopeless) Labour Party of yore back from the dead. I didn't feel too optimistic after seeing this comment at the Pledgebank:

This represents a start in the rolling back of the black tide of 'monetarism.'

That's nearly 30 years back already. But I'm optimistic, and if the team can come up with something new and progressive, that's entirely to be welcomed.

The UK Today has plenty more information on the project, including information on how you can add on of those white banners to your site (Bob's site is sporting one already). Well I'm sure he won't mind if I spill the beans here...

For a banner on the left:

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.theuktoday.co.uk/labourleft.js"></script>

For a banner on the right:

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.theuktoday.co.uk/labourright.js"></script>

Finally, allow me to plug, once again, our earlier post on membership.

Three out of the seven comments are my own, but I do think some really good points were made, and we should try to advance beyong the hackneyed:

"members are vital; we depend upon our members"

... without at least asking if this is true, and also consider whether there's a purpose for Labour Party members that is "higher" than going to a meeting and helping a Government choose a policy. Is there something Labour members can do for society that doesn't depend upon us being in power, either nationally or locally?

Really hope there is the imagination to look further than we've looked in the past.