Consultation Response to"Refounding Labour: A Party for a New Generation”On behalf of the Labour Party Irish SocietyIntroduction

The Labour Party Irish Society welcomes the publication of the Labour Partyconsultation document “Refounding Labour: a party for a new generation”.Following a severe election defeat and in line with societal changes that meanpolitical parties need to reform to remain relevant, this debate is timely. This is anopportunity for Labour to renew, re-organise with the ultimate objective of being anelectorally successful party that draws on the knowledge and abilities of itsmembers. We should be careful to learn from the lessons of our recent defeat aswell as learning from victories in 1997, 2001 and 2005.We believe that party reform should focus on the following areas:



Delivering policies that work and win



Building vibrant campaigning local parties



Providing national and regional support for local parties and their members



Being a party member mattersWe have also included a short note on Northern Ireland.We acknowledge the history of the party's existing structures and as theconsultation acknowledges, "

Formal structures are also important both to prevent abuses and to keep the party going through bad times and troughs in membership.The balance between constitutional structures and encouraging open participationrequires careful assessment

". Whilst some structural reforms are necessary, reformis not a silver bullet and the nub of the problem is often the behaviour of localparties as opposed to being a structural one.As an affiliated Socialist Society we are proud of our formal position within theLabour Party and of the link which our Socialist Societies provide to communitiesoutside Westminster through to the NEC and the party leadership. Our connectionto the Irish in Britain runs deep and our members are Irish by birth or descent as wellas consisting of those who are interest in Ireland, Irish affairs and the Irishcommunity in Britain.The Irish emigrant community – and their children and grandchildren – have made asignificant contribution to public life in Britain. As well as serving the Labour Partyand the trade union movement in a range of capacities. The work of the LabourParty Irish Society in promoting the interests of the Irish in Britain, and promotingthe cause of Labour within the Irish community, is vitally important. It is work thatwill continue and with the support of the party will be successful in ensuring that theage-old alliance between the Irish in Britain and the Labour movement continueswell into the future.

1. Delivering policies that work and win

Labour's current policy making process is not fit-for-purpose in the modernage. That isn't to say we need a process which debates each and every idea,irrespective of its merits, but we do need greater transparency around thepolicy making process for the benefit of members and CLPs. A process whichempowers members and allows for clear reason why certain policies havebeen rejected is desirable.As well as listening to our members, an essential part of our policy process should bethe ability to draw upon our internal stakeholders, such as the affiliatedunions andSocialist Societies and of the Councillors, PLP, EPLP and Leadership who have toadvocate our positions to the wider public.A more evidence-based policy making structure, with the NPF Commissions playing asimilar role to scrutiny/select committees, hearing witnesses and taking submissionsfrom inside and outside the party (including from NGOs, businesses, experts andacademics), would produce good policy and put to good use the skills, ideas andenergy of NPF members.Socialist Societies like the Labour Party Irish Society should be able to submit ideasor representatives into the process in an easier manner and NPF should draw on theexperiences of the communities we represent allowing party policy to reflect theirreal life experiences. Central office support for Socialist Societies who wish to engagein the NPF process is also something we would support.

2. Building vibrant and campaigning local parties

Even with all of the same national structures in place, some CLPs are renowned ashealthy, thriving organisations, regularly canvassing, debating, socialising andengaged within the community they represent and yet the very same structure canproduce an unpleasant organisation divorced from its community and hostile to newmembers. Often it's the people in an organisation that shape its political culture, notthe institutional structures that create the culture.We also need to be careful about rejecting meetings as strong spaces for discussions.Branch and CLP meetings should be empowering places to debate, resolvedifferences, decide policy and plan campaigns as well as being sociable occasions.The opportunity to decide on local actions and priorities is an important part of being an active member of a local branch or CLP.CLPs should decide the pattern of organisation and meetings that best suits theirneeds and size. There are merits where membership is too small to justify a branchstructure and delegate-based General Committee to members having all-membermeetings. However where there are a large number of formal affiliates, a GCstructure remains the most appropriate way of ensuring they have a voice in theparty through sending delegates.

We support the idea of a Community Liaison Officer in CLPs whose rolewould mirror that of the current TU Liaison Officer but in regard tocommunity groups. They would reach out to such groups, buildcommunication with them, ensure they are invited to relevant Labour events(e.g. tenants’ associations to discussions on housing policy), and explore withthem opportunities for joint campaigning and events.We also support the Union link; it provides us with a unique means of communicating with millions of ordinary working people. We should be deepeningand strengthening the relationship with the unions not weakening it or severing it.Locally elected party representatives including MPs, devolved body electedrepresentatives and councillors should play a leading role in organising their localparties campaigning activities.Socialist Societies should be encouraged to act as campaigning organisations as wellas representative and policy bodies. They should be encouraged to act in theinterests of their members to back candidates in key elections in support of the localbranch or CLPs campaigning activities.

3. Providing national and regional support for local parties and their members

Our current organisational structure is formed largely around branches which selectcouncillors and fight ward elections, CLPs which select PPCs/MPsand fightparliamentary elections and Regions which do the same for MEPs in EuropeanElections. This alongside informal co-ordination at borough and county level forrelevant council selections, elections and manifestos all makes sense.However at the regional level, there are often insufficient resources to allow for co-ordination of a more informal level. We should encourage those party units toorganise more socials and more campaigning strengthening the informal side of being a political activist.Regional Parties should work to ensure every CLP has a development andcampaigning plan enabling CLPs to plan their recruitment, fundraising andcampaigning. League-tabling of voter ID should be made available on a confidentialbasis to MPs, PPCs and CLP Officers to help them understand their level of activitycompared to their peer group of CLPs. High performance should be rewarded at theregional level to keep CLPs active in their areas.It is also vital that we rebuild our grassroots structures and campaigning capacitynationwide so that we can put pressure on our opponents in every constituency.Labour should aim to field as many candidates as possible and regional parties needto play a key role in this capacity building exercise.Funding for Euro Elections needs to be thought through with a more strategicview. The flat rate levy which currently exists for all CLPs to fund Euroelections is a serious barrier for small CLPs as it wipes out all their fundraising