By John Pickard, Brentwood CLP delegate, personal capacity
The main business of the conference on the second day was the consideration of resolutions on some of those issues selected by delegates in a ballot the previous day. But before proceeding, the card vote results from day 1 were announced.
The detailed figures for the Conference Arrangements Committee card vote were published (see report from yesterday: http://www.left-horizons.co.uk/index.php?section=10&page=341&archivesection=0 )
The figures showed that 90.51% of CLPs voted to reject the CAC report, whereas 97.77% of trade union delegates supported it. This one vote more than anything showed the split between the CLPs and the trade union delegations.
As I forecast yesterday, in the only two contentious card votes on the Democracy Review (the others being agreed overwhelmingly) the NEC positions on the method of leadership election and on the selection of parliamentary candidates were agreed, the first by 64% to 36% against and the second by 65% with 35% against. Bearing in mind that half the votes are in the trade union section and half in the CLP section, this signified that, once again, almost all of the union delegates (the exception being the FBU) voted with the NEC, whereas around a quarter of CLP delegates voted with the NEC. The CLP vote is interesting, in that, despite being overwhelmingly on the left – and probably Momentum members – three quarters of the CLPs chose to ignore the advice put out by the Momentum leadership to back the NEC.
Having been given these figures, the conference proceeded to discuss composite resolutions on a number of key areas. We cannot publish here the full text of each resolution, but the following is a flavour of part of the composites under consideration:
Housing
“…Put housing at the heart of our efforts to win the next general election.
Deliver 100,000 social rented homes annually with secure lifetime tenancies and rent and service charges not above 30% of net average incomes for the lowest quartile of households in the relevant housing market area.
“Commit to an energy efficient building programme of council homes and construction jobs with Direct Labour Organisations taking on council new-build projects
“End right to buy for Housing Associations and councils.”
An economy for the many
“Conference welcomes the party’s radical policy announcements giving working people more of a stake in our economy, more control over industry, and bring innovation, to grow our economy and redistribute both wealth and power to the many, not the few.
“Conference;
1. reiterates the pledge to bring rail, mail, energy and water into public ownership and believes we need new models of public ownership that give workers and the public a meaningful voice in the way services are run;
2. agrees a Ministry of Labour should have a mandate to promote collective bargaining by reforming anti-union restrictive access and recognition rules, rolling out sectoral collective bargaining and significantly increasing trade union membership;
3. commits to developing bold proposals to reform corporate governance alongside the introduction of worker ownership funds to give employees an increasing stake and voice in businesses; and
4. agrees a Labour government should overhaul regulatory regimes, including in the postal and telecoms industries, to promote investment, universal public services and good quality jobs”.
In-work poverty
Key demands put forward in the resolution included the following:
· A minimum wage of £10 an hour
· The right to a minimum contract of 16 hours per week, and a contract that reflects normal working hours.
· The right to equal pay for all agency workers to be guaranteed from day one of work.
· An immediate halt to the rollout of Universal Credit and a fundamental overhaul of the system.
The school system
“The main task in education for a Labour government will be to recreate a coherent, planned and appropriately funded national public system which is accountable to its various stakeholders and communities. However, the principles of accountability and collaboration which are central to our NES charter cannot be implemented whilst the current fragmented and semi-privatised school system persists. Conference agrees that in government, the Labour Party will bring all schools back under local democratic control including academy and Multi Academy Trusts. Therefore, proposals to wind up MATs and turn over control and management of schools to local democratically controlled structures should be developed urgently”.
Great Expectations.
What was particularly revealing in these debates, although they were largely uncontentious, and the composites passed on a show of hands overwhelmingly, were the many speakers from the rostrum who brought to conference the many indignities suffered by working class people and the insecurities and uncertainties of everyday life. One delegate after another spoke of their personal experiences in relation to low pay, welfare cuts, school cuts, low pay, zero-hours work, and so on.
Some of the contributions from the floor would bring a lump to any throat and had they been put down on paper and published in the mass media – not something anyone seriously expects, of course – they would have been political dynamite.
It was noticeable that many of the speakers declared themselves as first-time delegates and first-time speakers and although there was a smattering of older members, many were very young. “We don’t want to change things a bit here and a bit there,” one young delegate told the cheering conference, “we want to transform society.”
What all of these speeches showed – and there were over 40 delegates speaking in this section of conference – was a level of expectation higher than ever before. Especially given the tone and content of the composite resolutions tabled, there was hardly a single delegate who didn’t look at an incoming Labour government to solve the problems they face. These are extremely high expectations indeed and they will without doubt be an important political factor in the coming months and years.
The Party front-bench speakers reflected those aspirations and expectation. Angela Raynor, Shadow Education Minister and a very popular front-bencher at the conference replied in the afternoon to the discussion, promising a Labour government against all forms of privilege and selection. “Children do not need re-education,” she said, referring to Tory comments, “they need free education.”
But undoubtedly the highlight of the day was John McDonnell’s speech at the end of the morning session. He caught the mood of conference completely accurately, articulating their hopes and aspirations for a Labour government. He even quoted the old Clause 4 part IV of the Labour constitution – the socialist clause removed by Blair – stating that it is “as relevant today as it was a hundred years ago when it was put into the Party constitution.”
John McDonnell captures the mood of conference
The Shadow Chancellor made many commitments about workplace democracy, workers on the boards of big companies, shares and dividends for workers, an end to the abuse of tax avoidance, and many more. Perhaps one of the loudest cheers came when he explicitly said, “No more PFIs!” There is a discussion to be had about how much the civil service and the Establishment of government will help or hinder a Labour government, but there is no doubting the intentions of McDonnell as incoming Chancellor. The Treasury will be “re-programmed” he argued, and its full weight will be brought to bear to implement Labour’s policies. Unlike his predecessors, Labour Chancellors who used economic crisis as an excuse the ditch promises made to the electorate, John McDonnell gave a firm commitment to radical policies, In fact, he said, “the greater the mess we inherit, the more radical we will have to be.”
The Tories, he suggested, are making noises about an early election, largely because of the mess they are in over Brexit. In that case, he said, “Bring it on!”. There were several standing ovations during his speech and a long one at the end, when the entire body of the conference was standing. The press will no doubt be railing at the ‘Marxist’ McDonnell, but he definitely caught the mood of the delegates – desperate for change, determined to win the next election whenever it is and, above all, expecting great things from their government.
September 24, 2018
