“From retaining tuition fees, leaving the big utilities in the private sector, failing to talk to about safe routes for migration, up to even invoking Margaret Thatcher over the rule of law, Labour’s messaging is too off-putting.”
By Simon Fletcher
Labourlist reports that Labour Party membership has fallen by almost 170,000 since 2018 and by approximately 19,000 since last summer.
With a growing sense that the Tories are close to being removed from office, in other times would be of concern to Labour that its membership has declined. A party on the verge of government should want to enthuse more people to turn their support into full membership. But however much the party is recruiting new members, this currently does not outweigh falling overall membership.
It is easy to see why membership is down. Members feel disempowered over machine politics in parliamentary selections that reduce the right of local members to choose their candidate.
That culture is not limited to parliamentary selections. Yesterday, it emerged that the sitting Mayor of the North of Tyne, Jamie Driscoll, has been blocked by a panel from standing in Labour’s selection for the new North East Mayor.
Up to this point, it had been widely assumed that the selection would be a race between Jamie Driscoll and the Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner, Kim McGuinness. The decision to block the North of Tyne Mayor has attracted widespread opposition and anger. The General Secretary of Aslef – Mick Whelan – described it as ‘a true disgrace’, with the General Secretary of the FBU – Matt Wrack -calling the exclusion a ‘disgraceful witch-hunting stitch up’.
The Times’ Patrick Maguire has written of the tensions between Labour’s stated commitment to devolving power, and its handling of internal party management. ‘Starmer is notionally committed to devolving more power than any prime minister before him. Yet it is far from clear whether those closest to him trust local leaders with it,’ he wrote in May. Blocking Jamie Driscoll is the latest evidence of that tension.
Consistently, messaging over policy and positioning has left many feeling unenthused.
Britain has seen the biggest wave of strikes for years and household incomes are projected to fall more sharply than at any time on record – but the Labour party leadership has described some of the pay requests as unaffordable and has not set out a plan to raise income levels within the economy.
From retaining tuition fees, leaving the big utilities in the private sector, failing to talk to about safe routes for migration, up to even invoking Margaret Thatcher over the rule of law, Labour’s messaging is too off-putting and offers too little to inspire a big surge in membership. Many feel let down that promises made by Keir Starmer in the leadership election have been dropped.
A Labour government needs to be sure of support from its own base – including its membership – to sustain itself during difficult times and in order to win subsequent elections. Presently, far too many feel taken for granted.
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- This article was originally published by Simon Fletcher’s Modern Left on June 3rd, 2023.
Barring Jamie Driscoll from standing is the continuation of a long line of similar actions that are increasingly troubling. It is understandable that the right-wing want to ensure that left candidates don’t get a ‘look-in’ but is this all that these actions are about? If the ‘project’ is to have a US-style Democratic party, with trade unions support but, not affiliation, then this is the path to take. Maybe a large membership-based working class party, seeking alternatives to capitalism, is the last thing needed if capitalism is ‘the only game in town.’ So, could it be that some would wish to engineer a split, not just in the party, but, also in the trade unions. Left unions, in frustration, form a new party and right-wing unions, stay aligned with the party. Then we might see a split within the founding organisation of the Labour Party; the TUC. Mission accomplished! Is all lost, then? The tens of thousands of workers involved in the current unprecedented strike wave, will be learning lessons that will not necessarily disappear.
Climate change, war, austerity are linked together. Labour must show real alternatives to these crises.