“As Labour women, we should be asserting our right to make our own policy and set our own rules to act in the interests of women.”
By Rachel Garnham, Campaign for Labour Party Democracy (CLPD)
Labour’s Annual Women’s Conference is fast approaching – once again a single day (if we’re lucky enough to have the whole day) tagged onto the start of Annual Conference, rather than the two-day standalone conference envisaged as part of the Democracy Review that would genuinely allow women’s voices to be heard.
Members could be forgiven for not being aware of the details for this year’s Women’s Conference – information is almost impossible to find and is inconsistent. It appears the Labour HQ has no interest whatsoever in engaging women and making the conference a success. Nevertheless, thanks to the efforts of some of our elected reps and trade unions, there will be the opportunity to make policy on some of the key issues of relevance to women. The deadline for submitting motions and rule changes is 5pm on Wednesday 21 August, and CLPD has some suggestions on its website.
Women’s Conference will be a great opportunity to let the Labour government know what it needs to do to deliver for women – whether it be renationalisation of the NHS, resourcing to address violence against women and girls, alternatives to austerity or decriminalisation of abortion. We can only hope – and make the case – that policy agreed at Women’s Conference impacts policy in government rather than heading into the potential black hole of the National Policy Forum (NPF).
Last year the majority of motions were referred to the NPF but there has been no NPF process or activity in the past year so they have just gone in the dustbin. I raised this possibility as a point of order at last year’s conference – I was assured – inaccurately – that there would be a process. We cannot let this happen again. Similarly, there has been no evidence of any activity from the elected National Women’s Committee, who I understand have barely met and been completely disempowered, to take forward the motions that were passed. It is not good enough for women to be brought together for one day a year, discuss and take views on important policy areas, and then for the agreed structures to be completely ignored the rest of the time.
Another issue that delegates to Women’s Conference may want to take up is our hard fought right to make our own rules. Last year Labour’s Annual Conference agreed to reintroduce the incredibly restrictive ‘contemporary’ criteria for motions – someone, somewhere – unaccountable and with no transparency – has decided this also applies to Women’s Conference. As Labour women we should be asserting our right to make our own policy and set our own rules to act in the interests of women.
CLPD is backing the Centre-Left Grassroots Alliance candidates for the Women’s Conference Arrangements Committee – Jean Crocker, Rathi Guhadasan and Zoe Allan – who will stand up for a democratic conference where CLPs and unions genuinely have their voices heard. Delegates and Visitors to Women’s Conference are warmly invited to attend CLPD’s pre-conference get-together on Friday 20 September, 5-6pm at Friends Meeting House, School Lane, Liverpool L1 for an informal fringe gathering to discuss some of the issues raised here and what women need from a Labour government. Labour HQ may be ignoring the voices of grassroots women, and trying to pretend Women’s Conference does not exist: the left must be more engaged!
- Rachel Garnham is the Co-Chair of the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy (CLPD). You can follow her on Twitter/X, and CLPD on Facebook and Twitter/X.
- More information about preparing for Women’s Conference is available on the CLPD website here. To get in touch, contact clpdwomen@gmail.com.
