“A narrow factional agenda is being imposed upon the party, and this approach is increasingly unpopular with the public.”
Restore Labour Democracy, a group founded to oppose the factional agenda of the top of the Labour Party and to campaign for members’ rights, launched with an online rally on March 16th. You can read our report-back of the event and watch it back in full below:
It brought together MPs and trade union leaders who demanded an end to the damaging behaviour of the last few years, as well as to strengthen internal party democracy.
The meeting was chaired by Secretary of the Socialist Campaign Group Richard Burgon MP, who started the meeting off by acknowledging the electoral perils of the Labour Party: “A narrow factional agenda is being imposed upon the party, and this approach is increasingly unpopular with the public.”
Andrea Egan, newly elected General Secretary of UNISON, said, “We need grassroots members to have a voice, being able to choose their candidates and have a say in the policy process.”
And on the factionalism at the top of the party, she said, “This is a deeply rotten, nasty, toxic culture, and one that is pushing Labour towards the cliff edge.”
The meeting was also joined by Paul Holden, author of the new book “The Fraud”, which details much information about the Labour Together scandal, as well as the factional, anti-democratic streaks of many of the individuals involved.
He spoke about the “clear-eyed and explicit process of narrowing the possibility of democratic decision-making in the Labour Party […] You effectively have a cohort of MPs who are entirely disconnected and not accountable to their own constituents.”
John McDonnell, former Shadow Chancellor, reminded viewers of the gravity of the situation: “This is the most important meeting most of us will be attending this year, because the political moment is so dangerous.”
He also placed a historical context to the current, dire situation the party finds itself in: “I’ve been in the party 50 years and I’ve never seen this level of anger.”
Brian Leishman MP, Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP, and Steve Wright of the FBU also spoke, among others. Many speakers warned that, without internal reform and a restoration of members’ democracy, Labour risks further electoral decline due to bad decision-making that could be avoided with a less factional government.
Richard Burgon ended the meeting with a reminder of the stakes here: “When nasty factionalism takes control at the top of the Labour Party, we end up with a leadership making disastrous decisions divorced from reality.”
- You can watch the Restore Labour Democracy rally in full here.
- A coalition of trade union leaders, over 25 Labour MPs and Labour Party organisations has launched a new call demanding an end to the factional agenda from those at the top of the Labour Party and for the restoration of members’ rights and democracy in the Party. Add your name here.
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