The Commission agreed the following statement:

“The Commission agreed that the new Leader’s focus on Party membership was extremely welcome. But we have serious reservations about the possible withdrawal of the right to table Contemporary and Emergency motions without any balancing package, such as the right to submit and move amendments to consultative documents at Conference. The Commission considers that there should be mechanisms providing democratic safety values for both members and affiliates. They enable some accountability and a much greater sense of involvement and legitimacy for the policy process.

Party Conference has to remain the Party’s sovereign body, with ultimate responsibility for policy formulation. Among the checks and balances in the Party’s Rule Book some means have to be reestablished to enable members to amend directly policy proposals as set out in our 15 recommendations for reform of Partnership in Power.

The Commission strongly welcomed the passion and commitment to breathing new energy and vigour into Partnership in Power and strengthened the National Policy Forum, and believes this reinforces the importance of three of our major recommendations for:

(a)One Member, One Vote elections for National Policy Forum members representing Constituency Labour Parties providing greater legitimacy and profile for the body as well as greater accountability.

(b)All consultations, comments and analysis of submissions to be transparent and published on the Party’s website at least open to all individual and affiliated members.

(c)Consider the right of local parties and affiliated organisations to table amendments to consultation documents, which could be prioritised for discussion and voting at Conference. This allows some redress beyond just approving or rejecting a whole document

The Commission reaffirmed its findings that Labour Party policy making should be separated from government policy making, locally rooted, transparent and offer members a real sense of ownership following democratic discussion and deliberation.”

Source: http://savethelabourparty.org/070703_Press_Release.pdf 3 July 2007