The Labour Party has a rich political heritage with prodigious know-how – yet why is the Labour Party failing to win over the median voter? This is obviously a multi-faceted and complex issue which will encompass any number of issues from how voters identify themselves, how they develop their own political opinions, their proclivity to vote amongst many other factors. However, are there structural issues within the Labour Party which mean that expertise and representation are limited to specific regional and socio-economic groups? To an extent, I think this is true. People often refer to the Labour Party appealing to the London-elite, which although this is arguable, I believe it does extend beyond that. In my observations, a structural issue within the Labour Party is that it focuses only on pulling through very specific people, making it less representative than the party wants to be.
My concern is that the current system only primes candidates from the same pool of people and a downward trend in trade union membership (excluding the last few years which have not reversed the overall percentage of union members to anywhere near as close as things were) is only likely to compound this. If the internal Labour recruitment process is focused only ever around bringing through the same candidates, it will continue to struggle to engage with the median voter as well as to prepare to deliver winning campaigns to seats, even when the Tory argument has been irreversibly undermined. If areas where the Labour Party isn’t particularly strong don’t get to experience how the big Labour Party machine delivers elections, engages with their communities, and develops innovative new concepts, how likely are they to be able to win elections in the future? If the knowledge is centralised in Manchester and London, for example, how do you win a national government?
Ouroboros is the ancient Egyptian concept of the serpent consuming itself. I think this is a clear metaphor for how the Labour Party has institutionally trapped itself to only consume the people it has won over over a prolonged period of time. I intend to look at how internal staff, Conference, and voluntary-elected positions are failing to include the seats that the Labour Party wants to win.
How do Labour Party staff selections limited diversity?
After applying for numerous jobs within the Labour Party (from Graham Evans’ office to MP staffer roles), I have identified 3 key requirements which are limiting staff recruitment.
Firstly, MPs will prioritise staff from their own constituency – this may not be conscious but I believe it is more likely given their current recruitment criteria. There are obviously numerous benefits to this such as the candidates knowing more about local issues, the MP is (although in only a very small way) bringing more employment to the constituency, could be an opportunity to persuade members of a candidate’s family to vote for that MP knowing the candidate’s job is at risk, the candidate will have had increased access to that MP in order to show a particular interest in their activities (such as posing them questions at events or volunteering for them during elections). Alternatively, if the MP or Head Office is looking for staff in their Westminster office, they are limited by how far people can commute from which means they are more than likely to recruit staff from London. Labour holds more seats in Greater London than in any other area with 63% (46 out of the 73 constituencies). As a result, candidates from Labour seats are already more likely to work for the Labour Party than those held by other parties.
Secondly, Head Office and MPs are more likely to recruit candidates with strong political credentials. This also seems like a no-brainer, the person knows what they’re talking about, how to run campaigns, what being in politics is actually like and they have a clear commitment to the party. The issue comes when political credentials are most likely to arise in areas where the Labour Party is already firmly established. No single candidate can win an election on their own, it requires financing (inevitably CLP finances which look healthier with a larger membership unless you have some spectacular local benefactors) and a steady stream of willing volunteers (although some parties have claimed they have a high number of activists against the total membership in an area). As such, the stronger the local Labour Party, the more likely it is that you can get the advantageous experience to run a campaign, become a councillor, and then achieve things on your council. If you have a strong Labour block in your constituency, it is also then more likely that you have a Labour MP (Preston seems to have bucked national trends in 2019 and that is often attributed to its strong council). Similarly, England-based affiliated societies are also often based in Labour heartlands such as the Fabian Society in London and Manchester. Furthermore, TUC, Unite, Socialist International, and Institute for Public Policy Research are all in London. As such, like the recruitment issue, the opportunities here are most readily available to areas where Labour has already won the argument.
Thirdly, work experience, and I suspect this issue will be most self-restricting. If you are 16 years old (the age I was when I undertook school-mandated work experience), it is likely that it only ever be feasible to request work experience from a local(ish) MP given that you do not have a driving licence, rail fare is prohibitively expensive, and the cost of accommodation would require a loan from the bank of mum and dad. For London-based people, you could reasonably apply for any Labour Westminster office but as advised above, this is already a London-centric system. The situation is likely improved by undertaking work experience at an older age (e.g. 18 to 24) because you are more likely to be able to finance a week of unpaid work and have your own transport. Nevertheless, this excludes people who could not afford a week of unpaid work and is still likely to restrict people who do not have a car. Furthermore, at this point, MPs are more likely to only take on people who can demonstrate some political interest (which is supported by being from a strong Labour constituency). With the fewest number of Labour MPs since 1935, competition for work experience placements will be higher. As such, there is a strong benefit associated with being based in a Labour constituency.
There are limitations to my assessment such as not all of London is Labour and candidates can reasonably commute in from the Home Counties or adjacent non-Labour constituencies. Nevertheless, arguably recruiting from wealthier and less diverse Conservative areas (e.g. Home Counties, Richmond and Westminster) is not going to do much to improve the Labour Party’s image of being in-touch with the average voter and win back an area such as Hartlepool. I appreciate that people may also have to live with their parents in order to commute in from these Tory areas as well which I hope to address below.
In addition, other limitations would include that there can be councillors in a constituency without a Labour MP and vice versa, so some potential candidates will not necessarily encounter equal benefits.
Conference
The National Conferences are a vital part of the way in which members share knowledge, inspire and debate policy. The Conference is a fantastic example of how the grassroots Labour movement can make real impact on Party policy and its identity. You will easily leave the Labour conferences brimming with ideas you wish to implement in your local area.
However, how do you implement these own ideas in your constituency if you do not already have a minimum level of power? If you do not have strong Labour councillors, how do you implement 15 minute neighbourhoods, revamp to your local highstreet or set-up radical ways to tackle violence against women? You can create these policies ahead of future elections but if your CLP lacks the membership or the army of volunteers, even the best possible policies in the world are unlikely to win the election. Where are the conference sessions on making a big impact when you are a minor party on your local council? How to make a big impact during elections and impact local policy even if you are unlikely to win (in a less right-wing Marine Le Pen style fashion)? How to efficiently campaign with limited resources? How to engage your membership to becoming more active? How can your CLP make a difference without councillors and MPs in your local area? How to rival a BNOC during elections?
A recent Fabian membership survey indicated a profound lack of understanding of what a small CLP’s experience is like, spending more time focusing on issues with candidate selection rather than how to get people to even stand in the first place. This is due to the lack of exposure at the centre of the party about what life is like when you aren’t in a Labour stronghold. We aren’t hearing the voices from the CLPs turning the tides, like the Isle of Wight CLP or Worthing. Counties such as Surrey are no longer the true blue they once were but the guidance to set up the infrastructure to win over these votes isn’t easily found – this doesn’t hand future elections to us, it means we can lose to other non-Tories. How did people like Emma Dent Coad or Fleur Anderson achieve the seemingly impossible in becoming an MP in Kensington in 2017 and Putney 2019?
We also need to address the point that our conference system votes to support policies that do well in Labour areas but not in our target seats. CLPs without a large membership and limited political representation are unlikely to have the same voice in the national party as the larger CLPs who can bring additional delegates to conference and represent more members when votes are weighted.
Voluntary Elected Positions
Internal Labour Party elections are based on CLPs and Unions endorsing candidates. These candidates are then voted on by the membership with their endorsements proudly displayed. Taking the example of the recent Conference Arrangements Committee, the four candidates available were all from strong regional Labour areas (up until 2019, Wrexham was considered a very safe seat). This means that networking opportunities for these candidates is far easier with strong regional parties. There are more joint events where CLPs can meet these candidates and acquire endorsements. They can also network to find out more about other organisation who can also provide endorsements. These endorsements improve their chances of being endorsed by other parties (following the recommendations from others) and therefore becoming elected.
How do we unknot the snake?
How can the Labour Party support CLPs and potential candidates in non-Labour safe-seats? As mentioned above, I believe getting in parties that are bucking the trend front and centre at conference will be a great opportunity for everybody. However, I think tackling some of the other issues will be far more complex. Solutions could include Westminster Labour Party campaigning for more funding to cover the expenses for internships and work experience opportunities with a more diverse set of MPs, this is likely to be a really important way of lining up future Scottish Labour politicians, an introductory session to the Future Candidates Scheme, for example. This would be an extension of existing schemes such as the Speakers scheme, except tackling political diversity as opposed to social which I appreciate will be harder to swing.
Furthermore, to get expertise into CLPs, Head Office could facilitate a mentorship scheme using either Labour MPs, experienced councillors or other Labour experts. These mentors would attend CLPs to get a ‘warts and all view’ of the local party, to provide bespoke advice and guidance for that CLP as well as potentially to feed back root cause issues that they do uncover up the chain to hopefully facilitate structural changes to the Labour Party to help address these problems.
In the meantime, I am proposing to the South East Regional Executive Committee that we establish a mentoring scheme in the South East (i.e. predominately Tory safe-seats) for people who want to be more active in the Labour Party. The mentors will be people who have the most political experience and still understand the restrictions newbies face. This will involve recommendations for different networks and affiliates, suggestions based upon success stories like Preston and Worthing, and the campaigning guidance to deliver exceptional new candidates.