Grassroots « Labour Uncut

Ditch the old language, and start with ‘progressive’, says Jonathan Tanner

03/06/2010, 11:41:13 AM

It will be worth paying attention to the language deployed by the leadership candidates in the coming months. Not to listen out for bigots or balls-ups, but to identify the contenders’ capacity to try new messages on the campaign trail.

The Brown era was notable for a shift towards a more technocratic and less empathetic style of communication. But talking in millions and billions means zilch on the doorstep.

The former Prime Minister’s gift for over-explanation was mimicked by many when communicating our policies to the public. The Ashcroft affair was a good example. ‘No representation without taxation’ should have been the message, but instead it became bogged down in procedure and accountancy; losing the ability to slip easily into conversations between voters.

After thirteen years our other mantras were tired. While there is great value in repetition, our audience had reached saturation point. (more…)

Posted in Grassroots | 4 Comments »

Immigration is not the enemy, not the answer, says Rob Carr

02/06/2010, 03:59:01 PM

I’m puzzled. I’m puzzled by our leaders and by some of the commentariat.

I spent the general election campaigning on the ground. I knocked on a lot of doors, did a lot of phone-banking, talked to a lot of voters.

While I did most of that campaigning in Newcastle, it wasn’t the only place. I talked to voters in Bury. I talked to voters in London. I talked to voters in Nottingham, Scotland, Wales and the Southwest.

I had fantastic conversations in our word-of-mouth campaign. Conversations about SureStart, about jobs, about hospitals. I listened to voters’ concerns on the economy, housing, welfare, education, and human rights. I learned a lot about what people thought Labour had done right and what we had done wrong.

And having done all that talking, listening, communicating, I’m puzzled. (more…)

Posted in Grassroots | 5 Comments »

Daniel Shaw reminds us that the roots are in the branch.

30/05/2010, 11:36:46 AM

WARNING: The following post contains heretical references to Labour Party organisational structures, which references are not usually suitable for activists under the age of 65.

You can’t get more grassroots in the Labour party than your local branch meeting.?? Traditionally, they’re quiet affairs – attendance limited to an ancient party stalwart, the local nutter, an earnest Labour student type and a cat. And discussions tend to focus on how best to defeat global capitalism and bring about unilateral nuclear disarmament, before getting onto the serious business of who’s going to bring the biscuits next time and the latest grudge match between Councillor Hatchetcracker and Brenda, who’s been secretary since 1952 and once met Clem Attlee, you know.

They’re not exactly hubs of political dynamism. ??Part of this can be blamed on the party culture over the last 12 years – top-down message, limiting the influence of constituency Labour parties (CLPs) at conference, ignoring motions from branches and general committees – which did little to encourage active engagement at the grassroots level on national policy and campaigning.

But the branches themselves are often just as much to blame – obsessed with procedure and minutiae on the one hand, and with easily dismissed political idealism on the other. (more…)

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Nick Palmer ponders the politics of the AV referendum

28/05/2010, 08:45:56 AM

Let’s suppose that the coalition holds for the next couple of years at least. If so, we can assume that the LibDems will insist on the referendum on the alternative vote without delaying it for years. Regardless of the rights and wrong of AV, what are the political implications?

First, cui bono? Well, AV is great for medium-sized centre parties, since they are normally everyone’s second choice, and their voters often get to choose between the other parties, effectively giving them an extra vote.

It’s also quite good for small parties: they probably won’t win more seats (especially if they’re on the political fringes), but at least their supporters can show their support on the first round before giving others their second preferences. It is correspondingly not so good for big parties, especially if they think that the other big party will get more of the second preferences. (more…)

Posted in Grassroots | 9 Comments »

“Who are you calling a loser?” asks Tim Cheetham

27/05/2010, 07:15:47 AM

Much less widely reported, amidst the twists and turns of the general election result, were the local election results of the same day. Holding the locals at the same time as the General can often have a big influence on the results. This can be a sore point to those of us in local government, as it indicates a lack of concern about what we do the rest of the time. Also because it leaves our fate disproportionately in the hands of our Parliamentary colleagues – and leadership – making their faults, faux pas and fighting a factor in our campaigns. This was underlined handsomely during the Euro elections last year (I’m looking at you, Hazel and James!).

What was most striking this time around was the contradictory trend at the polls. As Labour majorities fell and seats disappeared nationally, the opposite happened in local government. Labour gained control of 15 councils, almost doubling our total. Labour Councillors who have, for the last few years, been culled in their hundreds every May, found their numbers swelled by over 400 new recruits nationwide. (more…)

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Burnham supporter, Dominic Goggins, on why he’s backing Andy

26/05/2010, 08:32:04 AM

All of us connected to Labour know how vital this leadership debate is to our future. Too often in this party we tear ourselves apart when we should be piecing ourselves back together. This is a time for optimism.

It’s good that we sometimes disagree. We should celebrate that our party welcomes so many talented and principled men and women with different views on how we can turn our fundamental desire for fairness into action and inclusion. But we are mature enough to be able to conduct this debate openly and thoroughly without letting our differences turn into the bitter divisions that have dogged our recent history.

I hope each us of can recognise and celebrate the qualities that each of the candidates will bring to this contest, qualities that have energised so many to come home to Labour and rejoin the party. More than anything I hope that we can do so with full respect for the decisions our comrades reach as we each make our choice. (more…)

Posted in Grassroots | 4 Comments »

Questions for Ed Balls

25/05/2010, 10:56:02 AM

Labour Uncut is interviewing Ed Balls about his leadership bid.

What should we ask him? What will your vote depend on? Here’s a chance to have your say.

Add them to this thread as a comment, by 6pm today.

UPDATE – 26.5.10:

We’ve now done the interview, which will appear either later today or early tomorrow.

So this thread is now closed.

Thanks for the helpful contributions.

Posted in Grassroots | 108 Comments »

Nick Palmer on how to mobilise the army of the unaffiliated

25/05/2010, 08:41:07 AM

This is a really good time to be recruiting new members – indeed, people seem to be recruiting themselves. In Broxtowe alone, we’ve had a couple of dozen newcomers who signed up entirely spontaneously after the election. People who left us a while back are putting Iraq behind them, dismayed by the change of government and seeing us as the only anti-Tory game in town.

That’s great – a core of party activists is absolutely essential. But we also need a strategy for involving people who don’t, for whatever reason, want to join. Being a member of a political party is unfashionable, seen by many as rather like joining the Jehovah’s Witnesses: it doesn’t make you a bad person, but many people think it’s not very cool. We can deplore that but we need to recognise it. And it’s not just us – Tory membership has been falling, even in the year up to the election that they expected to win.

I was MP for Broxtowe from 1997 until three weeks ago. Broxtowe, a mixture of towns and villages west of Nottingham, is traditional Tory territory and the demographics are changing against us, with more and more prosperous commuter housing. In 1992, the last close-run General Election, they won it by a 14% (10,000 votes) margin. This year, they won it by just 0.7% (389 votes), with a swing since 2005 of 2.6%, one of the lowest in England. We lost, but seemingly we’ve still been doing something right. (more…)

Posted in Grassroots | 6 Comments »

Vincenzo goes to Progress, instead of to the park

24/05/2010, 10:00:45 AM

There’s obviously something wrong with me. Yesterday was a gorgeous Saturday of post-election sunshine, but instead of relaxing in a park I was at the annual Progress conference at the TUC in London. In a basement. I can’t even say this was a one-off since I was at the Fabian conference last week (also in a basement) when Ed Miliband announced his leadership campaign.

Next time I’m think I’m going to take a leaf out of @hopisen ‘s book; he was quite smug about the fact that he’d decided to go to a park and follow the conference live via Twitter instead. (You too can re-live the Progress conference on Twitter, just look up #progress2010.)

Let’s be honest, conferences like this one are well-attended because the Labour Party is in ‘extended leadership contest’ mode (which I think was one of the NEC’s better decisions) and people are eager to be involved. (more…)

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Jimmy Chen rejects the tyranny of the prefix

23/05/2010, 06:30:44 PM

As I watched the results come in on Election Day, I knew from quite early on that Labour was heading for defeat. Given the poor performance of the Liberal Democrats, it was also clear that the numbers didn’t add up for a Labour-Liberal alliance; and that sooner or later, David Cameron would take over from Gordon Brown as Prime Minister.

Of course, I would have preferred if Gordon remained Prime Minister. I believe that he was instrumental in saving the world, yes, world, economy from a much deeper recession, or even depression. His actions have been recognised by many foreign governments, but alas, our own electorate did not do so. I am happy that Gordon has decided to remain a backbencher for the time being, but nevertheless the future of our party remains uncertain. (more…)