The Labour Party’s affiliation with trade unions is intrinsically linked to their formation as it came into being on the back of union moves to get their voice heard in parliament. However, Ed Miliband’s recently announced Labour Party 2014 leadership voting reforms have set the stage to shake up that affiliation and move the party closer to the goal of having one vote for each of its members for the appointment of its leaders.
The big change to be aware of in general is that the old way of voting for Labour leaders is being amended to make it more even for all. Previously, a third of the vote went to MPs and MEPs, a third to Unions and the remaining third to Labour Party members, but going forward this will all change to give just a single vote to each person, whether they’re a party member, MP, MEP or affiliated and paid up member of a trade union.
It’s that last bit that signifies the big change for the unions, making their voice only as loud as the individuals that agree to pay a £3 fee to Labour and opt in to be affiliated to the party. While this doesn’t necessarily completely remove the sway trade unions have over the party, it does mean that it moves a step closer to the individual members holding the cards, as opposed to the “union barons”, as the leaders of the trade unions have been called by Conservative representatives.
It’s a change that means each party member vote is equal to the vote of a paid up and affiliated union member or to the vote of a MP or MEP, resulting in the one party, one vote dictum that Labour is leading with in their reforms. The intent for Labour, according to their documentation, is to bring themselves closer to the people of Britain.
However, there’s a certain amount of analysis to be done in the numbers, instead of just philosophies that back the reforms up as Labour party membership is approximately 200,000 at the moment, but Unision, the largest trade union in the UK, has 1.3m members alone. This would seem to imply that going forward the unions will have even more sway over the party, so the question is whether or not the dictum is just a cleverly placed spin on a one party, more votes for the unions reality.
The other big questions that are left unanswered include how much take-up the fee paying and affiliated union membership will achieve and how much of an influence the “barons” have over their members’ political persuasion. For example, if the take-up is high and the union bosses hold a lot of sway over who their members vote for in the party elections it could be argued that they will have even more control than before over who leads the Labour party.
In addition to the one party, one vote concept, Ed Miliband has also instigated reforms to the nomination process. MPs will continue to have sole nomination rights over leadership contenders, but going forward this will need to achieve 20% support to make is through to the membership vote, compared to the current 12.5%. This will mean fewer potential contenders making it through to the ballot itself.
There will also be a primary vote for the Labour Party entrant to the race for the Mayor of London position, which simply means that a one member one vote election will take place to select Labour’s entrant to the race for the office.
Funding reform has also been tabled, but while the voting and union member reforms are set to come into operation from 2014 onwards, the overarching changes to the party’s funding will be incrementally incorporated over the next five years. The intent is to put a limit on what a candidate can spend while going for selection and a cap on donations to any one campaign.
