Many members of Young Labour will recently have received an email from the Chair of the Young Labour National Committee with a “let’s talk” questionnaire and contact details for many of the committee. Included as a ‘P.S.’ was a recommendation to vote for a slate of candidates in the NEC elections.

Supporters of ‘Young Labour Democracy’ feel this raises some important questions, the most pressing of which is whether as an official body of the party, Young Labour should be supporting candidates in internal elections. Whilst the recommendations were qualified as a ‘personal opinion’ there seems to have been no discussion amongst either the National or Executive Committees of Young Labour as to whether such support should be included in an official mailing, let alone if there was a consensus as to who to support. Where is the opportunity for other members, or the Committee as a whole to share their ‘personal opinion’ to large numbers of young members?

As the distribution list included many more than personal contacts of the YL Chair, who provided our addresses - Labour General Secretary Peter Watt has been told that the membership database wasn’t used, so what was?

In any case, shouldn’t YL have been encouraging a high turnout from young members in the NEC poll to represent our diverse political opinions, rather than a vote for specific candidates? A call for a high turnout in this highly contested election would put Young Labour in a strong position to work with whichever candidates are elected to the CLP section of the NEC, whereas now it is at least possible (if not almost a certainty) that the ruling body of our Party will have members whose presence has been actively opposed by Young Labour – something which is hardly an incentive for them to work with or help YL in the future.

This seems like the perfect example of why we need a proper system of accountability within Young Labour, with the Chair and other officers being accountable to the membership.

Posted by BenS at 4:34 PM | Permalink | Comments

Young Labour currently suffers from a shocking lack of democracy, with neither the national committee nor the executive committee elected by the mass membership of the youth of our party. The clear lack of democracy and accountability makes it almost impossible for an individual young CLP or TU member to play a part in the decision-making of Young Labour, meaning the party fails to capitalise on the enthusiasm for activity held by many young members.

We seek to reverse the democratic deficit which currently exists in the organisation - the rule change is only one step, but we feel it to be a significant one. Through this process we hope to empower more young members to elect their own leadership and to become further involved at a time when our party can hardly afford for them not to be.


The following explain the current situation and our proposed rule change. To download this in a form that can be distributed at you CLP conference mandating meeting, or to pass on to your Conference delegate please click here. If you support the rule change or want more information please email us on info@YLdemocracy.org.uk

The Current Situation

By default all members of the Labour Party aged 27 and under become members of Young Labour, a section of the party governed by a National Committee and an Executive Committee. In addition to these there is a Young Labour Conference held every two years at Labour Spring Conference that elects the NEC Youth Representative.

The National Committee of Young Labour is made up of:

• one young member per region/Scotland/Wales, selected by the regional office
  
• one NPF youth representative per region elected by all delegates at Labour Party Annual Conference
  
• five young representatives of Labour-affiliated trade unions
  
• three representatives from the National Organisation of Labour Students
  
• one representative of Young Fabians
  
• the NEC Youth Representative (elected at Young Labour Conference)
  
• the NEC-appointed National Youth Officer

This body then goes on to elect from its own membership the Young Labour Executive Committee: Chair, Vice Chair, Women’s Officer, Membership and Campaigns Officer, Assistant Secretary and up to two others. These are joined by the NEC Youth Rep and the National Youth Officer (a staff member) who acts as a permanent secretary to the committee.

The Young Labour Conference comprises:

• young members of CLPs (one per CLP and also each regional YL group has one per CLP covered)
• young members of Labour-affiliated trade unions (delegation size set by national union affiliation)
• delegates of the Labour Students delegated from University Labour Clubs (2 per Labour Club)
• members of Young Fabians

with three voting blocks (CLP and regional reps, Unions and Fabians and also Labour Students) holding a third of the votes each. This elects the NEC Youth Rep only.

Conclusion

The Young Labour Conference is the largest and most representative body of Young Labour, bringing together delegates directly from CLPs, representatives of those in work through the trade unions and of those in academic study through Labour Students. However, the most representative body, the Conference, is currently unable to elect either the Young Labour National Committee, which is appointed separately from the conference by sectional groups, or the Young Labour Executive Committee, which is self-selected by and from the Young Labour National Committee.

This should mean that the actions of the Executive Committee are accountable to the larger National Committee, however this does not currently function effectively due to the overall lack of accountability & the bodies only meeting as one.

The current lack of democracy means neither the Young Labour National Committee or the Young Labour Executive Committee are directly accountable to the Young Labour Conference.

The rule change proposal

The proposal is for the Labour Party Annual Conference 2006 to pass a rule change that will make an incremental step toward the democratisation of Young Labour. It is proposed to retain the composition of the YL National Committee, representing as it does Young Labour’s constituent organisations, but to give the Young Labour Conference a direct role in electing the body that will run Young Labour day-to-day for two years until the following Young Labour Conference.

This will finally provide the Young Labour Conference and the grassroots membership with the power to hold its Executive Committee to account, while allowing the constituent organisations their existing positions in the National Committee.

Chapter 11 – Rules for Young Labour
Clause 11B.2
After “The National Committee of Young Labour shall comprise:” insert new clause “(a) an executive elected by the conference of Young Labour as detailed at 11B.3” and renumber subsequent clauses accordingly.
Clause 11B.3
1. In the first line of Rule 11B.3 delete the words “The National Committee” and substitute the words “Young Labour conference”
2. Add the following paragraph at the end of Rule 11B.3
“In the event of an office referred to at (a) to (e) becoming vacant between Young Labour conferences, the National Committee shall have the authority to elect a replacement from amongst its own members.”
Clause 11B.4
Delete the final sentence of Rule 11B.4

Posted by BenS at 12:56 PM | Permalink | Comments

Welcome to the Young Labour Democracy blog. This site has been launched by several members of Young Labour concerned by the lack of transparency and open communication within the organisation - a situation that can only hamper the development of an campaigning young activist base - exactly the sort of activist base that the party desperately needs in this time of a shrinking and aging membership.

We were spurred into action by the recent email from the Chair of the Young Labour National Committee which included voting recommendations for the NEC elections (we'll comment on this in further blogs shortly), but this is just one example of the deep rooted problems we feel prevent Young Labour from reaching its potential. We also plan to campaign in support of a rule change to be presented at Party Conference this year and encourage participation from the broadest possible spectrum of Young Labour members who believe in a more open and democratic party.

Posted by BenS at 11:52 AM | Permalink | Comments