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| Labour review to ask NEC to agree more powers for members | |
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| Labour’s most powerful governing body will be asked to agree to sweeping reforms when it meets on Tuesday afternoon ahead of the party’s conference, with the aim of handing significantly more power to the membership. | Labour’s most powerful governing body will be asked to agree to sweeping reforms when it meets on Tuesday afternoon ahead of the party’s conference, with the aim of handing significantly more power to the membership. |
| The former Labour MP Katy Clark, an ally of Jeremy Corbyn who is now the Labour leader’s political secretary, will lead a “party democracy review” to make the case for major changes to how the party elects leaders, selects MPs and forms policy, according to a document seen by the Guardian. Clark’s review will report directly to Corbyn and the party chair, Ian Lavery. | The former Labour MP Katy Clark, an ally of Jeremy Corbyn who is now the Labour leader’s political secretary, will lead a “party democracy review” to make the case for major changes to how the party elects leaders, selects MPs and forms policy, according to a document seen by the Guardian. Clark’s review will report directly to Corbyn and the party chair, Ian Lavery. |
| Corbyn’s allies will argue at Tuesday’s meeting of the national executive committee (NEC) that the changes will democratise the party and enhance Labour’s credentials as a mass movement, but critics said the reforms were the latest in a concerted campaign to marginalise the voices of MPs who had been some of Corbyn’s fiercest critics. | Corbyn’s allies will argue at Tuesday’s meeting of the national executive committee (NEC) that the changes will democratise the party and enhance Labour’s credentials as a mass movement, but critics said the reforms were the latest in a concerted campaign to marginalise the voices of MPs who had been some of Corbyn’s fiercest critics. |
| The NEC, which is meeting to agree the programme for Labour’s conference in Brighton this weekend, is set to agree to lower the percentage of MPs and MEPs needed to select candidates to be placed on a ballot for members. | The NEC, which is meeting to agree the programme for Labour’s conference in Brighton this weekend, is set to agree to lower the percentage of MPs and MEPs needed to select candidates to be placed on a ballot for members. |
| The change, from 15% to 10%, will make it easier for another leftwing candidate to run for the party leadership after Corbyn, whose supporters in the party had wanted to lower the threshold to 5%. | The change, from 15% to 10%, will make it easier for another leftwing candidate to run for the party leadership after Corbyn, whose supporters in the party had wanted to lower the threshold to 5%. |
| The wide-ranging review, which will report before next year’s conference, may suggest lowering the threshold further, or even removing MPs as the “gatekeepers” to leadership nominations, which had in the past prevented leftwing candidates from being put on the ballot paper. | The wide-ranging review, which will report before next year’s conference, may suggest lowering the threshold further, or even removing MPs as the “gatekeepers” to leadership nominations, which had in the past prevented leftwing candidates from being put on the ballot paper. |
| Chris Williamson, a shadow minister and vocal Corbyn supporter, has suggested he would like to see MPs removed from the process entirely. “There shouldn’t be a leadership threshold at all,” he said in an interview with the Guardian last month. “That needs to change. Who are the PLP [parliamentary Labour party]? They are a tiny percentage of the party.” | Chris Williamson, a shadow minister and vocal Corbyn supporter, has suggested he would like to see MPs removed from the process entirely. “There shouldn’t be a leadership threshold at all,” he said in an interview with the Guardian last month. “That needs to change. Who are the PLP [parliamentary Labour party]? They are a tiny percentage of the party.” |
| Other proposed changes to be considered in the review will be the makeup of NEC itself, which is currently finely balanced between leftwing and Corbyn-sceptic members. | Other proposed changes to be considered in the review will be the makeup of NEC itself, which is currently finely balanced between leftwing and Corbyn-sceptic members. |
| However, several moderates on the committee who have previously opposed significant reform, including the deputy leader, Tom Watson, have made clear they will no longer do so, believing the election result shows the Labour leader has earned the right to make the changes he wants. | However, several moderates on the committee who have previously opposed significant reform, including the deputy leader, Tom Watson, have made clear they will no longer do so, believing the election result shows the Labour leader has earned the right to make the changes he wants. |
| Sources have suggested the NEC is set to agree to the addition of four or five committee members to represent trade unions and the general membership, which would be likely to tip the balance of power on the key grouping further towards Corbyn. | Sources have suggested the NEC is set to agree to the addition of four or five committee members to represent trade unions and the general membership, which would be likely to tip the balance of power on the key grouping further towards Corbyn. |
| The change, set to be agreed by the decision-making body on Tuesday afternoon, is seen by some as an interim agreement before the full consultation on reforms is agreed. | The change, set to be agreed by the decision-making body on Tuesday afternoon, is seen by some as an interim agreement before the full consultation on reforms is agreed. |
| The review will examine “democratic policymaking procedures” giving both members and the annual conference a greater role in forming binding policy. It will also examine “strengthening the involvement and participation of our hundreds of thousands of new members in constituency parties and other aspects of the party’s work”. | The review will examine “democratic policymaking procedures” giving both members and the annual conference a greater role in forming binding policy. It will also examine “strengthening the involvement and participation of our hundreds of thousands of new members in constituency parties and other aspects of the party’s work”. |
| Richard Angell, the director of Labour’s centrist pressure group Progress, said: “We are now in a permanent campaign to undermine the role of MPs, marginalise their voice and get them to acquiesce. Never before has a review of this kind been conducted from behind closed doors in the leader’s office. It is a bizarre, factional and unparalleled power grab.” | Richard Angell, the director of Labour’s centrist pressure group Progress, said: “We are now in a permanent campaign to undermine the role of MPs, marginalise their voice and get them to acquiesce. Never before has a review of this kind been conducted from behind closed doors in the leader’s office. It is a bizarre, factional and unparalleled power grab.” |
| Reforms to party democracy are a key ambition of the grassroots pro-Corbyn movement Momentum, which wants the membership to have more powers. | Reforms to party democracy are a key ambition of the grassroots pro-Corbyn movement Momentum, which wants the membership to have more powers. |
| On Monday, a Momentum source said it hoped the NEC’s meeting would “take account of this grassroots desire to make the party more democratic and give members the chance to debate the issues they care about at conference”. | On Monday, a Momentum source said it hoped the NEC’s meeting would “take account of this grassroots desire to make the party more democratic and give members the chance to debate the issues they care about at conference”. |