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You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jul/06/ed-miliband-labour-future-after-falkirk
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| The Falkirk scandal shows that Labour needs to mend, not end, union links | The Falkirk scandal shows that Labour needs to mend, not end, union links |
| (2 months later) | |
| One hundred and fourteen years ago, Thomas R Steels, a railway signalman from Doncaster, the town of my constituency, submitted a motion to the Trades Union Congress to found a Labour party. He did it because millions of working people across the country were fed up with an economy that didn't work for them, a legal system that repressed them and a society that was unequal and unfair. That's how the Labour party began. | One hundred and fourteen years ago, Thomas R Steels, a railway signalman from Doncaster, the town of my constituency, submitted a motion to the Trades Union Congress to found a Labour party. He did it because millions of working people across the country were fed up with an economy that didn't work for them, a legal system that repressed them and a society that was unequal and unfair. That's how the Labour party began. |
| Those are the values that have motivated our movement for more than a century. The founders of the Labour party addressed the world as it was, and so must we address the world as it is today. | Those are the values that have motivated our movement for more than a century. The founders of the Labour party addressed the world as it was, and so must we address the world as it is today. |
| The events we have seen in Falkirk have betrayed the values of our party. The practices we have seen should be unacceptable in any political party. But they are certainly unacceptable in the Labour party. | The events we have seen in Falkirk have betrayed the values of our party. The practices we have seen should be unacceptable in any political party. But they are certainly unacceptable in the Labour party. |
| That is why I have taken the strong action I have. It is why Unite must accept the results of the inquiry that has taken place and take responsibility for getting its own house in order. | That is why I have taken the strong action I have. It is why Unite must accept the results of the inquiry that has taken place and take responsibility for getting its own house in order. |
| What happened in Falkirk is not only unacceptable but is unrepresentative of what is happening in Labour parties across the country. | What happened in Falkirk is not only unacceptable but is unrepresentative of what is happening in Labour parties across the country. |
| Since 2010, I have begun a new process of reform in the Labour party with the aim of rooting it in every community of the country, and facing up to the truth that in too many areas, we had become a hollowed-out party. | Since 2010, I have begun a new process of reform in the Labour party with the aim of rooting it in every community of the country, and facing up to the truth that in too many areas, we had become a hollowed-out party. |
| For the first time, we have given registered supporters new rights in the party, and we have incorporated the principles of community organising into the work we do across Britain. | For the first time, we have given registered supporters new rights in the party, and we have incorporated the principles of community organising into the work we do across Britain. |
| Because of this, local Labour party members and supporters are not simply knocking on doors, important though that is, but leading and participating in campaigns on everything from loan sharks to library closures to the living wage. | Because of this, local Labour party members and supporters are not simply knocking on doors, important though that is, but leading and participating in campaigns on everything from loan sharks to library closures to the living wage. |
| Opening up the party in this way has enabled fantastic Labour candidates from a broader range of backgrounds to be selected on the basis of one member, one vote. On 28 June, the day before Armed Forces Day, I was with Sophy Gardner, a former RAF wing commander who is now our candidate in Gloucester. A few months back, I was proud to stand with our candidate in Carlisle, Lee Sherriff, a former shopworker. And on Wednesday evening, I was with Catherine West, one of our fantastic local government leaders in Islington, who pioneered the living wage for her council and is now our candidate in Hornsey and Wood Green. | Opening up the party in this way has enabled fantastic Labour candidates from a broader range of backgrounds to be selected on the basis of one member, one vote. On 28 June, the day before Armed Forces Day, I was with Sophy Gardner, a former RAF wing commander who is now our candidate in Gloucester. A few months back, I was proud to stand with our candidate in Carlisle, Lee Sherriff, a former shopworker. And on Wednesday evening, I was with Catherine West, one of our fantastic local government leaders in Islington, who pioneered the living wage for her council and is now our candidate in Hornsey and Wood Green. |
| On party funding, I have also said that as a part of a comprehensive reform we should put a cap on the large donations that any individual, business or trade union can give to a political party. Labour sought to make reform happen in the party funding talks. We continue to want change. | On party funding, I have also said that as a part of a comprehensive reform we should put a cap on the large donations that any individual, business or trade union can give to a political party. Labour sought to make reform happen in the party funding talks. We continue to want change. |
| So change is well under way in the Labour party. Compare this with the Conservative party: funded by a few people at the top and totally resistant to comprehensive party funding reform, its candidates and MPs are increasingly anti-European and out of touch from the mainstream concerns of hard-working people. All this led by David Cameron who, for all his talk, has not modernised his party. | So change is well under way in the Labour party. Compare this with the Conservative party: funded by a few people at the top and totally resistant to comprehensive party funding reform, its candidates and MPs are increasingly anti-European and out of touch from the mainstream concerns of hard-working people. All this led by David Cameron who, for all his talk, has not modernised his party. |
| But there are bigger lessons for our party, and for our country, to learn from what we have seen in Falkirk, and bigger changes that are required as a result. Too many people see politics as distant from their lives, irrelevant to their concerns and practised by a set of people who seem to live in a different world. Too often, they think that those who engage in politics are in it for themselves. An episode like Falkirk just confirms people's worst suspicions. | But there are bigger lessons for our party, and for our country, to learn from what we have seen in Falkirk, and bigger changes that are required as a result. Too many people see politics as distant from their lives, irrelevant to their concerns and practised by a set of people who seem to live in a different world. Too often, they think that those who engage in politics are in it for themselves. An episode like Falkirk just confirms people's worst suspicions. |
| I believe in a different sort of politics. Rooted in the concerns of ordinary people, understanding of the struggles of people's lives, determined to act on them and based on a politics which brings together good people to change the country, not to advance themselves. | I believe in a different sort of politics. Rooted in the concerns of ordinary people, understanding of the struggles of people's lives, determined to act on them and based on a politics which brings together good people to change the country, not to advance themselves. |
| And we must do all this in a world so different from the one in which Labour was founded. People are less likely to join parties, but more likely to sign up to single-issue movements, and people's working lives are very different. | And we must do all this in a world so different from the one in which Labour was founded. People are less likely to join parties, but more likely to sign up to single-issue movements, and people's working lives are very different. |
| Some people will ask whether these changes mean we should break the link with the trade unions. They will say trade unions helped found the Labour party, but that they have decreasing relevance in today's world, represent a minority of the workforce, and their relationship with Labour is a problem. | Some people will ask whether these changes mean we should break the link with the trade unions. They will say trade unions helped found the Labour party, but that they have decreasing relevance in today's world, represent a minority of the workforce, and their relationship with Labour is a problem. |
| But the presence of ordinary working people – from shopworkers to nurses, engineers to scientists, construction workers to classroom assistants – in a political party should be its biggest asset. To cut these individuals loose would be to make politics more out of touch, not less, more remote from working people. | But the presence of ordinary working people – from shopworkers to nurses, engineers to scientists, construction workers to classroom assistants – in a political party should be its biggest asset. To cut these individuals loose would be to make politics more out of touch, not less, more remote from working people. |
| What people in both the party and the trade unions understand is that far too few of these working people are actively engaged in our party at the local level as individuals. So we should mend the relationship, not end it. | What people in both the party and the trade unions understand is that far too few of these working people are actively engaged in our party at the local level as individuals. So we should mend the relationship, not end it. |
| We need to do more to create a Labour party that reaches out to people across the private and public sectors, small businesses and their employees. That also means that working people, including individual trade union members, should be playing more of a role in the party. | We need to do more to create a Labour party that reaches out to people across the private and public sectors, small businesses and their employees. That also means that working people, including individual trade union members, should be playing more of a role in the party. |
| At the same time, we need to ensure that the rules around parliamentary selections are always fair, open and transparent. I will be talking more about these issues in the days and weeks ahead. | At the same time, we need to ensure that the rules around parliamentary selections are always fair, open and transparent. I will be talking more about these issues in the days and weeks ahead. |
| But before then I want to make clear one message to the people of Britain. The Labour party under my leadership will take the action needed to make sure what we have seen in Falkirk never happens again. We are building a party that is more open, more rooted in communities and more worthy of your trust. | But before then I want to make clear one message to the people of Britain. The Labour party under my leadership will take the action needed to make sure what we have seen in Falkirk never happens again. We are building a party that is more open, more rooted in communities and more worthy of your trust. |
| That is how we will campaign across the country and that is how we will seek to win the general election in 2015. That's the politics I believe in. The politics of One Nation that rebuilds the country by everyone playing their part. | That is how we will campaign across the country and that is how we will seek to win the general election in 2015. That's the politics I believe in. The politics of One Nation that rebuilds the country by everyone playing their part. |
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