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Labour presses on with 'one member, one vote' leadership reforms | Labour presses on with 'one member, one vote' leadership reforms |
(about 1 hour later) | |
Plans to reform Labour leadership elections are expected to go before the party's national executive committee this weekend. | |
The party is thought to be planning to adopt the one member, one vote system. | The party is thought to be planning to adopt the one member, one vote system. |
Trade unions, which account for one third of the votes under current rules, have protested about the plans. | Trade unions, which account for one third of the votes under current rules, have protested about the plans. |
Leader Ed Miliband first proposed a "historic" change in his party's relationship with the unions after the Falkirk candidate selection scandal. | Leader Ed Miliband first proposed a "historic" change in his party's relationship with the unions after the Falkirk candidate selection scandal. |
Under the proposals, each of the roughly 200,000 Labour members will get a single vote in choosing the leader, but so will a new class of so-called associate members, who will pay a membership fee of £3 a year. | Under the proposals, each of the roughly 200,000 Labour members will get a single vote in choosing the leader, but so will a new class of so-called associate members, who will pay a membership fee of £3 a year. |
MPs and MEPs, who collectively also have a third of the votes in leadership elections at present, will be relegated to a role in short-listing candidates. | MPs and MEPs, who collectively also have a third of the votes in leadership elections at present, will be relegated to a role in short-listing candidates. |
'No private dinners' | |
Under current rules, the other two thirds of the power to elect a leader is divided equally between party members and of members of "affiliated organisations", such as unions. | Under current rules, the other two thirds of the power to elect a leader is divided equally between party members and of members of "affiliated organisations", such as unions. |
Some senior Labour party figures are worried a move aimed at diminishing the unions' influence could end up handing them even more power. | |
There are also concerns union leaders will use their powers to register large numbers of associate members and influence their decisions, despite the loss of their votes. | |
Paul Kenny, general secretary of the GMB union, said plans had not been finalised but he unions would welcome a watering down of MPs' influence in the electoral college. | |
"MPs are making a fuss about this on the basis that they're going to lose this golden share of the vote," he said. | |
"It's more like a storm in the Westminster claret glass than it is in anything in the real world." | |
Mr Kenny told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that unions would not accept any "watering down" of their collective voice - or of their "open and transparent" role in the Labour Party. | |
"We don't hide behind back doors. We don't have private dinners and hand over big cheques. Everything we do is in public." | |
He added: "The collective role of trade unions in the Labour Party is not up for grabs. | |
"If that breaks then the link with the Labour Party breaks." | |
Mr Kenny said the GMB had cut its affiliation fees payments to Labour to £150,000 to reflect the number of members it expected to opt in to supporting the party. | |
The proposed changes to Labour's union links are expected to be introduced incrementally over a five-year period. | |
The announcement came after Unite, one of the party's biggest donors, was accused of signing up its members to Labour in Falkirk - some without their knowledge - in an effort to get its preferred parliamentary candidate selected. | The announcement came after Unite, one of the party's biggest donors, was accused of signing up its members to Labour in Falkirk - some without their knowledge - in an effort to get its preferred parliamentary candidate selected. |
The union was later cleared in an internal investigation. | The union was later cleared in an internal investigation. |