BUILDING A ONE NATION LABOUR PARTY THE COLLINS REVIEW INTO LABOUR PARTY REFORM Ray Collins February 2014 CONTENTS Terms of reference 4 Introduction 5 List of recommendations 7 The context for reform 11 Major party reforms since 1981 19 THE COLLINS REVIEW – REFORM PROPOSALS 1. A more transparent link with trade unions 20 2. A closer relationship with levy paying trade unionists 22 3. OMOV in leadership elections 25 4. Fair and transparent selections 28 5. Primary elections 33 6. Constituency development plans 38 7. The timetable for change 40 Appendix 1 – Rule changes 41 THE COLLINS REVIEW TERMS OF REFERENCE On 10 July 2013 Lord Collins of Highbury was asked to review and make recommendations for party reform, according to the following terms of reference: • The use of primaries in the selection of the Labour candidate for London Mayor and in other circumstances; • The conduct of parliamentary selections to ensure fairness and transparency; • The development of a new relationship between the Labour Party and members of our affiliated organisations; • Constituency development agreements between affiliated organisations and constituency Labour parties. 4 MAKING PARTY REFORM WORK INTRODUCTION In July of last year following Ed Miliband’s St. Bride’s speech he asked me to conduct a review on how to take forward his aspirations and proposals on further Labour Party reform. I said at the time that I was honoured that he had asked me, but I was also deeply daunted. Ed’s central objective is to transform Labour so that it becomes a genuinely mass membership party reaching out to all parts of the nation. I know that many people at the beginning of this process were nervous about the prospect of change. At various points in its history the party has embarked on internal reforms that, when they were first announced, seemed impossible to achieve. Yet once they were made the changes were put into place and the party emerged stronger as a result. In the last six months I visited every region and “Ed’s central objective nation, meeting and talking to CLPs, Regional Boards, is to transform Labour Regional TULOs, trade unions and socialist societies so that it becomes to listen to peoples’ views. My aim throughout has a genuinely mass been to try to reach a consensus on a way forward, recognising that we have different cultures and membership party structures to accommodate. I wanted to recommend reaching out to all parts a workable solution that each and every part of the of the nation.” party could accept and implement. Everyone is proud of the party’s origins as an alliance of trade unions, socialist societies and later individual members, and most recognise that the party can only succeed if it remains relevant and in tune with the world in which it operates. As I said in my Interim report to Conference last year, this review was about much more than the party’s relationship with its affiliates. It is about broadening and deepening the party’s relationship with ordinary men and women in communities across the country. In 2010 constituency parties and trade unions took the campaign beyond their traditional branch and industrial structures right into the heart of the communities we needed to win. I know I should not single out CLPs but I do want to name a few that made me better understand what we needed to do to succeed; Chesterfield; Edgbaston; Mitcham and Morden; Islington South; Slough; Oxford West and Hastings. These constituencies taught me that engaging with voters on the doorstep is not something you do just at election time; that ‘Will you vote Labour?’ is the last question you ask and not the first. It is these experiences and the lessons that the Party has learned from them that have guided me throughout this review and which underpin many of its recommendations. MAKING PARTY REFORM WORK 5 The recommendations are a call for action, their adoption is not the end but the beginning of the process in reaching out to the communities we seek to represent. I want to say a big thank you to all those who have supported me in conducting this review. They are too numerous to mention individually, and I hope to thank them in person over the coming months but I do want to single out Declan McHugh and Jenny Smith who have worked so tirelessly on all aspects of the review and in the preparation of the final report, no one could have asked for better support in this task. Finally I also wish to thank my husband, Rafael. He has put up with me working weekends and evenings for a very long time, and without his support I would not have been able to complete the task. For me personally the fact that I can call him my husband remains one of our party’s proudest achievements. Lord Collins of Highbury 6 THE COLLINS REVIEW INTO LABOUR PARTY REFORM LIST OF RECOMMENDATIONS A MORE The federal structure of the party should be retained. TRANSPARENT Trade unions and other affiliates should continue LINK WITH to have a collective constitutional role inside TRADE UNIONS party structures, but on a more transparent basis. After a transitional period of five years, affiliation fees shall only be accepted on behalf of levy payers who have consented to the payment of such fees. At that point, the scale of a trade union’s collective affiliation shall be governed by the number of levy payers who have consented to the payment of affiliation fees. A CLOSER Levy paying trade unionists should have the ability to become affiliated supporters and to RELATIONSHIP receive certain individual rights, by signing up WITH TRADE to Labour values and providing the party with UNIONISTS verifiable personal details. These individual rights should include the right to be attached to a CLP and to vote in leadership elections. They will not be able to represent the Labour party or to participate in the election of party representatives – with the exception of primaries and leadership ballots – unless they join as full members. Party systems should be in place to enable a new category of affiliated supporters to be established before the end of 2014 THE COLLINS REVIEW INTO LABOUR PARTY REFORM 7 OMOV IN The Electoral College for leadership elections should be abolished and replaced in party rules LEADERSHIP by a new system based on the principle of OMOV. ELECTIONS Multiple voting in leadership elections should be ended. The eligible electorate should be composed of members, affiliated supporters and registered supporters. Members of affiliated organisations who are not already party members may take part in the ballot if they register with the party as affiliated supporters. This will require them to declare their support for Labour values, provide the party with personal contact details and be on the electoral roll. Individuals who are not already party members or members of an affiliated organisation may take part in leadership elections by registering with the party as a supporter. This will require them to declare their support for Labour values, provide the party with personal contact details, be on the electoral roll and pay the party a fee. The NEC should agree the detailed procedures for leadership elections including issues regarding registration, fees and freeze dates. NOMINATIONS Responsibility for nominating and shortlisting leadership candidates shall remain with the AND SHORTLISTING House of Commons members of the PLP. IN LEADERSHIP Nominations for the post of leader or deputy ELECTIONS leader of the party must, in all circumstances, be supported by 15 per cent of the Commons members of the PLP to be valid. FAIR AND There should be a new code of conduct which is clear and enforceable with the main aim of TRANSPARENT creating a level playing field for candidates. SELECTIONS The NEC should decide the appropriate level at which spending limits should be set for internal party selections. Selection timetables should be as short as possible. 8 THE COLLINS REVIEW INTO LABOUR PARTY REFORM PRIMARY ELECTIONS The selection of a London mayoral candidate should be conducted by means of a closed primary. The NEC should be a given a power to enable this in London and draw up the detailed procedural guidelines. The selection should not begin before May 2015 but should be completed by Annual Conference 2015. Specific safeguards should be employed in any closed primary to ensure a level playing field and to guard against manipulation or abuse. The NEC should have unreserved powers to cancel a primary when it deems it necessary. London CLPs and affiliates should have nomination rights Shortlisting should be by a joint NEC/regional selection panel The final selection should be by means of a ballot via a closed primary All Labour members, individual affiliated supporters and registered supporters should be able to take part Any London resident on the electoral roll in London who registers with the party by signing a declaration of values and pays an administration fee should be eligible to register as a supporter in order to take part in the primary Voting should be by means of an on-line ballot, with postal ballots available on demand. THE COLLINS REVIEW INTO LABOUR PARTY REFORM 9 CONSTITUENCY The National Executive Committee should oversee and endorse all Constituency DEVELOPMENT Development Plan agreements. PLANS A central register of all Constituency Development Plan agreements should be compiled and maintained by the Compliance Unit. A model Constituency Development Plan should be developed with the trade unions so that the purpose and responsibilities of both the CLP and the trade union are clear.