Party Democracy and Equality: a personal view

Irene Graham
CfS candidate for the National Executive Committee

Joining the Labour Party in 1983, I became active at branch and constituency level in Glasgow Pollok. Coming from a background of community activism, linking with women in communities, the Women's Section was an obvious meeting for me to attend. All meetings at that time were well attended. A hundred people at the Sunday afternoon CLP meeting was not unusual and crèche facilities were always provided. One famous AGM of the Pollokshields/Shawlands Branch had to be abandoned due to alleged overcrowding!

Likewise attendances at meetings were high when I moved to Glasgow Central constituency, and again the Women's Section played an important role for me and other women. I can't help but compare these turnouts with attendances at branches and CLPs now, where often there is a struggle to be quorate.

In twenty years, the structures of the party have changed beyond recognition. The modernisation of the party was part of Tony Blair's agenda and there's no doubt we've been modernised. But at what cost? For me the biggest cost has been party democracy. It could be argued that there is more consultation than before but consultation through Policy Fora leaves decision making in the hands of a powerful few.

I remember chairing a CfS meeting at Scottish Party Conference some years ago. Audrey Wise MP was one of the invited speakers and she demonstrated the flaws in the Policy Forum model. She had attended a policy forum on transport and reported that there was agreement at the forum that Labour should commit to integrated, accessible and affordable public transport. When the final policy statement came out, the word affordable was missing and there was no mechanism for those who had attended the forum to change it. Where's the democracy? Certainly not in policy forums or other forms of consultations like the Big Conversation. Consultation is a dangerous and devalued word. Dangerous because it creates expectations (that mostly cannot be met) on the part of those consulted and devalued because there is so much of it around that fatigue and cynicism has set in. Take a look at the high profile consultations around health services and it's easy to see the hostage to fortune that consultation can be.

Much of the focus twenty years ago, was on trying to deliver more women into Parliament through a series of structural devices, like "a woman on the short list where one is nominated" to the women only shortlists. Two decades on and despite delivering more Labour women to Westminster in England, little has haven't changed in Scotland. Women councillors are also thin on the ground. The percentage depressingly has reduced from 22.6% to 21.8% across Scotland and only the Scottish Parliament stands out as breaking the mould of white male domination of politics. The proposals for STV in local governmetn elections could further reduce th enimber of labour women councillors unless structural mechanisms are put in now to ensure more women come through. We still have only one Asian MP and few councillors in Scotland from Asian or black backgrounds. Not even the Scottish Parliament delivered on this. If we are a representative democracy, then the make up of our elected politicians should reflect the diversity of the population. Women in the Party fought long and hard for structural changes and established that for women to be engaged in the processes of the Party account had to be taken of childcare responsibilities, venue and timing of meetings. It was with dismay that I signed up for the Scottish Labour Women's event on 24th January and discovered that no crèche was being provided and no questions about access were asked.

When I first joined I was very active that activism diminishing as the Party was modernised. In 1987 I spent three weeks in South Africa as part of a Scottish delegation. On return, the first thing I saw was a pre-election billboard promising that Labour would not increase taxes. I was astonished. When had the Party decided that? It hadn't - it was part of the re-branding of Labour, a re-branding that challenged many of us along with the abolition of Clause 4 and more recently the decision to go to war in Iraq.

My own coping mechanism has been to focus on my role as a councillor in Glasgow. The strong Labour administration has been able to hold out against the worst of Tory cuts and pursue socialist polices. Most recently we have introduced free fruit in every primary school, free swimming for under 18's, free swimming for pensioners, breakfast clubs for all primary children and a host of other initiatives designed in their own way to redistribute the wealth of the city to its poorest and most vulnerable citizens.

Having spent my first ten years as a dedicated party activist and the next ten years focussing on my Councillor role, I've decided to put my head above the parapet once again. I want to see a return to democracy and accountability in the Party and a commitment to pursue equality of representation.

I'm standing for election to the NEC on the Grassroots Alliance with the support of CfS.