Ed Miliband & How to overcome distrust in British Politics

Yesterday evening I went to the Coin Street Community Centre in South London with fellow UNISON Labour Link activists to take part in a Q&A with the Labour Leader.

The room was packed with affiliated trade unionists and Labour Party activists with some media also present. It was stiflingly hot due to the current heatwave.

Ed came in and explained to the audience that he is not going to speak long since he wants to have a conversation.

He wants to start a conversion with trade union members and activists that will lead to a Special Conference in the spring next year to agree changes (only allow affiliations from union members who actively choose to support the Labour Party rather than block affiliations - see my initial thoughts here on subject). 

Politics should be powered by ordinary people. He has 4 points to make: Politics is dominated by the wealthy and powerful. You can see Big Tobacco at Downing Street. Is this about a break with the links with the unions? No, the unions founded the Labour Party.  The unions are the voice of  working people.  This is not about removing this voice but how that voice is exercised.  

The problem is that many people think that the Tories write them off and Labour takes them for granted? We need to persuade people to join the Party. Not just Trade unionists but small business people as well. The excellent experience of the French socialists in their recent Presidential election is what he hopes for the London Mayor Primary with registered Labour supporters.  If we want to change we need to hear the voices of the people.  Leadership of the Party is essential but we need a genuine movement rooted in every community.

There then followed quite a far reaching debate. Ed repeatedly said it was "open house". He was asked questions on whether the purpose of a primary is to stop "left" candidates in London? (answer "No"). The lack of Labour Parliamentary candidates who are women, BME or working class (answer "agreed" and he will do something about this).  "Jack" a 92 Year trade unionist in the audience took Ed to task for the failure of the Party to recruit more union members to the Party. Ed asked him how long he had been in the Party. Jack replied he first voted for Labour in 1945 while in the Army in Egypt. He joined the Party later after he left the Communist Party. 

There was some support for Ed's proposals about trade unions from activists but most contributions on this subject were more cautious or frankly sceptical. Ed made it clear that he could not understand why a trade union member who did not support Labour could be affiliated to the Party. He thought that things had changed in recent years and that sense of collectivism amongst working people was not as strong as it use to be.

I got the opportunity to ask him a question. I introduced myself and pointed I am an activist in  UNISON and we have always allowed members to opt in to pay the Labour Levy but I respect the rights of other unions who have gone through internal democratic processes to affiliate all or part of their membership. I didn't think that things had changed that much since there had always been significant numbers of working class Tories in the union movement.

My main point was why are we doing this less than 2 years before a general election when the Tories will out spend us as usual and we will need every penny we can get to defeat them? Why not allow all affiliates to become full Party members, lets then have 3,200,000 members and if a Tory gets a membership card in the post he doesn't like - he can resign.

Ed responded by saying he understood the risks to funding and as Leader was taking responsibility for this decision.

After probably 25 or so questions (including a 12 and 14 year old from Tower Hamlets) Ed called the meeting to a close since it was so hot. No one made the obvious joke about the cause being all that "hot air"!

A very competent performance by Ed but I do hope first and foremost if the changes go ahead that he is right and that we will have enough money in 2015 to defeat the Tories and overcome their extremely "wealthy and powerful" donors.

Secondly, while I suspect UNISON influence in the Party will probably be strengthened by his proposals, the Party itself needs to change as well as any changes to union affiliation. Unless you give individual members more meaningful influence in the running of the Party then you are simply not going to get a new mass "movement rooted in every community". 

Afterwards we went off to a local pub to continue to put the world to rights and rehydrate (medicinal reasons only).

(Hat tip picture of me asking Ed question to James Beckles)

Unions Together Political School - apply now for Sept 2013 course

This video is from the organisation representing trade unions affiliated to the Labour Party called "Unions Together". Who have been leading a campaign to make politics more representative and encourage more working people to become Councillors and MP's. You may recognise one or two of the folk mentioned. I posted previously on this excellent course here.

"Our politics needs to change.

Of the MPs in Parliament at the moment:
a quarter went to Oxford or Cambridge
86 MPs used to be lawyers
156 MPs used to work in business
90 MPs used to work in politics
only 25 MPs used to work in manual jobs
fewer than 1 in 4 MPs are women.

That's why unionstogether is working to make our politicians more representative.

We are running a political school to open up politics to more people.

The unionstogether political school ran for the first time in 2012. It was set up to strengthen the link between union members and the Labour Party. If you want to use your skills as a union activist – skills like campaigning, negotiating and representing people – in your community, then this is the course for you.

The political school is an important part of making sure trade unionists are at the heart of the Party, making sure that the voices of working people continue to be heard in the Party that was founded out of the trade union movement.

The course is designed for people who are looking at different ways they could get substantially more involved.

It’s not an entry-level course about how politics and the Labour Party works. But it is for people who want to get politically involved in different ways. We’ll show you different ways you could use your union rep skills to represent your community now or in the future – as a Councillor, or even a Member of Parliament.

The next political school will begin in September 2013, with a residential weekend course, and applications are open until June 10th.

The course is primarily for people who are members of one of the affiliated trade unions that are part of unionstogether. If you are unsure if your union is affiliated to the Labour Party then you can check here. If you are a member of a union, but not a unionstogether union, and you want to apply for this course, then please do contact us".

We don't do politics in this house...

I remember last year canvassing for the Labour Party and being told by one person when I knocked at their door "we don't do politics in this house".  Even though she had young children playing in her garden. I'm afraid I made a rather flippant response "that's OK its not compulsory" to which she made no response but was unlikely to have made her change her mind about the importance of "politics".

Last night I spoke to an old friend who had recently been rushed into hospital following a suspected heart attack. He spent 2 days at the hospital before being discharged and whilst he praised the clinical care and support he received from staff, he was in a mixed sex ward which made him feel very uncomfortable. Also some patients in the ward were suffering from dementia and kept him awake for the entire stay because they were constantly calling out for help and crying.

To me, having a health service that is inadequately resourced is "political". Elected governments can choose how much they spend on health services, what outcomes they want and how they pay for it.

How do we get this message over to those who don't "get" this is politics?

Picture is the flag of German Pirate Party (I suppose that I could have used UKIP flag).

The Iron Lady

I watched tonight for the first time the film "The Iron Lady" which is about the life of former Tory Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher.

It was an historical drama and not a documentary. While I would certainly not agree with all the political interpretations it made, I enjoyed watching it.

Thatcher today is very much still a divisive  figure: a hero to some and a hate figure to others.

Under Margaret Thatcher, male unemployment in my part of North East Wales, following closures in the local Steel works and textile factories reached 33%. It was an horrendous time and she seemed to give the impression as PM that she didn't care and just a price worth paying!

So I should really hate her, but I have always preferred to dislike rather than hate. The key thing in politics is to attack what politicians do and say rather than their personalities.

Forgetting the politics (if you can) I was pretty uncomfortable with the scenes in the film around her current  supposed mental health and the involvement of her children, grown up or otherwise. It was more than a bit off I thought and it was simply wrong in my view of the film to bring this up.

The actual acting by Meryl Streep was simply superb and incredible. She was Margaret Thatcher.

As regards to any lessons we can learn from this film for the "left"? Well, yes there is. We all know that there are many working class Tories such as Thatcher and we cannot just ignore them and pretend they do not exist.  It is no use just knocking people who share these beliefs we have to find ways to win them over.

The real lesson from the film is that the "left" needs to learn from Thatcher (of all people) that if you have real self-belief and self-confidence in your arguments it is possible to succeed and bring about fundamental change.  

UNISON London Labour Link Training

Picture is from the recent London UNISON Labour Link training event. Branch officers and activists came together from all over Greater London and all UNISON service groups.

We are here holding literature supporting the TUC anti-austerity March on Saturday 20 October.

The training event itself was excellent. It was a pilot and designed to equip Branch Labour Officers with the skills needed to further the Union within the Party. It was also how to use our access and influence to get a better deal for our members.

The first session was on "Why Politics?".  We need to be able to explain to our member's why politics matters. Politics is not about speeches in Parliament but its about their pay, its about building schools and running hospitals. Other sessions were on "tackling arguments about Labour Link"; "role of Labour Link Officer"; "Building a Branch network"; "Strategic Campaigning and lobbying MP's".

During a role play session I took on the part of a Conservative MP being lobbied by Labour Link activists...and yes, people did say I was very convincing :)

Feedback from all present was very positive and further sessions are being planned. Many thanks to National and Regional staff for putting on such a good event.

Photo by KW.