Preparing for Parliament
It is time for a party that puts the people, not politicians, first.
Selecting MPs democratically
→ MPs, including incumbents, must
face OMOV constituency selections. Constituency parties should retain the right to decline running candidates where appropriate.
→ Any member, or a member of an allied electoral party, should be welcome to put themselves forward for selection by an OMOV procedure at the constituency level.
→ Sitting MPs should face democratic procedures for selections and for re-selection.
→ Constituency parties should also have the freedom to vote not to hold a selection process and to refuse to run a candidate at the election.
A democratic whip
The party whip in almost every political party is an unfair and undemocratic system that gives leadership excessive power to horse trade. We need a new democratic system along the following lines:
→ Conference policy decisions are sovereign – when they clearly align with parliamentary debates they will become the basis for a three-line party whip. If more than 20% of MPs raise concerns prior to a debate, the NEC will decide whether the conference decision is applicable.
→ The leadership can raise an urgent debate in parliament with the NEC and it will have the power to provide emergency party whip rulings. The NEC can vote it through with a two-thirds majority.
→ The NEC can vote to readmit MPs to the party whip with a simple majority.
→ If an MP has not regained the whip ahead of an open primary, they will have the right to stand.
→ If an MP breaks the whip after the reselection process then the local executive can hold a meeting of all members in their constituency to decide how to proceed.
Regional Executive & local autonomy
→ Regional executives, elected by OMOV,
will provide democratic oversight of local politics, with secretaries and representatives accountable to members.
→ Candidates to regional executives should seek nominations from constituency groups and meet a minimum nomination threshold set by the national NEC. Then candidates should be voted on by all members.
→ All representatives, not including the regional secretary, will have one vote on the regional executive.