Running the party
Running a party that has over 700,000 members will never be straightforward but we can make sure it is fair and open by making it as democratic as possible.
Our proposals cover:
→ Membership fees and party funding
→The National Executive Committee
→ Electing officials
→ Democratic decision-making
→ Trade union affiliation
→ Party alliances
→ Preventing fiefdoms
→ Dual memberships
Membership fees & party funding
50%
of fees should go to the national party.
25%
of fees should go to the constituency party.
10% should go to ward parties where applicable.
25%
of fees should go to the regional party.
Membership fees
→ Standard
£5 per month
With a voluntary option to pay more
→ Concessions rate
£10 annually one off payment or £2 per month
→ 21 and under rate £2 for a two year membership
Electing the National Executive committee
→ The National Executive Committee (NEC) must be democratic and weighted to members, elected by one member, one vote (OMOV), with regional/national representation and gender balance.
→ It should only be composed
of representatives of the membership, the general secretary, the party chair and the leader(s).
→ Every region and nation should be given two members on the NEC. Each regions’ and nations’ delegation must be gender balanced.
→ The Scottish and Welsh leaders should also sit on the NEC and be part of the nation’s delegation.
→ The party chair should be elected by OMOV and should be subject to removal by a two-thirds NEC vote. They will chair the NEC.
→ Leader(s), the deputy leader and Scottish and Welsh leaders should be elected by a OMOV procedure. There should be no requirement for any of these positions to be held by an MP, MSP or Senedd member.
→ Key roles – including the general secretary, regional secretaries and national campaign coordinator – should be elected by OMOV for fixed terms, ensuring accountability.
→ The general secretary would be responsible for all staffing in the party; the regional secretaries would be responsible for all staffing in the regions in addition these roles must be elected through OMOV and have a two-year term of office to be reviewed at next year’s conference.
→ The national campaign coordinator should also be elected by OMOV and serve the same term time as the general secretary.
Electing leaders & officials
Conference as the sovereign body
Conference must be the party’s highest decision-making body,
with the NEC unable to overrule it. Conference sovereignty safeguards grassroots democracy.
Trade union affiliation
→ Unions affiliating should receive NEC representation and conference participation, but without block votes. Affiliation means equal participation, not disproportionate power.
→ Unions should have a seat each on the NEC when they affiliate.
→ Affiliated unions should be able to send any member to future conferences, just as any member of the new party will be able to attend and vote. There can be no block votes.
Party alliances
Alliances should be democratically agreed nationally and locally, in keeping with democratic local control and strategic national aims. Candidate selection must go through open primaries, with annual ratification at conference.
→ Any party that wishes to enter into electoral alliance with the new left party should be invited to submit candidates in the open primary processes.
→ A party electoral alliance should be agreed at a national level by a majority national executive vote.
→ The party should approach left parties for electoral alliance after a majority vote on the national executive.
→ If the national executive wants to recommend to a local party to stand aside at an election, the local party should hold a OMOV on whether to find a candidate or endorse the NEC-favoured party.
→ A list of alliance parties should be listed on the party website. This list should be ratified every year at conference.
Other parties should not expect permanent committee seats. They must either join alliances on equal terms or dissolve into the new party to participate democratically.
It is unsustainable to have a system where political parties, whether they are legally constituted or self-described, affiliate to the new left party in expectation that they will hold seats on any party committee.
They should have two routes to participation with/within the new left party:
→ To follow the party alliance approach outlined above;
→ To remove their legal or rhetorical status as a political party, dissolve and their previous members participate within the democratic processes.
Preventing fiefdoms
Dual membership
Members may hold membership in other approved democratic parties, subject to annual NEC review and conference ratification, with transparency over finances and compliance.
The NEC should agree a list of political parties which are deemed acceptable to have membership of, in addition to the new left party.
This list should be ratified every year by conference.
→ All these parties should be democratic, open and share their books with the new party’s executive – so that we can understand the size of their membership, their finances, their GDPR compliance and their disciplinary procedures.