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Reversing Labour Retreat: pamphlet launch/fringe

This Sunday evening at Labour Conference, John Denham MP will help launch a new and thought-provoking pamphlet Reversing Labour Retreat. The pamphlet examines connections between electoral strategy and the health of the Labour Party on the ground. It aims to contribute to a growing debate within the Party and beyond about what measures could strengthen party activism, incentivise campaigning across a much broader swath of the country and improve political engagement. The pamphlet, published by the Labour Campaign for Electoral Reform, makes the case for reconsidering the targeting strategy and for entering into an open discussion about changing the voting system.

John Denham will be speaking at the Make Votes Count fringe meeting ‘Reversing Labour’s Retreat: winning back Labour’s lost voters’ alongside London Assembly Member Murad Qureshi, political engagement specialist Stella Creasy and National Policy Forum member Daniel Zeichner.  The New Statesman's political editor Martin Bright will be chairing. The event is from 8pm-9.30pm on Sunday 23 September in the Granville Suite of the Trouville Hotel, Priory Road, Bournemouth and is open to all.

The pamphlet launch and associated fringe meeting are part of Make Votes Count’s campaign to encourage public debate about what people want from politics and which democratic structures are most appropriate. Make Votes Count is leading calls for Labour to engage in as wide a Party and public dialogue as possible, openly evaluating all options, including electoral reform.

Copies of Reversing Labour Retreat will available during Conference at the Make Votes Count fringe meeting, from the Electoral Reform Society stand (S69, Solent Hall) and at LCER’s reception on Wednesday 26 September 8pm, Swallow Durley Dean Hotel, Bournemouth. Copies can also be downloaded from the LCER or MVC websites, and can be requested by emailing , or by writing to LCER, 6 Chancel Street, London SE1 0UU.

Labour Campaign for Electoral Reform’s Mary Southcott explains the pamphlet’s origins and purpose:

“We were concerned that the targeting strategy necessitated by our First-Past-the-Post voting system was – and is continuing to be – harmful to Labour’s interests in terms of party organisation, standing candidates in every seat, winning councils and councillors, and holding on to our current MPs. When we asked Labour Party activists to tell us their local stories, the response from marginal target seats was very positive, but elsewhere told a different story. Labour’s claim to represent the whole country is undermined by the regions and areas where it fails to get representation. It may be cheaper to run an election in targeted marginals, but at what cost to the Party or our democracy? Let us consider all ideas and funding reforms that make it easier to get our message across to people everywhere.”

John Denham MP, who wrote a chapter included in the pamphlet, adds:

“The current electoral system narrows our chances of producing the sort of society in which Labour values are successfully implemented. Having a system which challenges us to broaden our appeal to a wider range of progressive voters, to do it in more places, and which gives us a better chance of representation is obviously the right thing to do.”

Posted: 22/09/07

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