Being Red and Green

Submitting a motion to Conference is one of the most important things a CLP can do. It gives ‘ordinary’ members a voice in the formulation of national party policy. It provides an opportunity for members to widen their focus beyond the organisational matters that can dominate discussion for much of the rest of the year. With the above in mind High Peak CLP decided to open up the process of choosing a motion beyond the confines of a General Committee meeting. Having invited branches to submit a motion ( three out of five branches did) it then agreed to hold a ballot of all 1500+ CLP members. We used the Party’s Anonyvoter account, set up during the pandemic .Members were invited to put the motions in order of preference and given a week to do so. In addition to receiving an email containing the text of all three motions ( and the name of the branch submitting it) an accompanying email included the arguments in favour of prioritising each of them ( 250 words maximum ) There was a...

  Building Back Better ? ' Build Back Better' really resonates as a slogan. Even Boris Johnson has used it, disingenuously of course . It expresses a widespread sentiment that the UK shouldn't just return to ' business as usual ' post pandemic but that the crisis should be used as an opportunity to improve our economy and society, making it both more equal and more sustainable. The 'Build Back Better' website says: 'We need something new. We need a new deal that prioritises people, invests in our NHS and creates a robust, shockproof economy that is capable of tackling the climate crisis ' I am in full agreement  with the above and, whilst anxious to stress the international nature of the required response, accept that the focus of the campaign will necessarily start with demands that we can make of our own politicians and government. My concern is with the nature of these demands , which are wide ranging but extremely general, and without a strategy ...

Against the background of a paralysed government and an imploding Tory party, with an election increasingly likely in the near future, the hope of any kind of Red-Green Alliance looks increasingly remote. Whilst Labour scraped home in the Peterborough by-election last week, with the lowest share of the vote for any winning by-election candidate since 1918, seven newly elected Green Party MEPs took their places in the European Parliament. Jeremy Corbyn said  " write Labour off at your peril " and offers it as the only alternative party of government ,whilst Sian Berry tells Green Party Conference that Labour are one of the ' old parties' who are responsible for ' breaking politics'. It is however an alliance which is needed more than ever. With the climate crisis finally beginning to get the attention it demands, and with public services on the brink of collapse, co-operation between Labour and Greens could offer a genuine and radical alternative. In the pe...

 
 Brexit has been overshadowing everything, and not in a good way. I write on the day when the European election results will be counted, with the prospect of Farage and co being the largest party, much of the Labour vote having deserted to the Brexit Party or, probably in considerably larger numbers, to avowedly Remainer parties- The Lib Dems and Greens in particular. 
 The focus on Brexit has not, of course, prevented other issues breaking through to demand attention. The Climate Crisis rather than Brexit is likely to be remembered as the defining issue of the next decade whilst the funding crisis in public services continues to grow. Politics itself is regarded by many as ' broken' . 
 The next Tory leader will almost certainly be a ' Hard  Brexiteer ' and will become Prime Minister The deadlock in Parliament will continue however, with the proposed Withdrawal Agreement explicitly opposed by most current MPs but the EU adamant that it can't and won'...

Several people have mentioned the need to aim for/ commit to Net Zero Carbon in the UK by 2030 ,citing the Zero Carbon Britain report as demonstrating how this could be done.  I attach a link to the report here   https://www.cat.org.uk/download/25766/ The first thing to be said about the report is that it was produced in 2013. Given that little progress has made in the years since then I assume the date of 2030 needs to to be amended to at least 2036 or 2037. This new date assumes ( presumably) that there will be a Labour led government in power by early 2020 at the latest, although the authors of the report appear to be hoping for a cross party approach ( ? !) The report is extremely helpful as a statement of intent, a list of what needs to be done ( although I am not sure about all of the wood burning ! )  The authors themselves state  “ We do not explicitly model or make assumptions on how we get there “. ( ie a Zero Carbo Britain by 2030). ...

In my previous blog I suggested that Labour should consider conditionally supporting May’s Withdrawal  Deal, in return for a place in the negotiating team for the ongoing discussion with the EU about a long term trading arrangement and  an emergency spending programme to address climate change and collapsing public services.  Whilst May would be unlikely to agree to such conditions the offer would demonstrate Labour’s constructive attitude and would help it to change the terms of the debate. In any event Labour should be making plans regarding how best to use the Transition Period, set to last 20 months with the possibility of an extension. I would suggest the following:  That Labour reaffirms its commitment to undertaking a Green Transformation when elected to government and begins preparation for its implementation. Such preparation, which would involve the allocation of substantial financial resources, would involve drawing up a constituency by constitu...

Maybe Labour should think the unthinkable and conditionally agree to support the proposed withdrawal agreement,  if only to avoid a General Election completely focused on Brexit, which wouldn’t necessarily go well for us ? What conditions ? -a place/ places in the negotiating team for the ongoing discussions about the future relationship with the EU - an emergency spending programme for the period of negotiations, to prop up public services and to crank up the transition to a no carbon economy ( as outlined in the Green Transition document   https://www.labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/The-Green-Transformation-.pdf   )     In the likely event that such an offer is rejected then Labour would participate in voting the deal down, on the basis that it has no confidence in the Tories negotiating a satisfactory long term settlement on their own. Labour would be likely to defeat the government  in an uncomfortable alliance with Tory Br...