Labour - dead in 7 years?

otware Wed Dec 27, 2006 at 02:09:16 AM GMT Print-friendly version Facebook

Deputy leadership candidate Jon Cruddas says that membership of the Labour Party has fallen by 27,000 since 2000. That is 1 member every 20 minutes.



Deputy leadership candidate Jon Cruddas says that membership of the Labour Party has fallen by 27,000 since 2000. That is 1 member every 20 minutes.

Is this not cause for concern? Certanly the party will not loose all of its members. Inevitably the trend of membership loss will lessen as the numbers go down leaving only a harcore of activists who will always be in the party no matter what.

But still this isnot healthy. Surely it is obvious that it is the policies and methods of New Labour that are doing it. New Labour has run its course. Time to move on. New Labour is old.


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Labour - dead in 7 years? | 5 comments (5 topical)

Re: Labour - dead in 7 years? (#1)

by HOWLERMONKEY on Wed Dec 27, 2006 at 08:16:53 AM GMT

So whats your solution, Otware?


Re: Labour - dead in 7 years? (#2)

by otware on Wed Dec 27, 2006 at 03:37:51 PM GMT

Well Labour certainly needs to be renewed. There is no denying that. To deal with the membership issues and the general lack of confidence in the party and the government a new approach is needed. Inevitably the Iraq War is and always will be a major issue - I bet that most of the people who have left the party cite Iraq as their main reason. As such, it would probably be wise to admit some wrongdoing over Iraq - not necessarily over the war as a whole, but more over the methods and the run-up to the war (UN, 45 minutes etc.).

Also the policies of privatisation and PFI are neither popular with the public or in keeping with Labour tradition. For the good of the party and public opinion it might be wise to ditch these.

But I reckon the main thing that needs to change is the attitude of the leadership/government. If they listened to the public and the party members more then there may not be such an issue of apathy and lack of trust in the Labour Party. For example, it would be nice if the leadership didn't so bazenly undermine the legitmacy of the party by ignoring the supposedly sovereign party conference.


[ Parent ]

Re: Labour - dead in 7 years? (#3)

by JR on Thu Dec 28, 2006 at 12:46:51 AM GMT

7 years? If Cruddas gets elected, we'll be dead in 3.

Things will only get worse after Blair goes. Most politically independent people I know can't stomach the idea of voting for Labour under Brown simply because of his personality. This is shallow I know, but it's what a lot of people base their decision on for voting or even for which political party they should join.

You argue that the 'New Labour' brand has run it's course and there may be some truth in that. But that doesn't mean that we should even think about reverting back to 'Old Labour' because this would make the situation even worse.

There's no doubt that Iraq is the number one reason why our membership has gone down so quickly. Perhaps once the troops start coming home, things could recover a bit.


Re: Labour - dead in 7 years? (#4)

by nickparrott on Thu Dec 28, 2006 at 05:45:46 PM GMT

There's no doubt that Iraq is the number one reason why our membership has gone down so quickly.

I'd be interested see evidence as well as assertion.

The biggest single fall in party membership was actually the 50,000 net drop in membership in 2000 following the stitched up selections of London Mayoral candidate and Welsh Assembly leader.

This does suggest that actually it's the way that decisions are made, as much as any one policy issue, that drives people away.


[ Parent ]

Re: Labour - dead in 7 years? (#5)

by otware on Thu Dec 28, 2006 at 07:49:00 PM GMT

Yes, like I said, the methods used by the leadership are quite obviously counterproductive. Even if party members don't entirely agree with the decisions formed by the leadership, NEC, party conference and selections for candidates - they should be able to respect the democratic legitimacy of said decisions.


[ Parent ]

Labour - dead in 7 years? | 5 comments (5 topical)