Labourhome

Harman: A consultation on Young Labour

alexhilton Fri Sep 22, 2006 at 11:08:44 PM GMT Facebook

This afternoon I met with aspiring Deputy Leader of the Labour Party Harriet Harman and recorded this 10 minute interview.

Harriet makes two suggestions that she is promoting.

1. That a year's free Labour Party membership be given to all affiliated Trade Union members under the age of 26.
2. That we have selection targets for young people for local authority elections.

What do you think about this? Harriet has promised to read the comments on this article and respond to your thoughts and further suggestions. The interview can be downloaded to your computer from here.

Advertise on this site with MessageSpace

tags: Harriet Harman, Deputy Leadership Election, Young Labour, Labour Conference 2006, Interviews (all tags)

Harman: A consultation on Young Labour | 11 comments (11 topical)

Re: Harman: A consultation on Young Labour (#1)

by PGKenyon on Sat Sep 23, 2006 at 07:17:51 AM GMT

Perhaps she will lead a Conference revolt over the NEC opposition to the Rule change on the Agenda concerning Young Labour elections?

In the meantime, some suggestions for delegates to find their voice can be seen at:

http://www.savethelabourparty.org/0609_Leadership.html

Re: Harman: A consultation on Young Labour (#2)

by alexhilton on Sat Sep 23, 2006 at 12:45:50 PM GMT

Peter, can you tell us more about this Young Labour rule change?

[ Parent ]

: Re: Harman: A consultation on Young Labour (#4)

by nickparrott on Sun Sep 24, 2006 at 03:01:52 AM GMT

I imagine that it is one or other of the rule changes that have been bouncing around for ages to make the national officers of Young Labour elected by actual Young Labour members in some way rather than the absurd system that is currently in place.
These proposals always get rejected by the NEC on some narrow technical grounds but they refuse to bring forward any proposals of their own, probably as it might upset the cosy status quo.

[ Parent ]

Re: Harman: A consultation on Young Labour (#3)

by Anonymous on Sat Sep 23, 2006 at 08:45:55 PM GMT

Harman was too aggresive on QT this week in ref to Ming. I'm pretty sure it would have turned off many viewers.

See here.

Re: Harman: A consultation on Young Labour (#5)

by alexhilton on Sun Sep 24, 2006 at 04:39:15 AM GMT

Maybe, but she's making positive suggestions here about the future of the party - what do you think about them?

Re: Harman: A consultation on Young Labour (#6)

by Anonymous on Sun Sep 24, 2006 at 10:50:30 PM GMT

This is such a minor suggestion - causing so much concern - it shows how stale the whole electoral college is.

Re: Harman: A consultation on Young Labour (#7)

by Patrick H on Mon Sep 25, 2006 at 03:47:24 AM GMT

The ideas you raise, Harriet, are all welcome parts of the debate on rebuilding mass membership of the party. Parties need young people joining and supporting them to continue. I'm 30 and I'm by far the youngest active member of my branch, and this sort of thing needs to change.

The main problem I can see with offering free party membership to young affiliated trade union members is that trade union membership is withering in much the same way that membership of political parties is withering. The young aren't joining trade unions in anything like the numbers of decades past, and I can't see the offer of a free 12 months' Labour membership thrown in to be a particularly effective marketing tactic.

The way to re-establish mass membership of the party (and political parties in general) is through targetted advertising, akin to a company advertising in magazines and papers targetting a young demographic. I mean - if a company wants to promote itself to the 16-24 age bracket, then it advertises on Channel 4's T4 strand, it advertises in the lads' mags, the music magazines, the freesheets being handed out in most major cities nationwide. It reaches out from the narrow confines of the customer base it already has.

And this is where the idea about free membership to young people already members of trade unions falls down slightly. Because these people will already be in the Labour ballpark. They will already be, at least a little, part of the political landscape. OK, they will probably be Labour voters and share Labour values, but they are already on the road to supporting Labour in other ways too.

Your proposal, Harriet, reminds me of the Labour Supporters' Network that is being pushed at the moment. It may be effective in stemming the haemorrhaging of party support, but I'm not sure it will be enough, in and of itself, to actually increase membership in any great numbers. However, as part of a more wide-ranging campaign to bring membership of political parties to the masses (and God knows, we need that to happen for reasons both too obvious and too long-winded to go into here), it has legs. Labour needs to (budget and electoral rules permitting) take a gamble and actively seek out new young members from all walks of life.

I realise I've come across as rather negative here, and I don't mean to be. It's an interesting idea and one which I do support, albeit only as part of a wider move to increase membership that opens doors to the party that aren't already half-open. Best of luck.

-----

http://agitpropcentral.blogspot.com/

Re: Harman: A consultation on Young Labour (#8)

by Rayleen on Tue Sep 26, 2006 at 05:12:31 AM GMT

To be honest I am not entirely happy with the suggestion that ONLY young Union members will be entitled to one year free, it does seem discriminatory in the extreme. What about older people (some of whom cannot afford the membership fee), what about students who are established members? What about the low paid young people? This sounds good on the surface but needs work.

Also the idea that ONLY young Labour members would vote for the Young Labour member on the NEC is silly, as an ex chair of young labour in my constituency and a fouder member of our group, I feel that unless you have an age limit on who everyone else can vote for this is undemocratic and unworkable.

: Re: Harman: A consultation on Young Labour (#11)

by nickparrott on Sat Sep 30, 2006 at 01:37:47 PM GMT

Erm...but only young members elect the NEC youth rep now. You actually seem to be complaining about the status quo.
It's the Young Labour National Committee (and through them, the Young Labour officers) who are appointed through a bewildering array of other routes - appointed by the regional director, elected by regional conference delegates, the Young Fabians, trade unions and God knows what else.
The NEC Youth Rep is elected at Young Labour Conference by an electoral college comprised of Labour Students, organised Young Labour groups and trade unions.

[ Parent ]

Re: Harman: A consultation on Young Labour (#9)

by Anonymous on Tue Sep 26, 2006 at 05:22:17 AM GMT

Age Discrimination Legislation a good thing - debate?

Re: Harman: A consultation on Young Labour (#12)

by Patrick H on Thu Oct 05, 2006 at 05:18:55 PM GMT

Hmm...

I'm sure when this post was first put up that it said something like "Harriet has promised she will read the comments and respond to any issues raised".

So - Harriet? Are you there? There are deputy leadership votes (well, OK my deputy leadership vote) resting on your ability to interact with party members.

Hello-oo!!!