By Md Mamunul Islam, Bedford Labour Party member
I have decided to resign from the Bedford Borough Local Campaign Forum (LCF) Executive Committee because I felt that I could no longer be part of a political organisation or party unit that does not operate democratically, does not respect the rules of the organisation or the democratic decisions taken by the membership of that organisation.
A LCF is normally a grouping of representatives from all the CLPs within the same local authority (here Bedford Borough Council) and it has the responsibility for overseeing local election campaigning and identifying candidates for council elections. In Bedford, many party members had been on the LCF for several years, but some were not getting any invitations to meetings. The LCF continued for years without an AGM and the entire borough selection process revolved around rules that had been set by the former chair, including, apparently, those who should be at LCF meetings. Despite opposition from some members of local CLPs, the LCF continued to operate in an undemocratic manner.
Finally, towards the end of 2018, there was an AGM of the LCF, but it has continued in the old vein. It hasn’t included all its membership in deliberations and decisions taken at the 2018 AGM have not been followed, including the writing of the election manifesto at an all- members’ workshop. If the manifesto had been done at an all-members workshop, I don’t think it would have been implemented by the Lib Dems.
LCF executive members were ignored, and soon after the AGM, the entire local election campaigning process and decision-making was done without having any LCF meeting. Likewise, no ordinary member or the LCF committee members, including executive, had any say on the budget or election expenses.
One councillor said at a July 2019 LCF meeting that he knew about a year before the selection meeting that he is going to be selected for the ward for the May 2019 elections, clearly indicating that membership did not have much say in it. Often, candidates are chosen and parachuted into winnable seats, over the heads of the membership. I have even heard councillors suggesting that the membership “cannot be trusted” and “do not have the necessary skills” (including indicating that English is not their first language) to be part of decision-making.
According to the rulebook an Annual Meeting is supposed to be held in May each year, or as soon as possible afterwards. But it was clear at the July 2019 LCF meeting that no-one seems sure whether or not there has been an AGM (because most of them members were never invited to an LCF meeting before). There is no democratic process.
With the election of Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader, there is an expectation that there will be changes throughout the whole Labour Party, but unfortunately, it looks like the ‘old guard’ still wield a lot of influence, undemocratically, at a local level. We should endeavour to make local labour parties reflect the same radical outlook as the national party. These are the kind of things I think that we need to do:
• Make sure there are regular LCF meetings and that the rulebook is followed.
• Where there are all-members’ CLP meetings, then LCF meetings also should be open to all members, in order to encourage them to participate in local democracy and that members should have access to the minutes of meetings.
• The AGM should take place democratically according to the rule book and all democratic decisions must be respected.
• Any changes to the LCF constitution should be discussed at a general meeting and passed at a Special Meeting where all members have a say.
• A number of LCF observers should be elected with full voting and speaking rights on the Labour Group and the policies of the Labour Group should be those determined by the LCF. Election of the Group leader and officers should be done by One Member One Vote (OMOV). Current rule allows one third of the membership of the group, up to a maximum of 6 observers, other matters might require rule changes particularly with regards to voting power of LCF observers and election of the Group Leader by all members.
• Local election policies and campaigns should be determined by the LCF, including plans for expenditure, which should be audited by elected auditors.
• Selection processes should be completely open for every election and for every ward whether or not there are sitting Labour councillors and similarly for mayoral candidacies, where there is a separate mayoral election. Where there is no elected Labour councillor or Mayor, an early selection is desirable. All sections of the community must be given equal and fair opportunity to stand.
• LCF should organise training sessions about how to be a Labour candidate and campaign effectively to encourage membership to stand in elections, particularly to help and support BAME and women members.
In LCF meetings that have attended, I have heard the idea that the membership “should not be trusted”, or don’t have the “skills” and that wrong ideas are put forward as a rationale to exclude them from decision-making. All members should be given every opportunity to engage and make decisions in politics. I have mentioned before, but I would like to highlight this again that part of the pernicious influence of the right wing is to favour only those parts of the BAME community where there is perceived to be support for the right- wing, rather than all parts of the BAME population. That is a dangerous game and will lead to further Labour losses.
Likewise, I have heard that one needs to have lived in Bedford for decades as a Labour member before qualifying to be part of Labour “core team”. This is also wrong. I have done my best to speak up for fairness and equal opportunities for all members in Labour’s local government processes in Bedford. I was out almost every day campaigning to elect our candidates.
Resignation was a very difficult decision form me, but the LCF locally has been operating so undemocratically for such a long time, that being part of it became a shameful thing for me to do. I have always stood up for the membership and members’ right and I will continue to do so.
August 15, 2019
