Transcript Pulse Point - Politics Teacher

Pulse Point
Labour Party Leadership
Elections
Miliband shakes up Labour
leadership elections.
•
•
The NEC has approved a report by
Labour Leader Ed Miliband detailing his
plans to change the way Labour Party
leaders are elected in the future as part
of his plans to reform the party.
Miliband supports the one member,
one vote system.
This will replace the electoral college
which has balanced the power to elect
leaders across sections of the party.
Why change?
• To reduce the influence of
trade unions.
• To make the party more
democratic.
• To increase party
membership.
• To give the leader more
legitimacy.
To reduce the
influence of
trade unions.
•
Following allegations of electoral fraud by
the Unite union in Falkirk, Ed Miliband
decided it was time to rethink the party’s
relationship with the unions.
•
Reformers in the Labour Party fear the link
with Unions reminds voters of ‘old’ Labour
and the ‘loony’ left of the party.
•
The reforms of the Labour party over the
past 30 years have seen leaders move away
from their reliance on Trade Union support.
To make the
party more
democratic
•
When Ed Miliband was elected leader
he was seen as the unions’ choice.
Opponents labelled him ‘Red Ed’
•
In 2001 the Conservatives opened up
their leadership election to party
members although the MPs still select
the candidates.
•
The Liberal Democrats have always
elected their leader in a one member
one vote system. Labour’s electoral
college has been criticised as the most
undemocratic of the main parties.
To increase party
membership.
•
The new plans will introduce new
levels of membership. Trade Union
members will be able to ‘opt in’ to
become associate members of the
Labour Party for a reduced fee.
•
Reformers in the Labour Party believe
that reducing the influence of the
unions and making the party more
democratic, will encourage a fresh
intake of people who may have been
put off by the, closed-shop image.
•
If Labour want to reduce their
dependence on the unions they need
to find new sources of revenue. The
reforms will be phased in over 5
years to soften the financial impact.
To give the leader
more legitimacy.
•
Electoral college systems leave the elected leader open to
questions of legitimacy as they are not as transparent as
one member one vote.
•
This map shows how ‘constituencies’ voted in the 2010
Labour Leadership election. Blue represents Ed Miliband,
Green- his brother David. Despite being the most popular
candidate for party members and Labour politicians, David
lost out because the union vote favoured Ed by a
significant majority.
•
Anomalies in the old system meant that an MP’s vote was
worth 600 times more than a party member and over a
thousand times more than a union member. If an MP was
also a party member, in a union and a member of an
affiliate such as the Fabian society, they would have been
able to vote four times.
Pulse Points.
• Is Labour a ‘divided’ Party?
• Why would the PLP want to check the influence of the
Trade unions?
• What effect will the proposed changes have on the
power balance within the party?
• How important is it for a political party to be
democratic?
Pros & Cons of the reform.
Old rules
• Candidates need 12.5 % of PLP
support to get onto the ballot.
• Most factions of the party are
represented.
• Votes have different weight
depending on who casts them.
Multiple votes are possible.
• Confusing and undemocratic.
MPs have a disproportionately
large influence.
New rules
• Candidates need 20% of PLP
support to get onto the ballot.
• Fewer candidates = less
choice.
• One member, one vote. All
votes have the same weight.
No multiple votes.
• If the 10% of union members
who opted to vote in 2010,
opt in to party membership
their share if the leadership
votes will actually increase
from a third to a half.
2010 Labour leadership election.
Candidate
MPs/MEPs Party
Members
Unions &
Affiliates
Total % of
vote
David
Miliband
13.91
14.69
9.18
37.78
Ed
Miliband
10.53
9.98
13.82
34.33
Ed Balls
5.01
3.37
3.41
11.79
Andy
Burnham
3.01
2.85
2.83
8.68
Diane
Abbot
0.88
2.45
4.09
7.42
Totals
33.33 %
33.33 %
33.33 %
100.00 %
As no one reached 50% the bottom candidate dropped out and her
votes were redistributed.
2010 Labour leadership election.
Candidate
MPs/MEPs Party
Members
Unions &
Affiliates
Total % of
vote
David
Miliband
14.02
15.08
9.80
38.89
Ed
Miliband
11.11
11.13
15.23
37.47
Ed Balls
5.18
3.83
4.22
13.23
Andy
Burnham
3.03
3.30
4.08
10.41
Totals
33.33 %
33.33 %
33.33 %
100.00 %
Still no one reached 50%, the bottom candidate dropped out and the
votes were redistributed.
2010 Labour leadership election.
Candidate
MPs/MEPs Party
Members
Unions &
Affiliates
Total % of
vote
David
Miliband
15.78
16.08
10.86
42.72
Ed
Miliband
12.12
12.43
16.71
41.26
Ed Balls
5.43
4.82
5.77
16.02
Totals
33.33 %
33.33 %
33.33 %
100.00 %
Finally Ed Balls’ votes were shared between the Miliband brothers.
2010 Labour leadership election.
Candidate
MPs/MEPs Party
Members
Unions &
Affiliates
Total % of
vote
David
Miliband
17.81
18.14
13.40
49.35
Ed
Miliband
15.52
15.20
19.93
50.65
Totals
33.33 %
33.33 %
33.33 %
100.00 %
Despite leading the field up to the final ballot, David Miliband lost out
to his younger brother by 0.65 % of the vote.
A Very
Brief
History
of the
Labour
Party.
Ramsey Macdonald formed
the first Labour government
in 1924. Although this initial
taste of power lasted only for
a few months, it shows how
rapid the ascent of the Party
had been.
In the 1970s a series of strikes, known as ‘the winter of
discontent’ enabled Conservative leader Margaret Thatcher
to clampdown on the unions, which were seen by many to
be too powerful and corrupt. Following repeated general
election losses throughout the 1980s the Labour party set
on a course of modernisation.
Labour leaders and the unions
Neil Kinnock began reforms to
move the party away from its
‘loony left’ image. Rejecting
militants in the party and
promoting the engineers of what
would become ‘New Labour’.
John Smith got rid of the
unions’ block vote,
reduced their share of
the electoral college
from 40% to a third and
he introduced one
member one vote for
local candidate selection.
One of Tony Blair’s first
achievements as leader was to
rewrite Clause IV of the party
constitution which effectively
severed the commitment to
public ownership against the
wishes of the Unions.
The future of the Labour/trade unions relationship
Miliband’s reforms are radical, but as they are to be
phased in over 5 years, the situation continues to
develop.
Key questions:
Will Labour ever totally sever itself from its ‘union
paymasters’?
With trade union membership falling year on year, will
they continue to be able to exert the influence on their
members and therefore the party?
Can the party survive financially without the unions? If
not, can they survive politically with them?