Debates sought by local Labour activists at the party’s future annual conferences could be quashed by the leadership if they are seen as not relevant to current policy platforms, after a series of rule changes passed on Tuesday.
The national executive committee, Labour’s governing body, voted to approve rule changes, including one that requires motions for debate to be deemed “contemporary”.
While it is not completely clear what this means in practice, some Labour MPs and internal party groups had feared it could be used to prevent debate on areas beyond the bounds of the national policy forum document, the basis for the manifesto agreed upon earlier this month.
Some had raised concerns it could be used to exclude issues on which the Labour leadership has set out a policy, such as maintaining the two-child benefit limit, or areas like Brexit and electoral reform.
However, the rule will not be in force for the imminent Labour conference taking place in Liverpool this week, meaning such debates can go ahead on this occasion.
A Labour source said the stipulation would be unlikely to be interpreted very strictly at conferences when the policy forum was less detailed, for example just after a general election rather than just before.
Some Labour activists had feared the rule change could have been used this year to rule out motions to debate the party’s stance on Brexit, including calls for Labour to commit to future membership of the EU’s single market.
Another possible area of contention is calls for electoral reform and proportional representation. Last year’s conference overwhelmingly backed a motion calling for PR, an idea ignored by Keir Starmer.
Based on a text submitted by 140 CLPs, it passed after trade unions, which had previously blocked the idea, changed their stance.
The internal campaign group Open Labour criticised the rule change, saying: “A party that can’t listen to its own members at conference seems far too fragile and uncertain for a party leading in the polls.”
A spokesperson for Momentum, the leftwing campaign group, said: “These proposed changes represent yet another attack on the rights of Labour members from a Starmer leadership which is patently hostile to party democracy.”
The Labour conference has over some years become increasingly less of a forum for decisions, and instead a showpiece for the leadership’s priorities. There is particular desire to show unity before a general election due next year.
Other rule changes also voted upon included a change meaning CLPs no longer have to have an equalities officer on their executive, and tweaks to expulsion rules to make it easier to remove members who support non-Labour candidates.
