Tag Archives: labour for democracy

Simon McGrath

Making Labour Councillors more comfortable

By Simon McGrath | Mon 7th April 2025 - 4:04 pm

Labour Councillors in Merton have come up with a way of cutting down on scrutiny from opposition councillors – led by 17 Liberal Democrats. Last week’s Council meeting saw Labour force though a whole series of changes to the constitution which will drastically affect the ability of Opposition Councillors to hold them to account.

The draconian new rules:

  • Limit accountability on key issues by halving the number of questions to Cabinet Members.
  • Reduce the publication of key information on the administration’s performance and whether it’s meeting its own promises, by abolishing ‘strategic theme reports’ and questions.
  • Stifle debate on issues residents care about by limiting opposition motions. For smaller groups – like the Conservatives – that’s to fewer than one a meeting. Independent councillors will rarely, if ever be able to propose motions.
  • Gag minority political opinions. Again, smaller groups – like the Conservatives – will see their speaking time in debates limited.
  • Rig the rule’s in Labour’s favour by fixing it so that Labour councillors get more speaking time in debates, and giving the Labour Leader of the Council unlimited interventions.
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Posted in Local government | Also tagged | 4 Comments
NewsHound

Launch of Labour for Democracy

By NewsHound | Tue 4th December 2012 - 1:51 pm

Today, an influential group of Labour members are launching a new movement within their party: Labour for Democracy.

Its aim is to reach out to Lib Dems (and possibly Greens as well) in order to prepare a pluralist agenda around progressive issues. Although it does not explicitly say so, it is presumably also preparing the ground for a possible Labour-led coalition after 2015. Their position is based on polling evidence:

On all the major issues  Labour and Lib Dem voters tend to give similar levels of support to broadly  ‘progressive’ value statements, with Labour voters giving slightly stronger levels

…

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Posted in News | Also tagged and | 38 Comments
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Recent Comments

  • Nigel Jones
    @Mick Taylor, I agree we must be concerned about income inequality in current circumstances, though overcoming this is about taxing the rich, better public serv...
  • Nigel Jones
    @Mick Taylor, you are right to focus on strategy since we have plenty of policy, but i think we also need a vision and better messaging. It is easy to have stro...
  • Nigel Jones
    The New Deal graphic is very helpful but of course not perfect. As to preventing Reform from winning, we need to be an anti-establishment party as Chris Bowers ...
  • Nigel Jones
    It is certainly true that community politics is insufficient for long term gain. That was my experience in 13 yrs as a councillor and still active locally; at o...
  • Katharine Pindar
    Splendid stuff, well done Yorkists! 'The New Deal' seems a great idea in itself. Your graphic shows, however, how much work will need to be done to assert ourse...