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2011 Party Conference Report - Janet Snell, delegate, Suffolk Coastal
This was the first party conference I've attended as a delegate, though I have been in the past as media (working for social care and nursing magazines).
I downloaded the Labour Party conference app to my phone. It told you what was happening where and when and you could use it to put together your own schedule and get reminders when events were about to start. It was brilliant.
Liverpool is a great city but the conference centre wasn't great (bad layout) and the fringe events were dotted all over the place. I was staying a good 45 minutes away from the conference centre which was not ideal. I would recommend the CLP book somewhere now for whoever is going to Manchester next year (Sept 30-Oct 4) as places fill up so fast.
Refounding Labour
This was one of the main themes of conference. The policy was adopted by a 93% majority. It's all about making the Party more open, connecting with ordinary people, and making more funds available for struggling CLPs. As one speaker said: "It's a much needed fresh start - what we had become was not who we were." New Labour was successful, but now we need to remind ourselves what we are really about and make sure we are more rooted in communities. Also there was a discussion at one of the policy forum meetings (separate events for delegates only) which heard that Labour was in danger of being seen as urban party. The message to the leadership was: "Don't forget rural communities".
Conference high and low points
A highlight for me was Ed Miliband's Q&A session on the day after his rather underwhelming keynote speech. He was more relaxed and natural (human!) and he spoke with warmth and feeling. Members of the public were invited along (for the first time) and Eddie Izzard and Joan Bakewell ran round a packed hall with the microphones.
Ed said he wanted "tough" questions, and he got them. "Is it time to bring David back from political Siberia? Have you invited him to join the shadow cabinet?" (Answer Yes I have - it's his decision.) Another questioner asked "Have people with disabilities been airbrushed from this conference because they are viewed as scroungers?" (Answer: "no" and "no").
Someone unhappy with a response about public sector pensions stormed out. But Ed took it all in his stride, waved off reminders that he was due at an NEC meeting ("I'm sure they won't mind waiting") and was still taking questions after 2 hours. He seemed to win a lot of the public over, especially younger people.
His engaging performance was a contrast to the day before when he delivered his big speech in quite a leaden way (although the content was good). It was also very unfortunate that he paused after saying "I'm not Tony Blair". Some people (but only a very small number) jeered (it wasn't even proper booing). And I think it was more because there was a gap than anything else.
I was a little disappointed with the Health and Social Care Policy Forum. Given the threat the NHS is under, I would have liked to hear more from John Healey about exactly how the party is going to defend it. But he didn't seem to have much to say of substance either in the forum or when he spoke in the main hall.
One highpoint was the buffet laid on by Tesco (a conference sponsor) at the delegates' welcome reception on the Saturday night. But it started to become a low point when the same selection was served up time and time again at other events!
Votes
At Wednesday morning's session we were slightly ahead of schedule and several delegates were not present when their proposed rule changes came up for discussion. As a result they fell, but Angela Eagle was an excellent chair and when some of the delegates did turn up she allowed them to move their amendments (and in one case where a delegate was ill, Angela moved the amendment herself).
A number of speakers spoke passionately about the need to make the party more democratic. One motion called for amendments submitted by CLPs and affiliates to be timetabled for debate at the first party conference after their submission (in some cases they have been held back for over a year, while the NEC can submit things at the last minute).
South Ribble proposed a Labour Party Code of Ethics to apply to members, officers, staff, and contractors. Hyndburn CLP proposed a Charter of Rights for individual and trade union members. And there was another motion on elections of national officers and committees, though to be honest I couldn't understand what it was about (Division III CLPs?)
All these motions had support from the floor but when the results of the card vote were announced, all were defeated.
A motion from Winchester calling for CLPs not to have to send a woman to conference on alternate years if they had trouble finding someone to go prompted some vociferous opposition and was voted down. A proposal to rewrite Clause 4 was also defeated.
As Angela Eagle said at the end, who said rule changes are boring?!
Our emergency resolution
Suffolk Coastal's emergency resolution on the human rights of travellers was not accepted.
I was disappointed that despite Dale Farm, the issue of travellers was not discussed. I thought of raising it anyway under the citizenship and equalities debate, but unless you could wave a gonk, a crutch, a flag or a large sign saying "I am 16" it seemed near impossible to catch the eye of the chairman and get called!
Fringe meetings
I really wanted to hear Tony Benn talk at the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy fringe event on the next steps for Labour - but it clashed with Ed Miliband's Q&A. I would have gone anyway but someone said Benn wasn't very well and it was only going to be a flying visit. I heard that he looked frail and only spoke for a couple of minutes.
I attended a Palestine Solidarity meeting which talked about biased media coverage of the Middle East. I went to hear Yvette Cooper speak at the LGBT fringe at the Tate gallery (nice venue, nice wine).Discussion ranged from how can we support professional footballers to come out to how can branches make sure they are welcoming to a diverse group of people. Yvette was presented with a "never snogged a Tory" mug. The next night she did a live interview with the Observer's Andrew Rawnsley and talked about recovering from ME, sharing a flat with Ed Miliband and juggling the demands of a busy career and three children.
At the What Should Labour Do Next fringe people applauded a call to abolish the right to buy council houses to free up more homes. But the shadow cabinet members on panel looked unconvinced. I also went to an IPPR fringe on ‘the squeezed middle'. And at the RSPCA beer and curry fringe we heard from Richard Howitt MEP and RSPCA vice-president.
Other Info
I went to a (short) training session about Contact Creator and Mosaic where we were told that using these tools can save a huge amount of effort by targeting actual and potential Labour voters. There is now a new version of Mosaic.
Ed Balls, Harriet Harman and the new general secretary Iain McNicol are all due to attend the East of England regional conference in Peterborough (Nov 4-6).
Overall impression
Ed Miliband seems to be growing into the job (and I think he will get better) and others who were impressive at conference included Harriet Harman, Ed Balls, Yvette Cooper and Sadiq Khan. I was also struck by how many articulate young members the party has coming up through the ranks. As we sang The Red Flag and Jerusalem at the end of conference people seemed united and upbeat and I came away feeling that the party is in good shape.
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Conference Report by Suffolk Coastal Delegate
