David Evans
General Secretary
The Labour Party
Southside
105 Victoria Street
London SW1E 6QT

14th November 2022

Dear David,

I write on behalf of members of Compass who support The Labour Party.

The country is going through the agony of being governed by one political persuasion in one party. Whether it’s in the economy or politics, whenever there are complex things to do or say - monopolies do not work. Across the globe, democracy and real debate are in retreat as countries as close to home as Italy and Sweden opt for governments led or influenced by right wing populists.

That is why it’s worrying what's happening in Labour selections and in Labour councils, as the Party centrally both narrows the range of political candidate choices available and in the process weakens our democratic culture - sending signals that control trumps democracy and pluralism.

Especially in an age of chaos and poly crises, politics needs openness, challenge, imagination and creativity, things that can only come from diversity, collaboration, and pluralism. Frankly, a cohort of identikit and unchallenging politicians is not going to help Labour cope with the chaos and complexity of what lies ahead.

Of course, we all want to win the next election. But dramatically narrowing the range of candidates eligible for parliamentary selection on increasingly spurious grounds will not help Labour win office or transform the country. The new, long, and deep settlement we need for the environment and the economy will not be imposed by a few but can only be negotiated by all.

‘Evidence’ presented to candidates to justify blocking them from the shortlist has included ‘liking’ tweets by non-Labour politicians, even if those tweets are about personal issues. Candidates have also been penalised for striking cooperation agreements with other parties to secure a progressive council where no single Party can govern alone, therefore denying Tory rule. Disagreement with the policy direction of the leadership is also held against candidates. In Peckham and Camberwell the Regional Office seem to have added a candidate against the expressed wishes of the shortlisting committee by dissolving them on the basis of a leak to the media that could have come from anywhere.

These standards - increasingly ludicrous as they are - are not being applied evenly. Favoured candidates of the leadership are being waved through, whatever their past actions, while those on even the soft-Left - often with broad trade union support - are being targeted. In one case a former Tory MP who defected to Labour, has been waved through the whole trigger process with no local democratic decision making at all.

The motive for this is easily understandable – one side wants to gain all power and influence and stifle dissent. This zero-sum game between right and left has always gone on. Within sensible limits it’s understandable and inevitable.

But it is now reaching dangerous levels. And a price will be paid by the party but also the country.

If allowed to continue it will narrow the vision, experience, and views within the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) in ways that are concerning – rewarding and promoting only those who agree with the leadership politically and closing the space for new and different ideas and fresh thinking. Without challenge, even well-intentioned people start to make mistakes. Small cliques never work. This has been seen before, in Labour in terms of leadership control from Blair to Corbyn and it leaves lasting damage to the way people see the party and Westminster politics in general.

And it will undermine Labour’s credibility on democratic reform. The party cannot prioritise control over participation internally but expect to be taken seriously on issues like decentralisation and wider democratic reform. The democratic impulse must run constantly throughout the party to have credibility.

As economic and climate chaos grows, any incoming Labour government will need to be a broad alliance to develop and sustain a new political settlement for our country. Nothing real and lasting is achieved without such pluralism internally and externally. Big threats, challenges and change require broad, deep, and enduring coalitions.

Labour’s greatest achievements were based on broad alliances – in 1945 it was a Labour government that created the post war settlement, but it was based on the ideas of liberals such as Keynes and Beveridge. In 1997 New Labour reached out to the Liberal Democrats and worked with them electorally and intellectually.

Across the globe parties like Labour win, flourish and deliver when they form broad alliances: Joe Biden with the left of the Democrats to deliver on green transition policies , Olaf Scholz in Germany working with the left in the SPD as well as with Greens and Liberals in government , the coalition government of PSOE and Podemos, and Jacinda Ardern in New Zealand going out of her way to work with the Greens even though she has a parliamentary majority . Closer to home Mark Drakeford the Labour First Minister of Wales has forged a governing coalition with Plaid Cymru to build a more equal and democratic Wales . Across England and Wales there are over 30 councils where progressive parties work effectively together to deliver for their communities. Pluralism makes us stronger in a world where we can only fashion a better society in negotiation and partnership with others.

The idea that one faction in one party – be it left or right – can surmount the complex challenges and opportunities of the 21st century and impose a future is a non-starter.

Yet the Labour leadership also seem to be turning their back on diversity externally as well as internally, as they rule out ever talking to the SNP, doing any deal with the Liberal Democrats – even ruling out confidence and supply which is the prerequisite of stability in any hung parliament – or recognising the place of the Greens in our political eco-system. Over the last few months there has also been a concerted effort from the Labour leadership to crack down on coalition agreements in local government, and in September the Party Rules were changed so “any councillor who does not follow the NECs decision on coalition agreements will be subject to disciplinary action”. This top-down, factional and disciplinarian approach to politics is completely at odds with the spirit of the times and the scale of the challenges Labour and the country faces..

Of course, coalitions should be built on shared values, and any selection process must ensure that candidates are suitable to stand for the Party – as many of these people being ruled out clearly are.

Everyone in politics has histories and baggage - which is especially apparent in an age dominated by social media. But telling a candidate that they can’t stand for the party they have dedicated their life to because, for example, they were glad Nicola Sturgeon was free of Covid, is simply wrong . No candidate should be blocked from standing for expressing decency and kindness, the exact type of dialogue that is missing in today's political climate, as we presume the party Leader won’t after sending his best wishes to the then Prime Minister when he caught Covid.

Labour must be a beacon of the best democratic structures and cultures. This spurious and factional dismissal of talent and breadth needs to stop – not for the good of the left, or the right if the tables are turned – but for the good of a Labour or Labour-led government to win and govern successfully.

Yours sincerely,

NEAL LAWSON
Director, Compass

neal@compassonline.org.uk