| Save the Labour Party |
| NEWS RELEASE 14/04 STLP sees risks if Blair fails to encourage members London – 27 September Some Labour members are concerned that Labour Leader Tony Blair’s speech will ignore growing disquiet among both members and supporters about the future of the Labour Party as a mass-membership progressive force on the left of British politics. The campaigning group Save the Labour Party (STLP) wrote today to the political watchdog body, the Electoral Commission to express its concerns about possible misleading information about membership trends filed by the Labour Party with the EC earlier this year. Membership is a key indicator of party political performance. The Party Leadership has been invited repeatedly by STLP to put the record straight before Conference and hold a formal AGM to let members put questions to the NEC in private, to no avail. STLP chair, Peter Kenyon said, “We are wondering whether anyone at Head Office has briefed the Party Leader fully about either current membership trends or the capacity of the Party to mount effective election campaigns involving its foot-soldiers.” “If tomorrow’s speech is going to inspire more people to join and campaign actively for a 3rd term, he is going to have to make a radically different speech from those we have heard in previous years.” Latest opinion polls and anecdotal evidence are showing worrying signs of support for Labour under its current Leader ebbing away. Tomorrow’s speech is possibly his last chance before the next General Election to mend his fences with Labour’s dwindling membership. Doubts about how Labour accounts for its membership have also be expressed in STLP’s submission to a little known EC consultation about its requirements for the annual Statement of Accounts. The closing date for submissions was last Friday. STLP is campaigning to win elections with more, active members and challenging the Leadership to work with it. Since it was set up a year ago, STLP has attracted support from most sections of the Labour Party, not just its left wing. It has members in nearly 100 parliamentary constituencies and close links with other campaigning organisations in the labour movement in England, Scotland and Wales. STLP is also active in the newly formed web-based service http://labourconference2004.net offering alternative advice to CLP delegates. Labourconference2004.net’s eve-of-conference reception on Saturday was attended by trade union leaders, Lord’s reform campaigner and entertainer, Billy Bragg, MPs and members of the NEC. Media enquiries: Peter Kenyon Mobile 07802 216 591 eMail: peter.g.kenyon@btinternet.com Notes to Editors 1. Only fully paid-up members are entitled to vote in Labour Party elections. 2. Labour’s Rule Book allows members to be kept on its membership register for up to sixth months since their subscription fell due. Members in arrears for six-months or more can be struck off. 3. The Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 brought in by Labour to clean up British politics requires large political parties to file their accounts and other information about their activities by early July each year for the preceding 12-month to end December. The EC guidelines request membership data. 4. Labour membership has been on a downward trend for seven years since Party Leader Tony Blair was appointed Prime Minister in 1997. Among the data published by Labour was its membership for end-2003, which fell to 214,952 from just under 250,000 at end–2002. But in its submission sent in before the 7 July deadline Labour claimed it had recruited an extra 9,000 members, creating the impression that membership was over 220,000. More recently Mr Blair reportedly told the NEC on 20 September that new recruits totalled 15,000 since the end of the year. 5. According to NEC sources some 190,000 ballot papers were issued in May for an all-member ballot to elect new constituency representatives to the Party’s ruling body. |