This was not the usual party conference jamboree. For the first time since September 1996, the Labour Party held its annual conference in Opposition and this took some getting used to. Anyone expecting vigorous opposition policy debates and complex composite motions would be severely disappointed, as anything approaching dissent and disagreement was despatched to history with the onset of the New Labour era. Policy may have been argued out line by line at the Liberal Democrat’s gathering last week, but this conference was devoid of any real debate in the hall.
Nor was this the expected triumphal coronation of a new Leader. The King was dead but it was far from long live the New King. Indeed it was the new king’s brother who held most attention from the moment the results of the leadership election were announced to the close of the Annual Conference five very long days later. Given that most Constituency Labour Party’s across the land had opted for David Milliband, there was naturally a great deal of surprise and some considerable angst. In the end, by Wednesday night David Miliband decided he would be quitting front line politics.
Even with a new leader in place the conference was listless, with outgoing and uncertain Shadow Cabinet spokespeople going through the motions of varying degrees of interest in their previous Ministerial briefs. One hangover from the pre-New Labour days is that the Opposition Leader has to appoint his Shadow Cabinet from among the 20 odd lucky winners of a popularity ballot among the depleted ranks of the Parliamentary Labour Party. Milliband junior can decide the jobs to hand out but can only shuffle the pack among the list decided by the PLP. Some democratic traditions remain in Labour party management.
Weekend
Saturday saw Ed Miliband become the Leader of the Labour Party at the expense of his older brother. He gained 50.65% of the vote, which was 1.3% more than David received, thanks to the system of redistributed second preferences. Almost immediately the media have been painting him as ‘Red Ed’ the Unions’ man because their support played a significant role in gaining him the leadership.
Sunday saw John Prescott lose out on becoming Treasurer of the Labour Party thanks to the Union vote. The Unions hold 50% of the total vote and the well known household name of Diana Holland received 49.93% of it, giving her 68.96% overall. This adds weight to the argument that the unions are calling the shots. In further election results Ken Livingstone came top in the contest for a seat on the constituency section of the National Executive Committee.
Policy Announcements
There were no policy announcements over the weekend, however, David Lammy and prominent blogger Will Straw were heard speaking in favour of a Land Tax to redistribute wealth at fringe meetings. The idea already has support from Andy Burnham, who is likely to gain influence as a result of his leadership bid, and will be an area of policy to watch.
Monday
Monday saw an unexpected near 20 minute valedictory speech from David Miliband, leaving little time for the Q&A session scheduled on foreign affairs in the presence of his brother Ed. This was followed by another farewell speech from Alistair Darling. Unfortunately, neither of them were particularly meaty with Darling using his to defend his performance during the financial crisis. However, Darling did emphasise that Labour needs what he called a “credible” plan to deal with the deficit which could be seen as a warning about Ed Balls’ attitude towards the deficit if he becomes Shadow Chancellor.
It was also alleged that Lord Sainsbury, who is Labour’s biggest private donor, decided not to attend the conference owing to Ed Miliband’s election as leader. He is understood to be unhappy with the level of influence over the Party wielded by the Unions. Ed Miliband attended the annual Business Reception and attempted to reassure his audience that ”we will listen” although he rather spoiled it when he added “but we will agree and also disagree with you.”
Tuesday
Tuesday’s highlight was the new leader’s keynote speech. Ed Miliband accepted that there need to be cuts, and said he would support the coalition where necessary, although he did not want to see growth compromised by them. As an example, he highlighted that cuts in the school building programme would be costly for the construction industry. However, he also renewed his support for a higher banking levy, which could fund public services, and wanted to protect workers from being undercut by cheap foreign labour as well as committing to a ‘living wage’ of £7/hour. In a bid to calm the nerves of the right-wing of the Party, he said that he would “have no truck with overblown rhetoric about waves of irresponsible strikes,” in a dig at militant trade unionism.
In terms of planning and property, the speech suggested that Mr Miliband supports the localism agenda. He said that he wants to see: “local democracy free of the constraints [Labour] have placed on it in the past.” He also said that: “Labour must stand up for those who want to protect the high street from looking uniform,” in an attack on so called Clone Town Britain. Ed cemented the break with his brother by condemning the war in Iraq – which his brother David had voted for in 2002 when Ed was not yet in Parliament. In other news, Chair of the Co-Operative Party, Gareth Thomas, called for a wide-ranging policy review to address “the weaknesses in brand Labour”. He called for more than just opposition of Conservative cuts in a bid to appeal to middle-England again.
Wednesday
The major news from Wednesday was that David Miliband decided not to put himself forward for the shadow cabinet elections and has retired from front bench politics. In a show of strength, and perhaps the demeanour of the Party, Ed Miliband forced Nick Brown out of the Chief Whip’s position so that Rosie Winterton attained the position by default. The 49 candidates for shadow cabinet positions were also released incorporating mixture of old and new figures including Diane Abbott.
Policy Announcements
Ed Miliband said that he wants to see the party much more involved in policy-making. This is unlikely to include full votes on policies like the Liberal Democrats, although it will mean a bigger voice for the grass roots.
Thursday
John Healey gave his speech as Shadow Housing Minister and used his time to oppose the Coalition’s plans for housing. He said: “I have to tell you that in five months I’ve not found a single [Coalition policy] change I can support.” In particular he attacked the ‘New Homes Bonus’ which promises councils central Government funding to match the increase in council tax from building new homes for 6 years. He suggested that in practice this would deprive some councils of funding since there was not enough available to cover the scheme.
In his conference speech, shadow environment spokesman Hilary Benn attacked the government for its recent back tracking on the previous Labour government’s consultation proposals to ban certain materials from landfill. He said: “A government that claims to be the greenest ever but is undermining confidence in feed-in tariffs, dithering on the renewable heat incentive, says it’s alright to go on throwing waste into landfill when it could be recycled.”
There was also an interesting fringe meeting held by the Town and Country Planning Association whose Chief Executive, Kate Henderson, said that there should be a national planning framework to fit local planning decisions into a national context. Friends of the Earth’s Dr Annette Watson also spoke to highlight the need for a: “local to national framework on climate change,” encompassing ideas such as local carbon budgets. She said that FoE would be lobbying for amendments to the Decentralisation and Localism Bill. Finally, David Sparks, who is Vice President of the Local Government Association and leader of its Labour Group, spoke about Coalition planning policy. He said their plans would allow Conservative councils to reject social housing and wind farms and that they wanted to remove legislation so that markets could control what is built. He also said that there was a danger that business leaders would be given too much control over planning as in the past.
This was an odd conference, as much for who wasn’t there from the very recent past. Peter Mandelson dominated business interest just 12 months ago in Brighton, taking the limelight and the photo opportunities on the many trade stands. This year he was nowhere to be seen, the trade stands had vanished and the business brief lacked a heavy hitting speaker on the platform.
Where Labour will go next remains to be seen despite the fact that there is all to play for with the polls having narrowed steadily since the start of summer and the Coalition at risk from division, defection or even dissolution. Politics remains interesting as we approach the final conference week with the Conservatives.
Written by Nick Sutcliffe