National Policy Forum - Your Southeast CLP representatives

Olivia Bailey, Simon Burgess, Deborah Gardiner, Karen Landles and Martin Phillips

We are your five representatives on the Labour Party's National Policy Forum. On this website, we will give you more information on the work being done by the Policy Forum and the 6 Commissions within them. The menu on the left tells you where everything is.

Simon is also a Vice-Chair of the NPF itself, and Deborah is a member of the Joint Policy Commission, the body overseeing the work of the policy forum. This means that we have a very strong voice for the South East at the NPF.

Latest News

The last couple of months have been terrible for the political system, and sadly a heavy price has been paid by many hard working labour councillors and European candidates in the June elections. We know from conversations we have had with activists across the region the level of anger members feel, and as party activists, we have every right to feel let down by the behaviour of some of our MPs. The case for urgent reform in overwhelming. So we welcome moves to clean up the system.

On Wednesday the Prime Minister announced proposals on constitutional reform to clean up the parliamentary system, increase transparency and modernise government.

As NPF representatives, we would like to hear your views on the proposals and any other ideas you have on what is needed to restore public faith in Westminster. If you want to send us your views, either individually or behalf of your branch or CLP, please send them to npf.southeast@ntlworld.com . If your are holding discussions on this or any other subject, please invite us – as your representatives, we want to know what you think.

Reform of the political system has always been an important element of the submissions we receive from you, and all the NPF reps took forward a wide range of proposals to the NPF meeting at Warwick last summer that agreed the final document. After a summary of Prime Ministers proposals, we have included below a recap on what we achieved at Warwick in setting party policy for the next election.

The Prime Minister’s Proposals

For fuller details and to read or see his statement, go to http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page19582

A code of conduct for MPs with independent regulation
A legally binding code of conduct for MPs, enforced by a Parliamentary Standards Authority that has powers to look at expense claims, disallow items, demand repayment and impose financial penalties on those breaking the rules. There is also the suggestion that constituents could recall for re-election any MP who breaks the financial rules. A new bill will be published before the end of July.

Reform of the House of Lords
Complete the reforms we have started by having a mostly or wholly elected chamber, with a tougher code of conduct and a crackdown on misconduct by members who break the rules.

Written constitution, accountability and transparency
There will be a consultation on extending Freedom of Information to those bodies that receive public money, but to whom FoI does not apply at present. Official papers will be published after 20, rather than 30, years (excluding cabinet papers and those regarding the Royal Family). Commons select committees will be more independent of the whips offices, and have greater powers to scrutinise legislation. The previous commitment to consult on a written constitution was repeated.

Voting age
Reduction of the voting age to 16 will be considered urgently.

Electoral reform
There will be a consultation on electoral reform, with a possible referendum on any proposals after the next election.

Policies from local parties and NPF members agreed at Warwick

At the end of the three year National Policy Forum cycle last year, the NPF met with the government and trade unions to agree the final document, at Warwick. The issues highlighted by the Prime Minister were a major part of the discussions the NPF had and the commitments the NPF achieved. Your submissions and those of local parties throughout the country made it clear that the party needed to go further on constitutional reform. We made significant progress, as you can see below, and the proposals now being made by the Prime Minister reflect the feeling of the party.

The agreement made at Warwick included these commitments for party policy going into the general election. If re-elected, Labour would deliver:

• A 100% elected House of Lords that is also more representative of the people and nations of the UK
• A reduction in the voting age to 16 for all elections
• A review of different voting systems across the world and the experience of them (good and bad), to prepare the way for a consultation on electoral reform
• Investigation of how to increase voter participation in elections, including considering weekend voting
• Consideration of a written constitution

CLP reps from across the country succeeded in getting these accepted as party policy for the next election, and we welcome the fact that their importance and urgency has been recognised and some will be implemented earlier than expected.

There was also progress on action on the make-up of publicly elected bodies, from the European and British Parliaments to Assemblies and Councils. The government agreed to amend the Equality Bill, so that it included provisions to allow positive action to redress the under-representation of BAME members in all elected bodies

So we are pleased to see so many of the ideas proposed by CLPs now being implemented by the Government.

Latest Policy News

It is often difficult to find out what the latest government actions are. So for each of the 6 policy areas, there is now a "Latest News" page. To see each one, just select the policy area on the menu to the left and click on "Latest News"

Featured stories:

• World's largest trial of green vehicles - see here
• Digital Britain white paper - see here
• Major boost for NHS dentistry - see here

Tell the party and us your views

You can send in policy submissions all year round to the Commissions - click on "Making Submissions" on the menu to the left to discover more. To represent you, we need to know your views. So please don't forget to send a copy to us too, by emailing submission@npf-se.org.uk

Keep up to date through our reports

We send out regular reports by email. If you aren't already on our subscription list, send an email to subscribe@npf-se.org.uk with your name and CLP.

The structure of the NPF