Feedback on 'how it's going' in Labour Party Branches and CLPs

What's going well...

Welcoming new Members . Social 'welcome' meetings organised within areas of branch * CLP
new members event -some snags but good idea. * Invitation to neighbouring branch for EU discussion. * CLP secretary - consciously trying to make the CLP more open, less of an established
clique and have been trying to demystify party structures and procedure.
Quorum Following abandoned meeting (see below) at the next meeting the quorum was almost
unanimously reduced from 25% to 5%. (but this has been challenged, see below) * Exec has
decided to keep the ratio of 1 to 10 GC delegates to Branch members despite the rise in membership
(a surprise - I thought they'd stitch this up)
Branch is now meeting Our branch hadn't been meeting for years - but they've started having
meetings now with all the influx of new members. They're not regular but it's a good start. We'll
have to see how it goes.
Political discussion - meeting on 'Whats been good about Labour?' with guest speaker * Topic for
April is Immigration.
Pleased with Campaigning Focused on the most important thing: winning elections and winning
the referendum to remain in the EU, and that's the way it should be.
Roles and training Campaigns co ordinator for CLP - had training on contact creator IT programme
to target voters * On panel for County Councillor for May 2016 elections.

And what's not so great.

(X indicates several instances of similar comments were received)
Communication
Meeting notices not being sent out - examples for Branches, CLPs and Execs XX * A lot of
information by email about campaign activities - but often with short notice * Communication
breakdown over leafletting arrangements * Problems with email distribution - use of Nation Builder
and Mailchimp, spam deterrents blocking bulk email sending. X * Membership lists are jealously
guarded. * Distinct impression (with some evidence) of a reluctance to contact new members. * No
response from Chair to questions/ suggestions (par for the course) and offers of help X * At both
my first Branch meeting and at CLP the comment was made that officers were finding it difficult to
keep with the surge in membership.

Attendance and Quorum

Quorum set too high to enable quorate meetings * Meeting with 33 people in attendance from 3
branches which had combined was abandoned as inquorate yet no formal business requiring a vote
was on the agenda.

Too much focus on getting out on the 'doorstep'

My impression is that many LP branches will be going out to new members to try and get them
involved in the local elections. I have to say, personally, after joining during Jeremy's campaign, if
that was to be the first time I was to be contacted by my branch I'd be telling them to sling their
hook. * Chair of CLP says why do you need meetings -get out canvassing, as its all about
electioneering. X

Officer Roles
Political Education Officers - i) dismal experience, suggestions ignored, rejected or changed out of all
recognition. No communication with other Exec members, no collaboration. ii) suggestions accepted
but barriers to implementation funding + lack of support

Conduct of Meetings, Procedure and Attitudes

Branch meetings 'top-down' approach is off-putting * Bureaucratic, procedural 'rule book' resistance to suggestions X * Resistance to accepting resolutions Where would we send it? * Not clear
how we can have a direct influence upon LP policies, what the procedure is for resolutions, how many
voting delegates the branch can send to the CLP etc. X * I've been a member for 5 years and I still
don't know in detail how formal decisions are taken within the CLP, nor do I know where to find this
information. Ditto for Regional Conference.
Branch difficult to contact no meeting until 6 months after we joined and that was after a lot of
pestering. * Suggestions for getting new members together rejected by long-term Cllr (Corbyn
supporter) * CLP bespoke rules - allows for resolutions brought by individuals to go to exec for a
vote but not to be considered beyond this at an all member meeting * MP's office has someone in
every Branch reporting what was said and dominates the Local Campaign Forum * Culture of ultra
MP loyalty. * Paranoia after the leadership election. * Membership more than doubled but MP and
party hierarchy (predominantly) are staunch Blairites.
Lengthy accounts of breathtaking examples of manipulation and obstruction * Unimaginative, rigid
thinking and central control. Undemocratic.
Internal democracy: I was very surprised that when we elect positions in our CLP (conference
delegates or CLP officers) we do so without hustings and simply proceed to a vote with no other
information than the candidates' names and their reputations...very off-putting for new members
either standing or voting! I'm also surprised we elect by FPTP. And then I learn that our CLP is an
example in the area of good practice and highly politicised discussions!
Barriers to engagement - lack of awareness amongst members of ways to influence. * For a new or
newly involved member there is no help in knowing who's who nor in understanding the rules *
Asked for a list of GC members in the CLP and was told there wasn't one! * Discussion of Momentum closed down * Branch Chair most reluctant to implement policy of holding 6 political discussions
each year. * A general issue, familiar to all, is the general resistance to discussing politics and policies
in Labour spaces.

Membersnet
Webinar Training Messages too simplistic - asked about more in depth economic policy we were
advised to say on the doorstep that we would get somebody else to get back to them!
Lack of basic information I've not been able to find anything on membersnet about how the
party works, how to get involved, it's all just about electioneering. Of course winning elections is crucial but there's no understanding of how to engage people.

Suggestions made by members

Offer to facilitate a small-group discussion, with role playing/devil's advocacy.
Young members keen to set up Young Labour Group. How to do this. (Conservative Future have a
local group!)
Seek feedback on best evening for meetings.
Use Facebook to speed up and facilitate communications and share information
Online training a positive option but should explain and discuss more in-depth policies
Priority should be political organisation from branch level upwards
No response to offer to Branch Chair and CLP Sec offering to help contact and engage new members.

March 2016

Red Labour/Momentum Tyne & Wear and Wider Region