North West Labour insists Blair listens

The North West Labour Party Regional Conference did not go well for Tony Blair. Many of the motions passed criticised or opposed the actions of the Labour leadership. Tony Dale, a member of the UNISON delegation to the conference, reports.

Benefit cuts prompted the loudest show of opposition. Conference unanimously called upon the Government "not to proceed with the withdrawal of the Lone Parent Premium in Income Support, and the Lone Parent Rate of Child Benefit". The motion passed also called for a review of welfare "to alleviating poverty, not cutting benefits to the poor". One delegate voiced concern that the benefit cuts would turn into "Labour's poll tax".

Motions on the unions called for:

• promised union recognition rights to be implemented "in the next session of Parliament".
• ballots on union recognition to require a simple majority of those voting.
• opposition to CBI attempts to limit recognition rights to bigger firms.
• opposition to "any proposal to weaken the link between Labour and the unions, or to prevent the unions playing their full role in the life of the Party at all levels".

The procedure for selecting Euro candidates attracted a number of motions. These were unfortunately remitted in favour of a Regional Executive statement. The desire for Labour's list (and priority order) to be decided by a ballot of all members was made explicit by speakers from the Regional Executive and delegates from the floor. The new procedure for electing Constituency representatives onto the National Policy Forum was heavily criticised.

Jack Straw's speech was interrupted by heckling from the relatives of those killed in the Hillsborough football disaster. The Conference called for the reopening of the enquiry. These demands won't go away until senior police chiefs responsible for the disaster, and the subsequent cover up, are brought to justice. On the final morning, workshops were held. The best attended was on welfare reform: everyone turned up to have a go at the Government over benefit cuts. Another workshop on Partnership in Power stated that Regional Conference would continue with resolutions and delegates from CLPs and affiliated organisations.

Most delegates seemed to oppose PiP but want to utilise the new PiP structures effectively. The discussions about the policy forums and PiP indicate big problems for the leadership with their flippant talk about democracy and accountability. Ian McCartney told Conference that Labour was a "party owned by the membership". The policy forums were promoted on the grounds they allowed the leadership to listen to ordinary members. PiP was sold as a two way listening process -- delegates complained that the leadership was breaking the deal by not listening on issues like benefit cuts. What happens when large numbers of policy forums oppose benefit cuts?

Opposition to the leadership was the dominating feature of the weekend. No one appeared prepared to defend the Blair project. There is definitely more life in the Party than one would believe from the media. The honeymoon is over: the leadership had better start listening to the membership or it will end up reaping the consequences.

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