ISSN 0951-8657 Published by Aurora Ltd, PO Box 1109, London N4 2UU. All rights reserved. Printed by Eastway Offset (TU all depts) TONY BLAIR hopes to get his proposals on restructuring the Labour Party through Brighton conference. He will try a mixture of post-election euphoria, sops to the unions and straight intimidation.
Partnership in Power would make the Labour government unaccountable to the wider movement. would be impossible for unions or CLPs to get critical motions to Labour Party The NEC would effectively be replaced by a new body, the Joint Policy Committee with an in-built majority for the Cabinet. Left MPs would be kept off the rump NEC Most policy discussion would be hived off to the National Policy Forum. This is an unrepresentative, unaccountable body on which unions would® have only 17 per cent of almost delegates — as against 50 per cent at Party conference.
This outright attack on democracy and the unions input into policy-making is designed to prevent the Labour government being reined in by the movement. Unions have been offered no favours - and should not make it easier for New Labour to attack them!
Tony Blair knows that his popu- now larity won't last. He wants to remove the channels of protest in advance. Some on the Left (or not so Leff) will push for a year's delay on the proposals. They will not improve with age and should be thrown out Confusion and intimidation heed to be faced down. Possible concessions to the unions on the minimum wage and union recognition should not be tråded for the right to influence policy in the future.