12.05.2004

Stay or go?

Judging by the way delegates cheered attacks on Tony Blair and New Labour, it is quite possible that conference would have voted, albeit narrowly, to disaffiliate, as argued by three different regions. The FBU executive now has another month to manoeuvre, counterattack and turn that mood around.

The EC's 'Statement on restructuring the political work of the union' attempted to bridge the gap between staying affiliated to the Labour Party and taking account of the anger and mistrust of the FBU membership. The statement seems to open the door for supporting candidates outside the Labour Party - and could be interpreted as a way to democratise the political fund: "Many within the Labour Party, not only other unions, are deeply unhappy with this government. However, disillusion and anger at a Labour government is not the same as anger with the Labour Party … We wish to ensure disillusion should not lead to disengagement from the political process …"

Amongst other things, the leadership is recommending the union should:

♦ reduce its affiliation to £20,000, using the money freed up "for wider political education, campaigns and political work";

♦ allow members "more flexibility nationally and regionally to use the political fund in pursuit of the union's objectives";

♦ allow the political fund to be used to support "organisations whose policies and principles are supportive of this union". This may include organisations who stand in opposition to New Labour, "so long as they uphold policies and principles in line with those of the FBU".

However, the devil lies in the detail. All proposals to financially support non-Labour organisations or candidates would have to be presented to the EC to take a final decision. Of course, the rules of the Labour Party do not allow affiliates to financially support candidates other than its own. The RMT's expulsion for exactly this reason would undoubtedly serve as a useful precedent for the EC to deny any such requests.

Having foreseen this problem, the London region FBU put forward an amendment: "Regional committees shall not be required to refer such decisions to the EC before implementation." Only with this amendment accepted would the EC's statement make any sense in the real world - and come pretty close to a real democratisation of its political fund.