Brown says party members must shape policy

Gordon Brown will promise Labour members more influence over government policy in an attempt to halt a decline in membership and revive the flagging morale of activists who have stuck with the party.

Labour membership has slumped from more than 400,000 in 1997 to fewer than 200,000, with many members leaving in protest at Tony Blair's decision to take Britain to war in Iraq. The haemorrhage has added to a cash crisis in the party, which is more than £20m in the red.

Related articles

• Simon Carr: Let's have a poet for deputy leader
• Search the news archive for more stories

In the next few weeks, Mr Brown will unveil a package of party reforms which will impose a "duty" on the leadership to give members a say over government policy. In return, constituency parties will have a similar "duty" to form closer links with local community groups and involve non-Labour members in their policy discussions.

Speaking to young Labour members at a leadership hustings in Oxford yesterday, the incoming prime minister said: "We need a 21st-century party to meet 21st-century challenges. That requires us to involve and engage ourselves in all our communities and also to consult the membership and make them fully involved in making policy in the future."

He said his reform plans would be "about involvement and engagement, not returning to the old ways but moving forward to new ways of making decisions in the interest of the country."

He acknowledged that many grassroots activists felt they have little influence over the Government's decisions. "We need the party membership to be valued more in the making of policy in the future," he said.

Mr Brown said all 600 constituency parties should hold a policy forum debate with local people about the contents of the manifesto on which Labour would fight the next general election. "We are not in close enough contact in most areas with our communities as we should be," he said. "We have got to be a network that is in touch with every different organisation in our own area, and listen to what they say."

The Chancellor said that only 1 per cent of the public were members of political parties today, whereas 50 years ago it was 7 per cent.

Harriet Harman, a candidate in Labour's deputy leadership election, said the party should discuss the levels of taxation as part of a debate on the gap between rich and poor. She is proposing a "wealth commission" to consider the issue. She stopped short of proposing a 50p in the pound top rate of tax on high earners but said taxes had to form part of the debate about inequality in Britain.

Ms Harman, a Justice minister, criticised the United States over allegations that airports and bases in Britain had been used for so-called "torture flights". She said the Government should seek changes to the Chicago Convention, which ensures that signatories are told if VIPs or hazardous substances are being flown in or out of the country, but not prisoners. "We don't want to be party to American activity in breach of human rights," she said.

Peter Hain, another contender for the deputy leadership, accused the Home Secretary, John Reid, of "fanning" a cabinet row over police "stop and question" powers. Last week, Mr Reid accused Mr Hain of opposing plans that he himself had proposed to boost his deputy leadership campaign.

Mr Hain said yesterday that Mr Reid's criticism was "water off a duck's back," adding: "I don't believe in macho posturing on law and order and terrorism."

Last night Mr Hain called for Labour to turn its guns on the Liberal Democrats to win back progressive voters. "I believe attack is the best form of defence," he said.

"If elected deputy leader, I'll launch an aggressive strategy to win back the ground we lost last time and thereby rebuild the progressive coalition."