Ray Collins, Labour’s new general secretary, outlines the aims and philosophy he brings to the post
LAST week, I was elected by the party’s National Executive Committee to serve as Labour’s new general secretary, drawing on my experience as assistant general secretary of Unite, Labour’s largest affiliated trade union. There are a few matters I need to conclude in that role, but over the next weeks I will be working closely with the leader as general secretary-designate and I will be fully in post by the annual conference in September.
It is a role I take up at a difficult time for the party, but an historic one, too. Never before has Labour won three straight general election victories – a feat the Tories have beaten only once since the Second World War. Eleven years in government is a long time and inevitably presents us with fresh challenges. But I do not doubt that the next election can be won, if we pull together as the only truly progressive party in British politics.
The loss of the London mayoralty and council seats up and down the country were a great blow. We are down in the opinion polls, but those same polls show the electorate is not yet convinced by David Cameron. Only 32 per cent of the public say they know enough about what a Cameron government would do in power; only 40 per cent think the Tories are ready for government and only 35 per cent think a Conservative government would handle Britain’s problems better than Labour. We have a strong, experienced leader; an untested opposition, divided after David Davis’ resignation; and we share the values and aspirations of the majority of the British people.
All this gives me much motivation for the fight ahead, but I am under no illusions as to the scale of the challenge, nor do I want party members to be. Since 1997, we have lived from election to election and, while this has served us well at the ballot box, it has now caught up with us. The party’s finances are in a parlous state and our numbers of field organisers correspondingly low. We need to refocus on the longer term, spending money where it needs to be spent to ensure victory at the next election, but also building an organisation that will be fit for its democratic and campaigning purposes for the next ten years at least.
At the Transport and General Workers’ Union, I helped to turn around a deficit of £14 million with a decisive financial strategy against which progress could be clearly measured. It is my intention to do the same at the Labour Party. But this task cannot be mine alone. The NEC consists of elected representatives of the party. They are accountable to the members and affiliates and, in turn, I will be accountable to them. Under my general secretaryship, there will be no question of important decisions – on the finances or anything else – being taken behind the backs of the NEC. Our members expect financial probity from us and I will ensure that they get it.
Yet given our financial situation, we must acknowledge that there can be no prospect of extensive recruitment prior to the next local, European and general elections and so, with fewer staff in place, we must rebuild and retrain our activist base. Modern campaigning methods are essential, but so, too, are members knocking on doors and speaking up for Labour in workplaces. We have a good story to tell on those doorsteps: massive investment in social housing; family-friendly rights that benefit millions of working parents; action on debt in the developing world; new hospitals and schools throughout the country. I also know that most members did not join the Labour Party simply to be a fan club for the government, endlessly reciting Labour achievements. Like me, they also joined the party to influence what that government did, what was happening in their community and the world at large.
Our members are the lifeblood of our party, and we cannot win the next election without committed activists who feel they have a stake in the Government and its manifesto. I think I will find little disagreement among Tribune readers when I state that Partnership in Power is not currently engaging our members as it should. Make no mistake, I spent too long in smoke-filled rooms, chopping up bits of paper, to harbour any nostalgia for those days.
I was a member of the National Policy Forum at the birth of Partnership in Power. I believe it has allowed us to think collectively and in a more rational and consensual way about policy. But I warned many of the strongest advocates for the process in the beginning that they must honour its outcomes even if it did not produce the results they wanted. Unfortunately that warning fell upon deaf ears, with the result that Partnership in Power does not reflect the differing strands of opinion in our party. The surest way to re-engage with our members is to make this dialogue credible, so I want to invest at all levels of Partnership in Power, ensuring constituency parties and union members participate fully and that their contributions result in meaningful outcomes.
Just as with membership engagement, we cannot divorce the quest for greater diversity from our electoral goals. It is not a frivolous add-on to say that we must look like the communities that we represent and it is no coincidence that 1997, with the large numbers of women selected through all-women shortlists, was the first time Labour won a majority of women’s votes. We need more women MPs, just as we need more black and Asian MPs. As general secretary, I intend to make the equalities agenda my personal responsibility. Because it is right. And because we will not win elections without it.
Finally, I want to say this: I joined the Labour Party at the age of 15, motivated by a powerful sense of injustice after my mother was evicted from the house tied to my father’s job, just weeks after his death. From the help I was later given by the T&G to enable me to go to university to the civil partnership I entered into in 2005 as a result of our Government’s legislation, so much in my life would not have been possible without the achievements of a movement dedicated to the principles of equality, justice and opportunity. I am proud to serve my party as general secretary, and in the months ahead I want to draw on the talents of all Labour members as we work together to win the next election and make our party fit for its democratic and campaigning goals for the next 10 years at least.
