by Chris McLaughlin and René Lavanchy

Major changes to the way Labour policies are decided emerged from the party’s conference in Brighton. In the face of overwhelming union pressure, Gordon Brown was forced to climb down over his own reforms at the same time as Number 10 conceded defeat on new proposals which will usher in a dramatic shift of power to the grassroots membership.

The developments mean that delegates to the party conference will be given back the right to debate and vote on motions, a reversal of Mr Brown’s two-year experiment under which only “contemporary issues” were discussed without a vote.

More sweepingly, conference appears to have won the right for constituencies to elect directly their own members to the 55 reserved places on the National Policy Forum. The result of a conference vote on the issue was due to be announced after Tribune went to press.

But indications were that the rule change had been passed in the vote on Wednesday (September 30) after unions again stood out against intense pressure from Number 10 to withdraw the move. An emergency 7.30 am meeting of the party’s National Executive Committee, which was scheduled in order to head off the move ahead of the debate, was cancelled when the leadership acknowledged that they could not win.

The rule change is seen as a major step for internal democracy within the party and will allow every member a vote in the election, on a regional basis, of the constituency representatives on the NPF, which is Labour’s supreme policy-making body.

Until now, the seats were elected at conference, where this year there were only an estimated 150 constituency delegates and where critics claim the delegates can be heavily influenced by party officials.

Direct elections are designed to increase interest and accountability in the policy making process. The elections will be held at the same time as next year’s elections to the NEC in order to minimise postal costs.

During the conference, party officials were accused of issuing anonymous leaflets attacking the one-member-one-vote proposal as a device to allow the unions to take over the constituency section of the NPF.

As Tribune went to press, unions and left-wing activists were expecting to win a battle to get members of the NPF elected by a

one-member-one-vote (OMOV) ballot of constituency members.

Mr Brown strongly opposed the move, and the NEC called for changes to the policy making machine to be deferred until a full review after the election.

The new rule, which would take effect next year, could lead to Labour’s policy body being more likely to support left-wing policies. Supporters of the move have long complained that the current arrangement, where NPF members are elected at conference, leads to delegates being pressurised by party officials to vote for pro-leadership candidates.

Gary Heather, of Islington North CLP, supporting  OMOV, said: “What are the NEC afraid of? Are they afraid of democracy breaking out in the party? Are they afraid of good ideas?” NEC chair Cath Speight said they did not reject OMOV in principle, but that there should be a full review instead.