THE MILIBAND leadership of the Labour Party is to invite non-party members to vote for the party leader in future elections, in an attempt to further cut the power of the unions over the party.
Miliband’s ‘Refounding Labour’ plans will be voted on at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool on Sunday.
Miliband says that the project – headed by shadow cabinet member Peter Hain – will be the greatest shake-up of the party since it was founded by the trade unions in 1906.
At present, only MPs, MEPs, party members and members of an affiliated group, such as a trade union, can vote in leadership contests.
Miliband wants members of the public to be allowed to register as individual party supporters and to be given a vote as well.
He also wants them to have a formal role in policy formation and the power to address the floor at conference.
Miliband won the leadership of the party by a narrow margin last year, thanks to support from the unions, with his brother David the clear winner among MPs and party members, coming second.
Miliband is also proposing to scrap elections to the shadow cabinet and rewrite Clause One of Labour’s constitution which sets out the party’s purpose.
At present, it defines its role as being ‘to organise and maintain in Parliament and in the country a political Labour party’, but Miliband says it is ‘silent on our desire to be a force for change in local communities’.