Exclusive: What Your Party insiders are saying

Your Party regional assembly in Norwich (Picture: Your Party)

A key figure in Your Party has revealed an undemocratic and sluggish vision for the founding of the new organisation.

Karie Murphy spoke at a special meeting of Your Party insiders on Thursday night on the organisation’s founding documents. They are being discussed at regional assemblies in the run up to the conference to be held at the end of this month.  

Murphy previously worked in Corbyn’s office when he was Labour leader and remains a key ally.

Several people have been in touch with Socialist Worker about the meeting. We are publishing extracts from the AI minutes of the meeting because we believe this information should be available to the whole movement.

Your Party can fulfil its radical and insurgent potential—but not without a break from methods and habits of mind of Labourism.

Branches

Branches may not be set up until after March of next year—barely two months before council elections in England and the Scottish and Welsh parliamentary elections.

Two people asked when guidance for setting up official branches would be released. Murphy explained that “the guidance will come from the committee elected between the end of February and the start of March”.

If branches aren’t set up, how can members of Your Party discuss and organise a challenge at the elections next May?

And, more generally, how can there be grassroots democracy and participation and accountability for those at the top without democratic structures?

Anwarul Khan from left group Transform said a future Central Executive Committee of Your Party would have to “approve and rubber stamp branches”.

Conference

The meeting made regional assemblies and the founding conference sound more like a corporate consultation than mass democracy.

The minutes say, “It is not a policy conference. Its goal is to allow engagement, figure out legal obligations related to the constitution, and agree on standing orders or rules.”

Inacio Vieira “raised concerns about the lack of clear direction on how amendments would be integrated into the documents”.

In her response, Murphy said it was a “work in progress”.

The minutes say, “Amendments receiving 90 percent agreement at the assemblies (identified by facilitators) are considered consensus issues and the founding documents on the webpage will be updated almost immediately.

“Contentious issues will be debated at conference. The outcome will be determined by a vote of all party members.”

The raises more questions than answers. Does this mean an amendment has to receive 90 percent at one, several—or all—regional assemblies?

How is 90 percent support determined when there are no formal votes at the assemblies?

Under the present proposed structures, members can debate issues at the conference but won’t have the final say.

This would take place in an online One Member One Vote (Omov) ballot. Such a method sounds attractive—and borrows from the methods of Jean Luc Melenchon’s LFI in France or Podemos in the Spanish state.

But democracy is at its strongest when it’s a collective process where people exchange views and try to agree on the best way forward.

An online plebiscite removes that powerful collective aspect. And, in truth, makes it easier for the leadership to control the outcome and keep a handle on the process.

LFI, for instance, isn’t built around branches and doesn’t have policy making conference votes or members making key decisions. It’s framed around breaking with old-fashioned ways of doing things—in reality, it means Melenchon decides.

If Your Party isn’t to be a Labour Party mark II, the MPs cannot rule the roost and make the major decisions.

At present, as the minutes emphasise, “Political decisions are made by the Independent Alliance Group.”

There must be ways to hold Your Party representatives to account. Ayoub Khan, one of the independent MPs elected in July 2024, called for troops to be sent in against the Birmingham bin strike. If anyone in YP called for such action, there must be a way of removing them.

Dual membership

At the meeting, one person asked about the proposed ban on left parties in the draft constitution, such as the Socialist Workers Party (SWP).

“While serious political parties generally prohibit dual membership, Karie Murphy stated that contentious issues around specific affiliations will be debated at conference if assemblies show a groundswell of opinion,” the minutes say.

Murphy’s “personal preference” is to exclude groups such as the SWP.

Socialist Worker supporters have been part of building Your Party on the ground because we are committed to building a bigger left.

But we have also argued for a particular vision. A left that doesn’t just fight on the “bread and butter” issues but loudly and clearly says refugees and migrants are welcome and trans+ rights now. A left that seeks to build mass movements and working class struggle, which are key to winning change.

The founding process should be much more open and democratic—but socialists should still fight to shape what Your Party looks like.