Is Labour democratic?

It is often said that parties are more democratic than pressure groups because their leadership is elected. But given that the new Labour leader Ed Miliband failed to garner most votes from party members or MPs and essentially won because he had the union vote, you have to wonder about the true state of internal democracy in the Labour Party.

Indeed, former Deputy PM John Prescott yesterday claimed that it was time for a review of the way the party elects senior party figures. According to the Guardian:

“Prescott said: “There have been many different complaints about the way elections work in the party, including multiple chances to vote, whether unions give candidates an equal chance, and the whole nomination process. I don’t want the unions out of Labour elections, and we had one member one vote for the leadership. But we need to look at things – like why it is possible to have 12 different votes in the election?

“We started the reforms under John Smith by introducing one member one vote for the election of MPs, and I think with a new generation we now need to look at the rules again and see what needs to be changed.”

He highlighted the way unions still used a bloc vote for some internal elections, such as that of party treasurer. The treasurer post is elected on the basis of 50% union and 50% constituencies.”

Perhaps it is time to look closely at going down the American route and having open primaries for parliamentary candidates as well as party leaders.