Thread by @therubykid

What the debates about when and how Labour should announce policy, and even what the policy should be, invariably leave out is the equally (arguably, more) fundamental question of how the policy is formulated.

https://twitter.com/labourlist/status/1433426421230157839

Corbyn’s leadership largely left intact the Blairite model of policy production: that it was something cooked up by specialists (SPADs, policy wonks, whoever) in LOTO or Shadow Ministers’ offices, and “announced” to the party and the public simultaneously.

There’d even be policy announcements out of the blue *at conference*, which the left had fought for years to empower. Failing to make a politically sovereign conference the place where policy was debated and agreed (and then acted on!) was a huge missed opportunity.

There’s no chance of winning the empowerment of conference under Starmer, who clearly detests and mistrusts a significant proportion of the party rank and file. But that’s the argument the left must make: policy as the product of democratic debate. It’s not just about “comms”.

Also, a minor coincidence, but the words “Fit for the Future” make me and any other London Underground station worker bristle; that was the name of the restructure that closed ticket offices and cut hundreds of jobs in 2016…