| Labour facing membership crisis |
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| Wednesday, 27 December 2006 | |
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He suggested data indicates Labour has lost the equivalent of 27,000 members a year since the start of the decade. "You are not going to resolve this from Westminster - you are not going to resolve this simply through edicts from the centre," Mr Cruddas said. "You need to build it from the bottom up. Activity on the streets, a local presence, continuously year-on-year and not just at election times." Ms Blears disputed Mr Cruddas's figures and said: "Our membership is broadly the same as other political parties, and not just in this country but around the world there is a lack of political engagement. "And I think that the process we're undertaking to involve the public should also help us to reinvigorate our party politics - something that desperately needs to be done."
Funding review Labour has said membership, which peaked at 405,000 after Tony Blair came to power in 1997, fell by 3,348 in 2005. This was the lowest reduction of its kind since records began in 1991. A review into political party funding is due to publish its recommendations in January. Labour recently confirmed it was facing "acute cash flow problems" with debts of £23.4m. BBC political correspondent Laura Kuenssberg said all the main political parties struggle to attract and keep members. Our correspondent said the fall in Labour membership had put the party finances under even more pressure.
Source: BBC    Readers have left 5 comments.
Kathy:
I wonder if Tony Blair is concerned about this news as he holidays in Miami with Robin Gibb (former Bee Gee) or perhaps he has gone there to, dare I say it, ask him for a donation to help keep the Labour Party afloat, seeing as how it is him and his policies that are the cause of people leaving in droves. Perhaps he could even ask Mr Bush for a donation in lieu of him working as his unpaid diplomat for the last five years. He could offer Bush an honorary Knighthood. Ooops, did I really think that?
Hazel Blears of course denies any such problem but then again she is one of those chosen few who follow and believe every word that leaves Blair's mouth. Listening to her on the news yesterday I thought she must have had a hearing problem as she did not answer one question which was put to her. Instead she reeled off that usual Labour 'clap trap' about how everything in the garden was rosy. God help us if she does become deputy leader, another question which she managed to avoid answering. I cannot believe that Blair's 'chosen few' can actually think that the people of this country believe their well rehearsed speeches. I wonder if they sit together on a morning in No. 10 repeating what must be said in response to a particular question because I, for one, can almost answer the questions asked to them by interviewers. They all speak the same words, probably because they have not got the sense to vary them. I hope a lot more leave the Labour Party and I wonder if indeed Blair will continue to pay his contributions once he finally gets away. Who really wants to support a sinking ship and he will be the Captain who leaves first.
(1)
2006-12-27 09:59:55
Taalib Shamsuddin:
Tony Blair and other pro-war MPs are the very reason why more Muslims should join the Labour Party.
Only by taking an active part in shaping policy and selecting candidates can Muslims start being decision makers rather than cry babies. Case in point, constituency boundary changes mean that Hazel Blears MP, who voted for the war, has to be reselected by a vote of a new constituency in Salford. With only about 300 Labour Party members in any constituency (and dropping) where should Muslim energy be more effective? 1 of the 300 in the constituency ? 1 of the 70,000 voters on Election Day? or 1 of the 2 million on a march? The answer is self evident and running away is not the solution.
(2)
2006-12-28 13:28:45
Dan:
If Muslims join the Labour party, then they are giving the green light to these disgusting policies. The Iraq war is about the Mosul to Haifa pipeline and the partition of Iraq into 3 seperate, weaker states. That was decided a long time ago. War was going to happen whether Muslims agreed or not. The agenda is a "Greater Israel" from the Nile to the Euphrates. Many more Muslims will have to die for this under a false "war on terror".
(3)
2006-12-28 17:27:27
Kathy:
Taalib
Muslims joining the Labour Party will never help to shape policy, as you put it. Blair and his band of cronies listen to no one, not even those M.P's who have been in Parliament for years. Blair is becoming a dictator not a Prime Minister and the only people who are selected for cabinet posts are those with brown tongues who know only the words 'Yes sir'. New Labour is the biggest shambles in this country and the sooner Blair has gone, the sooner the old 'traditional' Labour M.P's may get the party back to the 'centre' and get rid of Tony's cronies who are about as right wing as one can get without admitting to being a BNP member.
(4)
2006-12-30 17:59:44
Taalib Shamsuddin:
Tony Blair has to go but Muslims by playing an active role in the Labour Party (even just by taking part in selection of candidates) can help make a big difference between good MPs and hence cabinet members and Prime Minister.
Also, and more importantly, party members can have vote in who will be the next Deputy Prime Minister and Prime Minister.
(5)
2007-01-03 09:45:47
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But Mr Cruddas insisted Labour would have no members by 2013 if the same rate of decline which began in 2000 continued.
