Anger as housing motions ruled out at Labour conference » Housing » 24dash.com

Prime Minister Gordon Brown was today accused of "closing down debate" in the Labour Party after it was revealed that housing motions - amongst many others - have been ruled out of order at next week's annual conference.

Constituency parties, unions and some Labour MPs are expected to appeal to the party to re-instate many of the motions submitted for debate at the Bournemouth conference, which opens on Sunday.

It is understood that of 120 so-called contemporary motions submitted by constituency parties and unions, 96 were ruled out of order by the Conference Arrangements Committee at a meeting yesterday.

Labour MP Austin Mitchell (Great Grimsby) has written to union general secretaries urging them to use their influence to reinstate many of the motions, including those on housing.

Mr Mitchell said today it was "crazy" that motions on housing had been ruled out of order when the issue was such a hot topic.

Some of the motions ruled out of order called for support for the so-called "fourth option" of allowing local authorities to build more council housing, which Mr Mitchell said had the backing of many rank and file party members.

John McDonnell (Hayes and Harlington), said: "This closing down of debate within the Labour Party by Brown's imposition of such centralised control is cutting him off from the debates of party members and the concerns of the population at large.

"If Labour Party members are denied a say in this way, they will increasingly be asking: what is the point of going to conference or even of being a party member?"

Some party activists said today that the ruling out of so many motions showed the party's "control-freakery" still ruled.

A Labour spokesman said it was not unusual for a large number of contemporary motions to be ruled out of order.

"There is a criteria for what contemporary motions are. It is true that a lot did not meet that criteria."

The spokesman said there were still motions on housing on the agenda.

Labour's executive yesterday endorsed changes to the way issues are dealt with at the annual conference in a move aimed at avoiding defeats for the party leadership.

Delegates will now not be able to vote on contemporary motions put forward by unions and constituencies. They will instead be referred to Labour's policy forum.

Tony Blair suffered a number of defeats in recent years when contemporary motions put forward by trade unions were backed by delegates.

A party spokesman said later that motions on Trident and Iraq had also been ruled out of order.

But he added that there would still be an opportunity to discuss the two topics during the defence debate.

Under party rules, motions which could have been dealt with by the policy forum by the end of July are ruled out of order.

The spokesman pointed out that union officials and MPs sit on the Conference Arrangements Committee.

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