Last few days to have your say in the Labour leadership

By Luke Pollard, on Monday, September 6, 2010

If you want to have a say in who will be Labour’s next leader you only have a few more days to join the party to be eligible to vote in this year’s contest. The deadline for new members joining the party and being eligible to vote in the Leadership election is Wednesday, September 8.

After the sadness of losing such a good local MP in Linda Gilroy MP in May the Leadership election has seen some really positive debate at a local and national level about who should lead the party and a return to form for local morale. Unusually, some of this national debate has been taking place in Plymouth with both the Miliband brothers and Ed Balls having visited the city to woo Labour members. Shadow Health Secretary, Andy Burnham will be making the journey to Plymouth next week to speak to members. Only Diane Abbott has failed to visit us in Devon.

For many Devon Labour activists the peculiar actions and debates of Westminster Village can seem a million miles away from politics on the ground in our county. I’m pleased that this debate has allowed local members the chance to question the candidates for leadership. National politicians visiting us in Plymouth should not end with the conclusion of this contest either.

More members than ever before have joined the party and the memberships of the local Labour parties is up across the board. It is not just former members who are rejoining but young people engaging in politics for the first time, families joining en masse and retired people wanting to make a difference. Whilst losing government has few positive upsides this leadership contest has given Labour supporters a chance to be positive and look towards the future.

I was speaking recently to Alison Seabeck, Labour MP for Plymouth Moor View who remarked about the leadership contest: “This is the most important and closest leadership election that the party has had in decades. Since the leadership election started we’ve increased our party membership in Plymouth considerably. I’ve never seen so many people joining the party and really engaging with politics. It’s really encouraging.” And it really is.

From my own personal perspective there is a real sense that Labour needs to change to win again and that this leadership election could mark a departure from the Brown and Blair era. But with only a few days left for people to join Labour people in Devon could be missing out on influencing the outcome if they don’t join up by the deadline on Wednesday.

Don’t forget it costs only £1 if you’re under 27 to join the Labour Party and you’ll get a chance to shape the future of not only Labour but the way politics is going to be conducted in the coming years. If you’ve got a favourite for leadership, now is the time to join us and have your say.

• Both Luke and Alison Seabeck are supporting Ed Miliband for Leader.