Is the Labour Leadership Election Flawed?

As the time period to sign-up for to vote for the next leader of the Labour Party has elapsed, there are several calls for the election to be called off on the basis that the election has been infiltrated by members of other parties.

However that isn't the case.

The infiltration comes from within the Labour Party itself - not from the right; not from the far-left; not from specific members - but from the founding members, in the form of the trade unions.

Unison, which is the UK's third largest trade union, has strong associations with the Labour Party, and all of the members of the said Trade Union are eligible to sign-up in the leadership election, as so called "Affiliated Members". Unison's General Secretary Dave Prentis, who has held this post since 2001, wrote to all of Unison's members today, urging them to vote for Corbyn. He claims Jeremy Corbyn spoke up for the low paid workers Unison represents: "he talks our language.. his language is the language of hope".

However, the large number of "Affiliated Members" that have been signed-up from Trade Unions is some 90,000 voters - a considerable number. If we assume the majority of these members will vote exclusively for Corbyn, the assumption would be corrupt, because out of these members, a small minority may well not be staunch Labour supporters. They could be on the complete opposite end of the political spectrum.

If we annex the Trade Union members out of the membership election, the question is: would the election be fairer and a better representation of the Labour electorate?

To resurrect the "anti-Trade Union" rhetoric from the 2010 election (which I understand was conducted under a different system), the member the Trade Unions unanimously elected - Ed Miliband - brought Labour to a large defeat at the General Election in May of this year. This was the un-disputed result of the Trade Unions' support for the 'leftist' candidate; in this case, this candidate is Jeremy Corbyn.

Is the election flawed?

To a certain extent, yes - as members who do not have to show their alliance to Labour have been allowed to vote, and can compromise the future of the Labour Party for years to come. However, to stick to a strictly democratic approach, surely anyone, regardless of political alliance, should be able to vote.

By: Patrick Murray, Labour Supporter, 13 years of age.