Harriet Harman proposes rule to stop men-only Labour leadership

Deputy leader says she submitted proposal because women ‘are still a long way from being equal’ in the Labour party The deputy Labour leader, Harriet Harman, has proposed a rule change to ensure that the party’s “default position” of men filling the leader and deputy leader role comes to an end. Harman said she had submitted the proposal because women “are still a long way from [being] equal” in the party. She outlined the case in the Times as the Labour leader, Ed Miliband, decided to abolish elections to his shadow cabinet, leaving him free to appoint his own team. Miliband – who said during the leadership campaign that he wanted half the shadow cabinet to be women – also wants to see an end to gender quotas for posts. At present, a ballot paper is only valid if at least six votes for women are cast. Miliband’s aides said he would appoint a large number of women as a matter of course, and he is reportedly supportive of his deputy’s call that the rules be changed to ensure the party “doesn’t slip back” to a men-only leadership. Harman believes the proposed change would send a strong message to women voters. “An all-male leadership is not acceptable to the party of equality. A team is best when it is made up of men and women,” she said. Miliband is also seeking greater control over his team with plans to abolish elections to the shadow cabinet, ending a decades-long Labour tradition of Labour MPs deciding the makeup of the party’s frontbench. He will address Labour MPs about his proposals on Monday, and expects a secret ballot to be conducted among them. The proposal also has to formally be endorsed by the party conference in September. Aides said Miliband had taken the step to make his top team focus on the task of holding the government to account. They believe repeated internal elections make some shadow cabinet members as concerned about their popularity among their colleagues as about their impact on

Posted by on June 24, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.