Jon Cruddas, Labour MP for Dagenham & Rainham, has called for party members and the unions to be "formally consulted" over any deal with the Liberal Democrats.
Jon Cruddas, Labour MP for Dagenham and Rainham, has called for party members and the unions to be “formally consulted” over any deal with the Liberal Democrats, that any deal should have the “full agreement” of the party.
He has just released a statement saying:
“I welcome any discussions about working together for the good of the country. To ensure any agreement is stable and strong, the involvement of the Labour Party should be subject to the full agreement of the Labour Party.
“The Parliamentary Party, the NEC, and the affiliated trade unions should be formally consulted on the terms of any talks undertaken by the Prime Minister and Cabinet.”
Cruddas stood for the deputy leadership of the party three years ago; there is widespread speculation he may stand for it again this year, in a possible “dream team” deal with David Miliband.
14 Responses to “Cruddas: Party members should be consulted over any deal”
unseen
How can Cruddas run as Deputy-Leader? Harriet Harman has made it clear that there isn’t a vacancy.
Shamik Das
@unseen, she did indeed say that here – http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/8674027.stm – but were she to not to remain as deputy leader for the long term…
Billy Blofeld
Lord Mandelson runs the Labour party. Who does this Cruddas creature think he is?
“full agreement of the Labour Party”……… Pffftttt!!! Tony and Alastair ran things, until Gordon and Ed took over. Now Peter makes all decisions now that Gordon is incapacitated.
If you are going to be taken seriously as a leadership candidate Cruddas, you are going to need backing from either Unite or Lord Mandelson. Sitting on the sidelines carping on about the rest of the Labour party ain’t gonna help you sunshine.
Asking the opinions of the Labour Party is the old democratic way of doing things. This is now a post-democratic world. A modern leader needs to be able to run the country, irrespective of the views of the people. How would we be able to start wars if we wasted time asking other peoples opinion on things?
No gold at the end of the rainbow | Left Foot Forward
[…] Jon Cruddas has wisely demanded a process for consultation with the broad Labour party. This would be an similar process to the Lib Dems’ “triple […]
Liz McShane
Billy Bloefield.. – if my memory is correct, Cruddas came third in the Deputy Leadership elections in 2008 & gained the highest proportion of votes in the first round so I wouldn’t underestimate his importance or growing influence within the Party.