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‘Prioritise empowering local members over personality politics,’ urges Your Party member

Ahead of the Your Party conference (29-30 November), we spoke to a few local Your Party groups about how things have been going and their hopes for the conference and beyond. Watch this space for more #YourPartyLocal articles in the coming days.

Emma Jayne Park organises with Your Party Glasgow. And she told the Canary about the importance of regional autonomy and prioritising member empowerment over “personality politics”. Speaking in a personal capacity about her hopes for the conference, she said:

I want to see socialist values clearly written into policy, which means ensuring that power is held within our grassroots communities – empowering local members to make decisions that affect their lives, prioritising their needs and voices in the party over top-down leadership models and personality politics.

She added that:

Grassroots organisers know how to do a lot with very little, so for me, the party’s power has to be based with them, not concentrated at the top.

In order to do this, she hopes the party will officially set up branches quickly after conference, “giving access to member data and, importantly, membership subscription funds”.

“Scottish policy decisions must be made by Scottish members”

Speaking specifically about Scotland, Park pointed out that:

A key concern that came up during the Regional Assemblies last week, while reflecting on Your Party’s Founding Documents, is that Scotland needs real autonomy. Much of the party’s current setup hasn’t fully recognised the urgency of the Holyrood Election next year, and this is reinforcing scepticism among some members. The answer is to give more decision-making power to regional branches so local organisers can act quickly and respond to local priorities, and Scottish policy decisions must be made by Scottish members, not by England-based leadership.

Locally, she said:

Volunteer organisers are already planning a mix of activities: community outreach, practical support projects, and skill-sharing initiatives… At this stage, we’re mapping and trying to get involved with what already exists so we can add capacity to the amazing work happening across the city, rather than reinventing the wheel. A new kind of politics means collaboration over competition.

The focus is on demonstrating what a locally driven, inclusive approach to politics can achieve: building trust and, over time, encouraging people who might not see themselves as leaders – but who have the confidence of their communities – to consider standing for election in the future.

Showing people immediately that Your Party does things differently will be key ahead of Holyrood elections next year, she stressed.

Talking about the upcoming elections, she asserted:

It’s important to remember that the Scottish Greens are not the same as the Greens in England and Wales…

The Scottish Greens have voted against opening discussions with Your Party about cooperation or electoral pacts, which seems to reflect a desire for power rather than a focus on meaningful change for working class people.

I think people who feel let down by politics are tired of parties that put ambition above the needs of communities.

‘The energy in Your Party Glasgow is really remarkable’

Despite not having funding, data, or a formal branch structure, Park explained that:

In Glasgow, we’re lucky to have a really active group of volunteers, many of whom have experience in community organising, campaigning, running events and party politics. The group came together to host an informal meeting in early September that over 200 people attended, inspired by Your Party’s call for a new kind of politics, and things haven’t slowed down since…

The energy in the group is really remarkable given the challenges we’ve witnessed at the top of the party –  all volunteers bring a lot of commitment and creativity. People are involved in lots of different ways – from attending meetings and planning events to building in their local area and undertaking practical tasks.

And changing the way politics works is a key focus. As she stressed:

We want everyone in the group to have autonomy while working towards shared goals. We hope to build a political culture where the decision-making rooms reflect the diversity of our communities – this is hard after years of exclusion and traditional structures that leave many people to fall through the cracks.

Part of building trust, she said, is to emphasise that “communities need more than just election campaigns”. They also “need warm spaces, community groups, and social connections”. And she hopes that, following the conference, Your Party will help to empower local members with the tools they need to bring that to life.

This is a message you can hear throughout the UK, that the way we do politics right now needs to change. And Your Party members hope the new left party will become the force to shake things up and do things differently.

Your Party Glasgow assembly

Featured image via Unsplash/Artur Kraft

By Ed Sykes

This post was originally published on Canary.