Engaging the energy of all

In Unite’s first contribution to this year’s Labour conference, Unite EC and Labour National Policy Forum member, Maggie Ryan, said at this time of re-building the party it was “absolutely vital” for the party to open “up that space for discussion in our National Policy Forum and other structures.”

She said, “I know that we have a leadership that is committed to doing that.

“We need democratic and representative structures that ensure those who have been members for many years, our tens of thousands of new members, our trade union members, our socialist society members are all engaged.”

Inclusivity was key. “As a woman who is a trade union activist and working in manufacturing I know the challenges involved, but how rewarding and beneficial it is when we open up our structures, and especially our women’s structures as wide as possible.

“The challenge is for us is to ensure that the energy of all those young people who were mobilised over the summer feed into our democratic structures and they are as representative as possible.

“Now that we have our new leader I’m looking forward to working with them to achieve these aims in the future,” concluded Maggie.