Labour manifesto: Top secret Clause V meeting will be a pivotal moment in Sir Keir Starmer’s election campaign
It’s a meeting that’s so top secret that those attending – at a secret location – are ordered to surrender their mobile phone and any other electronic devices when they arrive.
They’re given numbered copies of the agenda, thick bundles which are then collected from them at the end of the meeting. Security is extremely tight. Nothing is left to chance.
No, this is not a meeting of spooks and generals to plot the nation’s secret strategy for going to war. At least not a real war. And those participating are not members of the government. Yet.
This is Labour’s “Clause V” meeting, attended by Sir Keir Starmer and his shadow cabinet, senior backbench MPs, top trade union leaders and members of the party’s national executive.
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And it’s happening this Friday, with just one huge item on the agenda: agreeing the manifesto that Sir Keir is expected to present to the country on 13 June, three weeks before polling day.
The manifesto will be based on Sir Keir’s five “missions” launched last year – on the economy, the NHS, crime, climate change and education. Labour is declaring war – on the Tories.
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Friday’s meeting is a far cry from the smoke-filled rooms and beer and sandwiches of the Labour and trade union folklore of yesteryear. These days it’s strictly mineral water and even vaping is banned.
About 80 people in all will be attending, making the task of keeping the contents of the manifesto under wraps a nightmare. And security will be tighter than ever before after the 2017 manifesto leaked.
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Labour’s shadow cabinet members, totalling 31, are pretty well known these days and include established figures like Angela Rayner, Rachel Reeves, Yvette Cooper and Ed Miliband.
Then there are the rising stars like Wes Streeting, Bridget Phillipson, Peter Kyle and Shabana Mahmood and Blair/Brown-era veterans like Pat McFadden, Hilary Benn and John Healey.
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Other attendees on Friday will include the parliamentary Labour party chairman John Cryer, the general secretaries of the 11 unions affiliated to the party and the 40 or so members of the national executive, the NEC.
The NEC is dominated by the unions, which have 11 places. Local parties have nine, plus two councillors, and veteran ex-ministers Sir George Howarth, Dame Margaret Beckett and Dame Angela Eagle are also members.
All of which makes the Clause V meeting – called Clause V because it’s the section of the party rulebook that outlines the policy making process – pretty unwieldy, though it’s likely the manifesto has already been stitched up by Starmer allies before the meeting.
But it’s from the leaders of the big unions that Sir Keir is likely to face the toughest opposition on Friday. Unions are demanding no backtracking on workers’ rights and are fighting a proposed ban on North Sea oil and gas drilling.
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Sir Keir’s union critics include the no-nonsense Sharon Graham of Unite and left-wingers Matt Wrack of the Fire Brigades Union, Mick Whelan of the train drivers’ union Aslef and Dave Ward of the Communication Workers Union.
Writing in The Guardian this week, Ms Graham declared: “I make no apology for holding Labour’s feet to the fire on workers’ rights – no matter how uncomfortable it might make some or what criticism is laid at my door.
“Of course I want a Labour government, but that doesn’t mean I will sit on the sidelines and applaud while it caves in to the business lobby and rows back on its commitments.
“The Labour leadership’s penchant for reneging on promises has been a theme of its time in opposition.”
And Mr Wrack, currently TUC president, said on Wednesday looking ahead to Friday’s meeting: “We will want to hold an incoming Labour government to account on what’s in that manifesto.”
And warning Sir Keir on workers’ rights, he said: “I don’t expect him to backtrack, it’s a vote winner and it will substantially improve the lives of millions of people.”
The Clause V meeting is expected to start at midday on Friday. It’s a pivotal moment in Labour’s election campaign. High noon, in fact.
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Angela Rayner promises flagship workers’ law next month as she pledges ‘things can get better’
Angela Rayner has promised to bring Labour’s flagship workers’ rights bill to parliament next month as she told her party’s conference: “Things can get better if we make the right choices.”
The government has faced criticism in recent weeks over its pessimistic messaging around the economy, with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer warning October’s Budget would be “painful” in order to deal with the £22bn “black hole” he claims was left by the Conservatives.
But while his deputy said the party “can’t wish our problems away”, she said “hope won” when Labour achieved its landslide at the last election, adding: “Change has begun.”
Politics live: Rayner speaks at Labour conference
Speaking on the conference floor on the first full day of Labour’s annual gathering, Ms Rayner said: “Let me be blunt. We can’t wish our problems away. We have to face them. That’s the difference between opposition and government.
“But… things can get better if we make the right choices. Sustained economic growth is the only way to improve the lives of working people, and we’re fixing the foundations to put Britain back on the path to growth. No more talking, but doing.”
The deputy prime minister reiterated her party’s plans to improve renters’ rights, including ending no-fault evictions “for good”, as well as promising a “devolution revolution” in the north of England, and the “biggest boost to social and affordable housing in a generation”.
But some of the biggest cheers from delegates came over her long-trailed plan to increase workers’ rights across the country, with her promising to bring the Employment Rights Bill to the Commons in October.
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Concerns have been raised over the legislation by some in the business community, with an Institute of Directors’ survey earlier this month citing the bill as a reason for pessimism among firms who fear the impact on their operations.
But the government has sought to play down any divide, and held several roundtables with company leaders in recent weeks to allay their fears.
Championing the bill, Ms Rayner said: “They said we couldn’t do it. Some tried to stop it in its tracks. But after years of opposition, we are on the verge of historic legislation to make work more secure, make it more family friendly, go further and faster to close the gender pay gap, ensure rights are enforced and trade unions are strengthened.
“That means repealing the Tories’ anti-worker laws and new rights for union reps too. A genuine living wage and sick pay for the lowest earners, banning exploitative zero-hour contracts and unpaid internships, ending fire and rehire. And we will bring in basic rights from day one on the job.
“This is our plan to make work pay, and it’s coming to a workplace near you.”
Concluding her speech, the deputy prime minister said: “On 4 July, the people entrusted us with the task of change and hope won. Now is our moment, not just to say, but to do.
“Labour governments of the past took on this same challenge at a time when Britain desperately needed change. They delivered a better Britain when the odds were stacked against them.
“And that is exactly what this Labour government must deliver once again. So conference, let’s get on with it.”
Angela Rayner will set out measures to protect renters from fire safety defects, damp and mould in her speech at the Labour Party conference.
The deputy prime minister, who is also the housing secretary, will commit to “building homes fit for the future” when she opens the party’s first annual gathering since winning the general election.
The package will include bringing forward a Remediation Acceleration Plan this autumn to speed up the removal of unsafe cladding on high-rise buildings.
Deadly cladding remains on more than half of all residential blocks of flats identified as at risk since the Grenfell fire in 2017.
The issue has come back into the spotlight following the conclusion of the inquiry into the tragedy, which found that “systematic dishonesty” contributed to the blaze that killed 72 people.
The announcement of the acceleration plan was thin on detail, but the government said it would go “further and faster to fix unsafe cladding and make existing homes safe”.
Other measures Ms Rayner will announce on Sunday include consulting on a new “decent homes standard” for the social and private rented sectors, and a new law to make landlords respond to complaints about disrepair within legally binding timescales.
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These have already been announced as part of Labour’s Renters’ Rights Bill, which builds on long-awaited legislation that was promised by the Tories but ultimately shelved ahead of the general election.
The law regarding repairs will be named after two-year-old Awaab Ishak, who died as a direct result of exposure to mould in the social home his family rented in Rochdale, Greater Manchester.
Awaab Ishak
The Conservatives first proposed Awaab’s Law to cover the social rented sector, but Labour will extend it to cover the private sector in a move they say will help tenants in 746,000 homes with reported serious hazards secure faster repairs.
Commenting ahead of her speech, Ms Rayner, who has also pledged to build 1.5 million homes over the next five years, said: “Just because Britain isn’t working at the moment, it doesn’t mean it can’t be fixed.
“We will deliver for working people and, in doing so, show that politics can change lives.
“This Labour government is taking a wave of bold action to not only build the housing our country needs and boost social and affordable housing, but to ensure all homes are decent, safe, and warm.”
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‘All MPs take gifts and donations’
The speech comes as a donations row threatens to overshadow the optimistic mood of the party’s first conference while in government for 15 years.
The prime minister has come under scrutiny over the past week for the more than £100,000 worth of gifts he has accepted, including tickets to football matches, concerts and luxury clothes.
Following days of press coverage on the issue, it emerged on Friday that Sir Keir and his most senior ministers – Ms Rayner and Chancellor Rachel Reeves – will no longer accept donations to pay for clothes.
On Saturday, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy told Sky News that there had not been an undue influence in gifts accepted by her colleagues but “we don’t want the news and the commentary to be dominated by conversations about clothes”.
She defended the prime minister’s actions as being within the rules, saying that the taxpayer doesn’t fund these things “so MPs will always take donations, will always take gifts in kind”.
She added: “We expect our politicians to be well turned out, we expect them to be people who go out and represent us at different events and represent the country at different events and are clothed appropriately.
“But the point is that when we accept donations for that or for anything else, that we declare them and we’re open and transparent about them.”
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