One of the lessons learned from this conference is to share how the whole caboodle works amongst delegates before Conference. We'd had a very useful session with information about downloading the Labour Party app and other good things, but when the first day started, I was somewhat overwhelmed by the procedural points.
Things I didn't know, but learnt fast:
- You have to get your hands on the daily Conference Arrangements Committee report at the beginning of each day and then study it assiduously. It tells you which motions will be debated, details of any amendments, and gives a rough timetable. On the first day, they didn't seem to have printed enough copies, so they were gold dust ...
- Which other documents I need to have to hand. You need to be able to reference other documents, such as the National Policy Forum report, so that you can quickly check what's being referenced from the platform.
- What referencing back is. This was new. Conference can now "refer back" part of any NPF document. The procedure was explained in the first CAC report, but the information came late for any delegate like me who hadn't been to a regional meeting.
- How voting works. Some votes are hand votes. If these are inconclusive - as judged by the chair - a second vote is taken by CLP, unions, and other affiliates. If still not conclusive, a card vote is taken. Some votes are designated card votes from the outset, like the NEC rule changes. All this was new, but comprehensible. The worst thing for me was that the votes sometimes came well after the debates they referred to and came sometimes very suddenly. You had to watch you weren't just checking something with a neighbour and ending up by missing it.
- When you need to go to the ballot office: Votes for the various committes (at the women's conference: the CAC for that conference; at main conference: the priorities ballot and the election of NCC representatives) are not done by show of hand in the hall. These votes are done once per delegation and the designated delegate has to make sure to collect the ballot paper in time and hand it in later in the day.
Next conference I think some things will be different, so a lesson learned for me is that we have a short preparatory meeting for delegates next time round where we make sure everyone knows what's what from a procedural point of view.
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