Miliband Goes For His Clause 4 Moment

Ed Miliband is set to try to implement the first major change to Labour's founding principles for 17 years at this year's party conference.












In a move with strong echoes of Tony Blair's Clause Four campaign, when he scrapped the party's commitment to nationalising industry, Mr Miliband will insert a clause that brands Labour "a force for social justice".

Early reports of the document suggest there will also be a subtle but potentially important change in the party's organisational structure – Clause One.

Instead of aiming "to organise and maintain in parliament and in the country a political Labour party", the party will "bring together members and supporters who share its values to develop policies, make communities stronger through collective action and support, and promote the election of Labour representatives at all levels of the democratic process".

While the change sounds bureaucratic, it could herald wide-ranging alteration to the way the party operates. Mr Miliband hopes to introduce new categories of members, salvage Labour's economic prospects and encourage community organising.

The idea, originally proposed by Peter Hain, chair of the national policy forum, could see a registered supporters network bring in people who are non-partymembers who are willing to work on single-issue campaigns, such as local service cuts.

It could also ensure MPs demonstrate engagement with constituents via their candidate contract and trigger a wave of community campaign training.

Members of the public could also register as supporters, rather than members, and have a say in choosing party leaders. Such a move would replicate David Cameron's moves towards local primaries, by giving non-party supporters a say in which candidates are selected.

The proposals are particularly interesting, given that David Miliband had planned to reword Clause One if he became party leader.

They could anger union supporters, however, given they are already wary of the new Labour leader after he mooted plans to reduce their voting influence at party conferences.

Student Leaders Urge University Principles To Restrict Fees

Student leaders have written an open letter to Scotland's university principals urging them to restrict fees to students from the rest of the UK.









NUS Scotland has appealed for a minimal increase, with fee waivers for the least well-off students.

Scottish students studying at home do not pay tuition fees.

But students from other parts of the UK are charged about £1,800 a year with that potentially increasing to £9,000 a year from 2012.

Scotland's National Union of Students has appealed for a minimal rise, with fee waivers for the least well-off.

NUS Scotland President, Robin Parker, said: "We are calling on principals to keep fee rises as low as possible in order to protect access, and I am sure that students will come down hard on any principal who decides to make their degrees more expensive than a degree in England.

"Under the new system Scottish student numbers are protected no matter what happens to demand from the students from the rest of the UK.

"We need to send the message to prospective students and their families in the rest of the UK that Scottish universities are open for business to them, and that their value is seen in academic terms, not in terms of the pound signs hanging over their heads."

"We need to send the message to prospective students and their families in the rest of the UK that Scottish universities are open for business"

Robin Parker NUS Scotland

A spokeswoman for the Scottish government said: "Scottish universities have already made clear that they intend to offer a range of bursaries and scholarships to make sure Scottish higher education remains accessible to learners from diverse backgrounds across the UK."

Alastair Sim, from Universities Scotland, said that "holding to the status quo" as fees go up to £9,000 in England would have been "catastrophic for Scotland".

He added: "No change would have meant Scottish universities become the cheap option for students looking to avoid high fees elsewhere which would have put tremendous pressure on places for Scottish students at Scottish universities.

"Scotland's universities want to continue to welcome students that live across the rest of the UK and will be sensitive to this, and other factors, in setting their fees."