National Policy Forum: Labour seeks to iron out policy disagreements

Labour's mixed fortunes in this week's by-elections have brought in to sharper focus underlying differences on policy.

The Labour leadership see their spectacular win in Selby and Ainsty, a former Tory stronghold, as a sign that trust is being rebuilt and an endorsement of its strategy of not promising more than it can deliver.

But some critics say the failure to take Uxbridge and South Ruislip suggests Labour's big national opinion poll lead has more to do with disillusionment with the government than enthusiasm for change.

Behind closed doors this weekend, there will be calls for the party to adopt more distinctive policies.

The Labour leadership has insisted that it won't make uncosted spending commitments ahead of the next general election.

And that it won't be afraid to make "hard choices".

But at a meeting of the party's policy-making body this weekend in Nottingham, they will be pushed to make more spending commitments.

The National Policy Forum consists of ordinary party members, representatives from the trade unions and members of the shadow cabinet.

And there are some issues where an alliance of major unions and party members will attempt to force change.

The provision of free school meals for all primary school children is a policy favoured across the Labour spectrum.

Last week, Labour's deputy leader Angela Rayner said that while she would "love" to give all kids free meals, "there isn't an endless supply of money".

She said that school breakfast clubs were the priority.

But the leadership has been under pressure - with the Labour-supporting Mirror newspaper and the National Education Union which does not have formal links to the party - mounting campaigns for free meals.

So there is a proposed change to a draft policy document which calls on the national party "to build on Labour in London and Wales" by providing free school meals for all primary school children.

This is an issue backed by the UK's largest union Unison.

The union, too, is posing a further policy challenge to the leadership - by attempting to insert a lifting of the two child limit in the benefits system.

The Policy Forum attempts to achieve consensus, with shadow cabinet members talking face-to-face with those who want to see the policy changed.

Should they fail to reach agreement it takes just over a third - 35% - of delegates who want to see a change to move the issue to the annual party conference, potentially highlighting internal divisions.

But I understand discussions have been held between party officials and Unison representatives to try to defuse any row.

The difficulty for the leadership is that their critics on these issues are not just the "usual suspects" on the party's left, so the pressure for change is greater.

And on the benefits system, former shadow cabinet minister Jon Trickett asked the House of Commons library to calculate how much it would cost to lift the current two child limit.

It suggested around £1.4bn.

Labour has allocated £2bn of the anticipated £3.2bn it will raise by taxing wealthy "non-doms". That potentially leaves almost enough to meet the cost of that change to the benefits system.

So the argument from some in Labour's ranks is not for uncosted policies - it is that more policies be agreed, and costed.

The Left-wing group Momentum is running a campaign to lobby delegates to back more radical policies.

These include rent controls. There may be a compromise which would allow regional mayors to impose them.

The group is also calling for the nationalisation of energy and water companies. It is a priority for Labour's biggest union funder, Unite, to bring energy into public ownership.

Momentum also wants a commitment to a £15 an hour minimum wage inscribed in Labour's official policy documents. They also want a commitment to reinstate the international development department, which has been folded into the foreign office, and to meet the aid target of 0.7% of GDP.

Some amendments - mostly, though not entirely, from supporters of the leadership - have been agreed even before this weekend's meeting gets under way.

These include making it clear a Labour government would scrap the Home Office's Rwanda policy, improve early years education and renationalise rail.

However, if the leadership is defeated on any issues it will have two get-out clauses.

First, the National Policy Forum draws up the Official Policy Programme. But this isn't the same as the manifesto.

There is a further meeting to agree that and some policies won't make the cut.

Second, there will be wording in the agreed policy documents which will say: "Labour's fiscal rules are non-negotiable.

"They will apply to every decision taken by a Labour government - with no exceptions."

So if shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves believes an agreed policy is unaffordable, it won't happen.

But the more immediate priority will be to try to show united front, even though the "hard choices" on spending are proving uncomfortable for some party members and unions alike.