Exclusive: Christian May on the CF Reforms
The Exec have been watching all sorts of comments fly around on various blogs concerning 'proposed reforms' to CF. Comments have varied from the mild ("who will stand for election?") to the extreme ("Rock is parachuting in his 12 best friends to run CF"). We have yet to see an accurate comment on the ideas we're working on. The reason for this is simple; we haven't proposed any changes yet. Michael stood for election on a very clear policy of regionlisation - a policy which I very quickly signed up to as I think it will sort out a lot of the nonsense in CF. Before I talk a little bit more about our ideas, let me make one thing perfectly clear: there will be no unelected appointments. I shall say that again for the slower ones amongst you: there will be no unelected appointments.
In a nutshell, our idea is this: CF will comprise of Branch Chairmen (elected) Regional Coordinators (elected) and a National Chairman (elected). Please note that none of these positions are appointments. The reason for this proposal (and I stress again that is is simply a proposal) is to make CF
more effective at a local level and to increase its accountability. In replacing Area Chairs with regional Coordinators our aim is to remove the ambiguous "second layer" between Branch Chairs and the National Exec. We all know that a well run Branch often constitutes CF at its best. We also appreciate that there are many superb Area Chairs - and we think that they will function more effectively as Regional Coordinators, overseeing a larger area. Of course, if a collection of branches held an AGM and decided on the need for a figure in between themselves and the Regional Coordinator, then they could vote one in. However, this decision should be made at branch level. Again, it's about promoting accountability and grass root level effectiveness.
We anticipate that there will always be a few (largely anonymous) criticisms of this plan, but this is the 10th anniversary of CF and I think we should mark such a milestone by shaking things up a bit and giving more responsibility to the Branch chairs.
More details will be announced as and when this proposal is put to the Party. It might go ahead, it might not. Either way, your Exec are only ever working with the best interests of the members in mind, and we'd never undermine the democratic nature that is so highly valued within our organisation.
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