Grassroots Alliance

The Grassroots Alliance [originally the Centre-Left Grassroots Alliance or CLGA] is a centre-left group of elected members on the British Labour Party National Executive Committee, founded in 1998. They represent members from a broad spectrum of the Labour membership, ranging from centrists to left wingers. The elected members are a minority in a committee otherwise dominated by appointed representatives of trades unions, the Parliamentary Labour Party and others. The committee, in March 2006, become prominent again as the body responsible for demanding that party fund-raising no longer be managed outside the control of the Party executive after a scandal over loans to the Party about which, it would seem, the Party's Treasurer had insufficient knowledge.

The Alliance's founding groups were originally Labour Reform, a centrist democratic group within the Party founded at a meeting in Birmingham in November 1995, and the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy, the left wing democratic grouping, who subsequently brought in other more left-wing groupings from within the Labour Party. Private talks with trades union representatives to build a broader base had failed on union demands and this initiated the inclusion of a much broader Left group from the grassroots, including Labour Left Briefing [Liz Davies] and the then-Editor of Tribune, Mark Seddon. Successful efforts were also made to include the Scottish Left.

The first Co-ordinator [one term only] was Tim Pendry who was Vice Chair of Labour Reform and the Alliance originally restricted itself to issues of party democracy, resisting attempts to put in place a left policy platform in order to be inclusive of constituency feeling from the centre ground. Labour Reform was originally associated with the What's Left Group of MPs and CLPD with the Campaign Group of MPs but liaison with What's Left ended on attempts to dictate terms to the grassroots and the Co-ordinator liaised solely with the Campaign Group during the latter stages of the campaign.

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