Must These Have Voices?

Having worked, in my time, in market research, I am quite aware of the flaws in the ABCDE classification system. But it is what there is. And if offers Labour to seize the present opportunity to demand that we plebeians be guaranteed representation on public bodies. That is vastly more important than anything to do with sex, or ethnicity, or disability.

NHS Trust Boards, school governing bodies, Police Authorities, and so on: when it comes to the appointed members rather than councillors or senior staff, the number should always be three or divisible by three, with equal numbers, by law, from the local AB, C1C2, and DE populations. Since juries are already divisible by three, and since there are three on a Bench of Magistrates, the same principle ought also to apply. Again, by law.

Where necessary, which is everywhere where it is possible, there should also be guaranteed parity within each of the three class categories, at least in public body appointments, between rural and urban areas, or between rural and suburban areas, or between suburban and urban areas, or among all three, as the locality necessitates. For that matter, there are places such as here in the old Derwentside District, still used for some purposes, with countryside and towns, but no suburbs. Again, there must be balance and parity: an equal number in each class from each of the rural and the urban areas.

Ed Miliband, and even more so Jon Cruddas and Maurice Glasman, over to you.