THURSDAY 5 MARCH 2020Long-Bailey vows to rewrite
Labour Party constitution
Leadership hopeful wants to add climate crisis to Clause IV
Rebecca Long-Bailey on the ‘Andrew Neil Show’ last night (BBC)
ASHLEY COWBURN AND ANDREW WOODCOCK
Labour leadership contender Rebecca Long-Bailey has vowed to rewrite the party’s constitution to enshrine
its battle against the climate emergency and protections to the environment. Speaking yesterday, the
shadow business secretary, one of three candidates vying to replace Jeremy Corbyn, said she would redraw
the party’s totemic Clause IV, which sets out Labour’s aims and values.
“It’s time for Clause IV to be rewritten to bring us into the present day and show that our goal is to realise
our goal is to realise everyone’s aspiration for a good life,” she said. “We are a mass 21st-century democratic
socialist party, so we should have a new, 21st-century Clause IV.”
Ms Long-Bailey’s proposed changes to the clause – last modified by Tony Blair in 1995 – include a