Alex Holland, Labour Councillor in Brixton, writes in the New Statesman about the role of councillors, and how Labour needs to become a mass movement at local level.

I had reason to call party HQ yesterday.  I wasn’t sure who I needed to speak to, so I called the central number from the website.  It was, I admit, 5.15pm, but I was surprised to hear the following message: “the Labour Party is now closed until 9am tomorrow – please call again.  Good bye”.  Closed?  Really?  No way to leave [...]

Labour in Hackney has increased its number of councillors from 29 out of 60 and a hung council in 1998, to 50 out of 57 in May 2010. This 12-year trend started with a series of remarkable by-election wins on swings of nearly 20%, and was then reinforced in three consecutive borough elections.

Leading the way – How Labour can begin to reinvigorate social democrats across Europe‏ Across Europe, we are seeing the loss of influence of progressive, social democratic parties. It is time for Labour to be at the forefront of restating the values that re-engages those of us on the left.   This requires more soul searching and honesty than at [...]

A double-whammy in The Guardian today from Harriet Harman and John Prescott: a surge in Labour membership, but we have to harness this new support: ‘Harriet Harman, the interim Labour leader, says a new breed of young political activist, committed to opposing the coalition government and the Liberal Democrats in particular, is joining Labour at a rate of 1,000 a [...]

Rebuilding Labour’s reputation in Bermondsey In 2002, Labour didn’t win a single seat in Bermondsey & Old Southwark and lost control of the council. In 2010, we reclaimed six seats and delivered a Labour majority. We have shown how a bottom-up campaign, led by local members working in the community can rebuild Labour’s reputation with the electorate. Change wasn’t easy. [...]

Labour values is beginning to fill up with informative campaign case studies from Labour Party branches around the country, and the first nine appear to have lessons for all of us.