Campaign group Mainstream has criticised Labour's Conference Arrangements Committee after a motion calling for public ownership of water was ruled out of scope ahead of the party's annual conference in Liverpool.
The motion was submitted jointly by Mainstream and SERA, Labour's environment campaign, but was rejected on the grounds that it did not relate to a new issue that had not already been substantially covered in the National Policy Forum report.
Mainstream said it was "profoundly concerned" by the decision and argued that conference members should be allowed to debate the future ownership of an essential public service.
The group said:
"We're deeply concerned that Conference has been denied the opportunity to debate public ownership of water."
It added that "faction-driven procedure" should not be allowed to stifle debate inside the party.
Mainstream and SERA appeal decision
Campaigners have appealed the ruling.
LabourList reported that the National Policy Forum document referred only briefly to ownership questions, stating that "different perspectives were offered around ownership and control models". Mainstream and SERA argue that this should not prevent a substantive conference debate.
The Conference Arrangements Committee is the Labour body responsible for determining the conference agenda and ruling on the validity of contemporary and emergency motions.
Mainstream said allowing the motion to reach the floor would give members the opportunity to test competing ideas rather than having an important policy question determined procedurally.
Burnham has previously backed public ownership option
The row is politically significant because Prime Minister Andy Burnham has previously argued that public ownership should be considered for failing water companies.
During the Labour leadership contest earlier this year, Burnham said Thames Water should be nationalised and that public ownership of water companies would "absolutely be an option" under his leadership.
SERA has also said it wants the Government to move faster on water reform and had worked with Mainstream on the conference motion precisely because of Burnham's stated willingness to consider greater public control.
Mainstream invokes Burnham's own argument for open debate
In its statement, Mainstream quoted comments Burnham made when the organisation was launched last year.
It cited him saying:
"We've got to get beyond this culture where everything's a threat. If people are speaking out, it can actually be an opportunity to make changes."
Mainstream said that principle should apply to Labour Conference itself.
The group argued that conference should be somewhere members can "test those ideas, challenge established thinking and develop new answers together".
Water ownership remains live political issue
The dispute comes against the backdrop of continuing controversy over the performance, finances and regulation of England's privatised water companies.
The Burnham Government has so far pursued reforms short of wholesale nationalisation, including new consumer panels and stronger accountability measures, although campaigners have criticised aspects of those arrangements.
The rejected motion would have allowed Labour members to debate whether the party should go substantially further and support public ownership.
Debate over Labour's internal culture
Mainstream has framed the disagreement as being about more than water policy.
Its statement said:
"If Labour is to build the movement and the programme capable of changing the country, the Party must rediscover its confidence in its members: their ideas, their experience, their willingness to challenge orthodoxies and their capacity to think big about what a Labour government can achieve."
Labour's annual conference begins in Liverpool on 27 September and runs until 30 September.
The immediate question is whether Mainstream and SERA's appeal succeeds and the water motion is restored to the conference agenda. More broadly, the row has opened an early debate about how much space Labour members will have to challenge and shape government policy under Burnham's leadership.
