Charity chief executives association Acevo has reported that the Labour Party appears open and attentive to feedback from the third sector, after an event at the party’s annual conference in Brighton.

Commenting after an Acevo event at the conference, Speaking Up for Civil Society: When Should Charities Provide Political Opposition?, the association’s director of policy Asheem Singh said grass roots members and MPs are eager to join in the debates central to the third sector.

“Labour MPs Susan Elan Jones and Wes Streeting sent a clear message to the Labour leadership that they should regard the lobbying act as bad law and enshrine repeal of the lobbying act as Labour party policy,” Singh said. “Acevo supports this view and we look forward to discussing this more widely.”

Jeremy Corbyn’s recent election as Labour Party leader, and his keynote speech yesterday, have dominated commentary around this year’s conference.

Singh said the ‘New Labour’ wing of the party had delivered a ‘blunt warning’ to the new hierarchy via ex-MP Hazel Blears. Singh said Blears told an earlier conference debate on the future of public service reform and charities that Labour stigmatise the voluntary sector and characterise third sector service delivery as 'privatisation by the back door' at their peril.

“She went on to assert that Government and the voluntary sector need to work together to deliver the 'revolution' the country needs,” Singh said. “Her words were provocative but may ring true among charity supporters: 'possess good intentions, petition all you want but without a proper policy prescription for public services, it will be a dereliction of duty.' We hope her words are heeded.”

Labour’s conference concludes today after opening on Sunday. It follows the Liberal Democrat’s Autumn conference which took place last week.

The Conservatives gather from Sunday through to Wednesday next week in Manchester.

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