Welcome to your September Members' Update.
It has been a major month for Mainstream, culminating in a Labour Party Conference that felt like a real moment of change for our party.
In Liverpool, Andy Burnham set out a bold and ambitious new direction for Labour and for the country. There were announcements on public ownership, electoral reform, a National Care Service, and a new approach to economic growth and investment.
For Mainstream, these were significant developments. They spoke directly to many of the issues we have been championing since our launch
The arguments we've been making are now being heard right across our party.
Read on for a round-up of our progress this month, and some personal news from Luke, our National Coordinator.
After a year as your National Coordinator, I'm heading to the social democratic shores of Scandinavia this month to start a PhD fellowship at the University of Oslo.
I leave this role at Mainstream full of pride for what we have collectively built in just 13 months. Not long ago, it felt that the party we all love had lost its way. This network was prepared to speak with one voice, to dare the Labour Party to be better, and to organise for change. Labour's course correction is still a work-in-progress, but it may not have even begun without the courage, principle and foresight of Labour's radical realists.
The Prime Minister's speech in Liverpool should act as a reminder to us all that the limits of the possible are something we make and can re-make. But only when individual members and supporters accept the responsibility of being architects of a better future, and take action together.
It's been a privilege to work with you, our members, over the past year. Thanks for your commitment and friendship. And thank you to the wonderful people of Mainstream's Interim Council. I'll continue to be an active member of Mainstream and to support the organisation's work in every way I can.
In solidarity,
Luke
The Interim Council thanks Luke for everything he has done for Mainstream since our launch last year and wishes him all the best for his time in Oslo. Our new National Coordinator, Emily, will start later this month. You can meet Emily at our October Organising Forum - read on to register.
This year's Labour Party Conference was a busy one for Mainstream, with a packed programme of organising, events, ideas and relationship-building across our movement.
Things got off to a tricky start. Our motion calling for public ownership of water, organised with our allies at Labour's Environment Campaign - SERA and backed by dozens of CLPs across the country, was ruled out of scope by the Conference Arrangements Committee (CAC). The decision highlighted the need to reform Labour's internal structures and ensure that democratic socialists have a meaningful voice at every level of our party.
We didn't go quietly, though. We coordinated with Bill Eyres, co-chair of SERA, who brought forward a point of order that allowed him to address Conference, challenge the CAC's decision and make the case for publicly-owned water.
But all was not lost. On Tuesday, Andy Burnham committed to repealing the ban on public ownership of water in his speech to Conference While our motion did not make it onto the Conference agenda, the broader campaign for public ownership has continued, alongside the work of civil society, campaigners and champions of public ownership like Clive Lewis MP.
We will be watching closely to see how this commitment from the Prime Minister takes shape, and will continue to make the case for democratic, public ownership of essential services.
Watch Bill's speech to Conference
Conference isn't just an opportunity to organise, but to build relationships, share and test ideas, and celebrate wins from across our movement. In Liverpool, that's exactly what we did.
It was standing room only at Manchesterism, the Productive State and Building a Democratic Economy, our panel discussion on Monday afternoon.
The discussion was Mainstream at its best: open, imaginative and progressive. Our panel and a packed audience discussed public ownership, Athenian democracy, worker representation, co-operatives, and much more. Thank you to everyone who was part of the conversation.
A few hours later, it was time for Mainstream's 2026 Conference Rally and Party. A room of over 250 heard speeches from me; our Foreign Secretary, Ed Miliband; Mainstream Interim Council member and Labour MP for Liverpool Wavertree, Paula Barker; former First Minister of Wales, Mark Drakeford; General Secretary of the Musicians' Union, Naomi Pohl; co-chair of SERA and London Assembly Member, Leonie Cooper; and Interim Council member, Neal Lawson.
And to close the night, Communities and Housing Secretary, and longstanding friend of Mainstream, Angela Rayner, played a DJ set that electrified the club.
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We're thrilled to share that James Driver was elected to Labour's NPF at Conference to represent members in Yorkshire and the Humber.
The remaining 15 Mainstream candidates came very close in all of the UK's nations and regions, but sadly didn't make it this year.
We were disappointed that this year's NPF elections were not elected by a full ballot of Labour Party members, and that only delegates could shape the composition of the NPF. This undoubtedly had its impact on these results and represented a significant change from previous NPF elections.
We're so proud of the brilliant NPF team for the hard-fought campaign they ran. James will now take the arguments and priorities developed through that campaign into the NPF, and we will support him to build Mainstream's voice in Labour's policy-making process.
We continued to publish ideas and arguments on the politics we want to see from Labour on our blog in September.
Our blog is an important part of what we are trying to build at Mainstream: a space for serious political argument, new ideas and debate about how we can turn our values into a programme for change.
You can submit a pitch for the blog using the button below.
September saw another busy month of member-led political education, strategy creation and policy development.
Our Policy Assembly on taxation brought members together to debate what a fairer and more effective tax system should look like, and how Labour can use the tax system to support a more equal and productive economy. We were thrilled to be joined by Stewart Lansley from the University of Bristol and Caitlin Boswell from Tax Justice UK for a vibrant discussion about Labour's approach to tax.
We also held a joint webinar with the Labour Movement for Europe (LME) and Stella Creasy MP, continuing our work to create space for open discussion about Labour’s relationship with Europe and the internationalist politics of our movement.
Finally, we convened some of the over 140 Mainstream-aligned delegates to Labour Party Conference for a briefing on Conference procedures and how we could organise together.
Thank you to all the delegates who joined us and went on to represent our vision and values in Liverpool.
Our October Organising Forum will be an important one. We'll debrief from Labour Party Conference, reflecting on what we learned, what worked and where we need to go next.
It will also be your opportunity to meet Mainstream's next National Coordinator, Emily, and share your priorities for the work she'll be undertaking with the Interim Council as we continue to build Mainstream.
Register for the Forum at 6.00pm on Thursday 29th October below using the link sent via email.
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September has shown just how much Mainstream has built in the space of a year.
From the arguments we made at Conference, to the ideas we developed through our events and blog, to the growing network of members and delegates organising across the Labour movement, there is now a much bigger Mainstream conversation taking place across our party.
In solidarity,
Kerry
Chair, Mainstream
CLP Representative on Labour's NEC
