The local party outside the civic centre can affect group behaviour and decision making. But its impact varies in each of the three major parties. This chapter will highlight these differences and explore when and how a local party outside the council may have an influence on group policy and decision making. It will analyse the formal variations between parties in the operation of local party networks but will also argue that the practice is not as different as the formal relationships would suggest. The chapter will conclude with a participant observation case study of the role of local Labour Party networks in North East Derbyshire in responding to the opportunities provided by the Local Government Review (1991-96), which illustrates the extent and limits of the power of local Labour parties to affect group decision making.

As noted in Chapter Two, each major party has developed a different relationship with its elected representatives, which reflects its particular ideological roots and aims. There is a strong sense within the Labour Party that its elected representatives are party delegates, which means there is a defined role for the local party to ensure that councillors are carrying out party policy. The Conservative Party has a much stronger sense of its elected representatives as trustees and is therefore detached from direct local party influence. The Liberal Democrat Party views its locally elected representatives as being in the vanguard of the party, and relationships with the local party reflect local choice and custom.

Exhibit 9.1 depicts the formal structure of local party networks in the three major parties.

The Labour Party: formally strong group–local party relations

In formal terms it is the Labour Party that has the closest links to its councillors. There are a number of separate units that can influence the process of selecting candidates and the policy-making process of developing election manifestos. There is also a strong sense of a distinct and separate party organisation with a role to play in local government, quite apart from its elected representatives. The party consists of many other actors beyond the group on council, and many of them have a right to have an input into the local party policies.