Draft “references back” which CLPs may adapt or submit for Labour conference 2026

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Each CLP can submit for conference (deadline 17/9/26) up to four references back of passages from the National Policy Forum report. This gives much wider openings than the previous regime, under which the NPF report could only be approved as a whole or rejected as a whole (and the unions would always vote through approval). Those openings are limited: you get only a one-minute speech, and the Policy Commission may just ignore a reference-back. Still, it is an underused facility. A CLP cannot propose two references back in the same Policy Commission section, so e.g. if your CLP adopts one of the references back below on housing, it cannot adopt any of the others.

PROPOSAL TO REFERENCE BACK the NPF report with respect to Kickstart Economic Growth section.
NPF Report 2026
COMMISSION: Kickstart Economic Growth
Subsection: Kickstart Economic Growth, bottom of page 12 and top of page 13: The Commission welcomes Labour’s radical reform of planning laws to drive forward housebuilding – in addition to the record £39 billion for building new social and affordable homes, including council homes, and new investment to accelerate the remediation of existing social housing.
REASONS FOR REFERENCE BACK: The report fails to consider that the £39 billion available in credit is largely designed not to go to council house-building; even aspirationally would fund only 18,000 social rent homes a year to 2036; and is substantial less, inflation-adjusted, than the last Labour government’s 2008-11 programme, which did not restore council house stock.
Conference calls on the NPF to discuss upgrading and retargeting the credit available in line with Andy Burnham’s pledge of “the biggest council house building programme since the post-war period”.

PROPOSAL TO REFERENCE BACK the NPF report with respect to Kickstart Economic Growth section.
NPF Report 2026
COMMISSION: Kickstart Economic Growth
Subsection: Kickstart Economic Growth, bottom of page 12 and top of page 13: The Commission welcomes Labour’s radical reform of planning laws to drive forward housebuilding…
REASONS FOR REFERENCE BACK: The report fails to consider the evidence since the revised planning rules were published in 2024, the fact that council house-building in 2025-6 has been lower than under the Tories, and that in many areas planning permission is going to data centres rather than housing.
Conference calls on the NPF to discuss upgrading and retargeting the credit available to councils for house-building and retrofitting in line with Andy Burnham’s pledge of “the biggest council house building programme since the post-war period”.

PROPOSAL TO REFERENCE BACK the NPF report with respect to Kickstart Economic Growth section.
NPF Report 2026
COMMISSION: Kickstart Economic Growth
Subsection: Kickstart Economic Growth, top of page 16: Several responses also referenced changes to Right to Buy, with the Government’s Social Housing Bill ensuring newly built social homes cannot be sold for 35 years.
REASONS FOR REFERENCE BACK: The report fails to consider that in 2025 Right to Buy depletion of the council stock, at some 14,000 homes, ran much higher than the 1,040 new council housebuilding starts; and that very little of the stock in the foreseeable future will be the new-build homes which get welcome protection under the Social Housing Bill.
Conference calls on the NPF to consider ending the Tory-initiated Right to Buy entirely, in line with Andy Burnham’s comment that trying to increase council stock while Right to Buy continues is “like trying to fill a bath with the plug out”.

PROPOSAL TO REFERENCE BACK the NPF report with respect to Kickstart Economic Growth section.
NPF Report 2026
COMMISSION: Kickstart Economic Growth
Subsection: Kickstart Economic Growth, top of page 16: A number of submissions also raised the idea of rent controls.
REASONS FOR REFERENCE BACK: The report fails to consider that the welcome protections in the Renters’ Rights Act protect tenants only against arbitrary above-market increases probably designed to force them to leave their homes, not against the ordinary operations of the market which have made many in many areas unable to afford good-quality private-rented housing unless by severe cutbacks on other spending.
Conference calls on the NPF to consider reintroducing Fair Rent regulations as implemented by the Labour government from 1965 and abolished by Thatcher. Conference understands that this is not workable without a big increase in councils building new homes and buying up and refurbishing old stock.

PROPOSAL TO REFERENCE BACK the NPF report with respect to Britain re-connected section.
NPF Report 2026
COMMISSION: Britain Reconnected
Subsection: Conclusions: Closer relationship with Europe
Conference references back all five paragraphs of the Britain Re-connected conclusions on
“Closer relations with Europe”, pp 77-78.
REASONS FOR REFERENCE BACK: The report fails to recognise the failure of the “Reset process” and proposes to continue
piecemeal negotiation with the European Union while suggesting that bi-lateral agreements with
leading EU member states is also both achievable and desirable. It fails to recognise that the
UK must fully implement its commitments under the “withdrawal agreement”, the Windsor
framework and the “Trade and cooperation agreement” and that the “Reset process” has failed
to conclude any improvement in the formal relationships between the United Kingdom and the
European Union.
Conference calls on the NPF to look beyond the ’24 manifesto commitments with respect to the
EU relationship and to press for faster re-alignment with the EU single market within this
parliament and to examine the possibility of rejoining the European Union being a manifesto
promise for the next general election.

PROPOSAL TO REFERENCE BACK the NPF report with respect to Britain re-connected section.
NPF Report 2026
COMMISSION: Britain Reconnected
Subsection: Conclusions: Closer relationship with Europe
Conference references back all five paragraphs of the Britain Re-connected conclusions on “Closer relations with Europe”, pp 77-78.
REASONS FOR REFERENCE BACK: The report continues to suggest that the UK defence capability is a potent negotiating asset in obtaining concessions against agreeing to rejoin an indivisible EU single market.
Our defence position should be based on a threat analysis and on the reliability and capability of our allies. It should also consider measures of social resilience.
The NPF should take evidence and make proposals for a defence posture that maximises the UK’s security of supply and is based on a reliable and local capability. Proposal to reference back the NPF report with respect to Safer Streets section.

PROPOSAL TO REFERENCE BACK the NPF report with respect to Safer Streets section.
NPF Report 2026
COMMISSION: Safer Streets
Subsection: Conclusions: Asylum decision-making and system efficiency p.37 and Contribution p.38
REASONS FOR REFERENCE BACK: The report fails to make substantive recommendations for policy on welcoming immigrant workers and refugees and allowing them to create new lives.
Conference calls on the NPF to look at and revive the 2024 promises to repeal the hostile environment, to take evidence and make proposals to ensure that workers are not tied to specific jobs and employers, that migrants should not be required to make greater contributions to society than non-migrants, that routes to citizenship should be reasonable, and that refugees should be able to work while waiting for status decisions and that the Labour Party rejects the idea that asylum decisions allowing entry to the UK can be reversed.

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