If you agree we need to do politics differently in this country, please sign up here to join the campaign. Your name and organisation will appear automatically. By pulling together we hope to create a wider debate in the Labour party that helps to create a consensus on the way forward. Sign the petition here.

If you would like a speaker on primaries at your branch, GC or Labour club do get in touch with Jessica Asato on jessica@progressives.org.uk and we will try and organise one.

Publications

Labour's selection process: A representative deficit? - Will Straw and Feni Ajumogobia

'The case for primaries to select Labour candidates' - Will Straw

Broadening Participation - Thinking Beyond Party Membership - Unlock Democracy

Supporters

'Voters feel cut out of politics. We need to open up the way we do politics, from top to bottom. Primaries are a key way of doing this.' - James Purnell, head of the Open Left project at Demos

'The Labour party needs to tap into the energy in communities up and down the country to renew our membership base. We need a debate throughout our movement on how to refresh our party structures and I support Progress’s contribution to this.' - David Miliband, secretary of state for foreign and commonwealth affairs

'If we are going to build a more open politics, then political parties need to lead the way. That means showing that we are truly open to the engagement of the millions of people who don’t want to join us but want to be involved in crucial decisions. The most powerful demonstration of that would be to open up the process by which we select our candidates, including those for parliament, by introducing open primaries. This provides an opportunity to strengthen political parties, but political parties with more porous boundaries. So, like Progress, I believe that if you are willing to register your support for the Labour party, you should have a say in selecting the Labour party’s candidates. And this is just a first step in building a more pluralist politics: one that recognises that progressive values are shared more widely than the Labour party and that the alignment we should be seeking is one of people who share the same value-driven ambitions for their community, town and country.' - Tessa Jowell, minister for the cabinet office

'I’ve been a strong supporter of primaries and of changing the way we select our candidates for over 18 months, and I am excited that Progress has joined the campaign. The debate about renewing the Labour party, opening up our structures and ending the era of ‘politics as usual’ must not be a battle between the ‘right’ and ‘left’ of the party. It must be about answering the public’s call for change: about reconnecting with our supporters, energising the way we do politics, and involving as many people as possible in progressive causes, from across the Labour movement and beyond. We must rise to this challenge, be brave and make change happen.' - David Lammy, higher education minister

'The demand for political change is irresistible and it’s right across the political spectrum. Labour has a simple choice. It can instigate change or be swallowed by it. Every single selection from tomorrow could be decided by those who have expressed support for Labour. A spending cap could easily be set just as it is in every single election in the UK. It would bring people to Labour rather than repel them as some have erroneously claimed; it could become the start of a real movement for change. It would be a disaster if this just becomes some sort of intra-party factional battle. Someone will get this right. Why don’t we make it Labour?' - Anthony Painter, author of 'Barack Obama: The movement for change'

'The importance of politics is being lost as the representatives get further and further from the people. Open primaries are just one of the ways in which that gap can be closed. They will bring new blood into politics and, far from weakening political parties, they are a way to shake up their moribund structures.' - Philip Collins is chair of Demos

'All the big parties have seen membership levels decline in recent years. It is vital that Labour reconnects with its supporters - primaries are an important way in which those supporters can be given a real say. Far from undermining political parties I think primaries could help with party renewal and encourage more supporters to join as members.' - Stephen Twigg, Labour PPC for Liverpool West Derby

'The Progress campaign for primaries is a timely one, and I am happy to support it. There has been a lively debate about how we could change and revitalise the Labour party - and whether primaries could be part of that - over the last few years. It is important that we now move to thinking about how change might happen in practice.' - Sunder Katwala, general secretary of the Fabian Society

'Since the 1950s, Labour party membership has fallen from 1 million to 170,000. The average CLP now has under 300 members with some selections for PPCs being taken by just a handful of people, little more than an old members' club. If we want to re-engage liked minded people across our communities, the Labour party has a choice: to open up or die. This means an end to command-and-control policy making and an end to command-and-control candidate selection. Let's start with primaries for all mayoral elections and also for the CLPs where membership has slipped below 200.' - Will Straw, co-editor of 'The change we need: What Britain can learn from Obama's victory'

'There are many advantages to primaries – they let more people get involved and encourage prospective Labour candidates to develop their grassroots campaigning skills. At the moment, getting selected for parliament as a Labour candidate is too often about ‘knowing the right people’ and being able to spend lots of money - I can’t see any downside in trying primaries to see if they work better and address these problems.' - Don Paskini, Labour blogger

'I have never felt more involved in a political campaign than in the weeks and months before Super Tuesday. The people I worked alongside in Brooklyn came out to have their voices heard, working tirelessly on cold mornings and bleak nights to influence a process and to shape history from the earliest opportunity. What I saw inspired a movement, and I've never seen democracy work better. Labour needs that inspiration now. We need to energise our party, but more importantly than that we need to open our tired structures to the voices of the under-represented. Primaries will not solve everything, but they are the purest way to begin.' - Alex Smith, editor of LabourList.org

'Historic party activist-based procedures are tired, and everyone knows that. If people don’t then they are in denial. Labour politicians must connect with Labour supporters when they are selected as representatives, not just the same old Labour members through the same old committees. U.S.-style primaries, with appropriate safeguards, would be a breath of fresh air for the Labour movement and UK politics.' - Cllr. Theo Blackwell (Camden)