In his hunt for good ideas that can be contenders for Labour's next Manifesto, Ed Miliband chaired our final plenary in a 'democracy den' format inspired by Dragons' Den. Four Dragons critiqued an 'idea to change the world' put forward by five advocates. The dragons were Rachel Briggs, Paul Hilder, Denis Macshane MP. The advocates were Anne Campbell, Sunny Hundal, Dan Whittle, John Newall and Emily Thornberry MP.

Saturday, 19th January

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Calls to licence Afghan poppies to supply morphine and to create new European citizens' service scheme win the support of 'Change the World' audience.

Licencing Afghan poppies to deal with the worldwide morphine shortage and a new European citizens' service won the support of the Fabian 'Change the World' conference audience in a 'one idea to change the world' session in a 'democracy den' format, chaired by Labour's election coordinator Ed Miliband.

Anne Campbell carried the conference with her advocacy of the 'poppies for medicine' campaign, which she argued would help increased economic development in Afghanistan and prevent poppy eradication strategies driving villages into the hands of organised crime.

Young Fabian Dan Whittle also won support for his proposal to make Britons more European, by organising a new citizens' service scheme which would 'make it as easy to volunteer in Lisbon and London' by providing a hub and exchange among national volunteering schmes.

Proposals to offer Pakistan and India Security Council seats in return for membership of the Non-Proliferation Treaty; to increase UK development aid to 1% of GDP to finance universal health and education; and to tax low cost flights to deal with climate change failed to convince the audience.

Ed Miliband outlined what he was looking for in the next Labour Manifesto:

1. We need a manifesto which speaks to the issues people care about. The old division between domestic and foreign policy no longer exists, and so it was important to show how international issues affect our own lives.

2. An important test of the ideas in Labour's manifesto should be that they help to show that Labour has a different ethos to our opponents. Labour's belief in the equal moral worth of every person, domestically and internationally, and its commitment to the power of collective action could not be matched by other parties.

3. The manifesto has to express our ideals, and help to energise and mobilise support.

4. It has to help us win the election. Miliband said that this was not the only criteria for policies in the manifesto - but it was one which he would be keeping in mind.

Ideas to change the world

Legalisation of the Afghan Poppy Trade

Anne Campbell's proposition urged support for the Poppies for Medicine campaign which would legalise the poppy trade in Afghanistan. A counter-insurgency purpose in Afghanistan plus increase the world supply of morphine based pharmaceutical products.

DMcS: "The problem is you have to get buy-in and so many of them are making a fortune currently. Tony Blair asked if we could buy the entire crop. It's a good idea but it's not a magic bullet."

PH: "I think it's bloody brilliant."

RB: "It's a great idea. Our inability to seize these ideas is characteristic of the moral panic that floats around issues like drugs – it's time to seize the moment."

Audience: "People are making billions out of this trade – how are we to monitor it?" "How would it work practically – surely challenging." "How would you ensure this new industry wouldn't be taken over by multinational drug companies?" "How do you propose to curtail racketeers?" "Shouldn't we be putting more effort into stopping this illegal war?" "Surely we should buy it and then destroy it?"

Anne: This works very well in Turkey and the US supports it there. Buy-in from local people would be through each village being licensed by the Afghan government, who will buy them. If you bought the heroin and destroy it, it wouldn't give the buy-in from local people.

Audience vote: two to one in favour. Proposition carried.

UN Reform

Sunny Hundal starts by saying he doesn't think his proposition will be popular. He proposed that Britian unilaterally suggests that India and Pakistan be made permanent members of the UN security council, that they keep their nuclear arsenals but that they sign up to full co-operation with the IAEA. He argues that these are strong economic powers and it moves us on from the colonial relationship. It's important that we accept they have nuclear technology but within the Non Proliferation Treaty.

RB: "Certainly the composition of the Security Council needs looking at, but it's hard to see how Pakistan moves from where it is right now. This could send the right message to the region. But this isn't the way to do it."

PH: "This is Pakistan under Musharraf! The Security Council should be changed. We should be much more ambitious on nuclear non-proliferation than this – we need to reduce stockpiles. It might be more interesting to have a permanent member who doesn't have nuclear weapons. The worst thing about this idea is the colonialism – we screwed up before but we're going to fix it now.

DMcS Sunny you're hired. Lord Malloch Brown you're fired. This is the best idea I've ever heard. There's more democracy than in China and more media freedom than in Russia. You'll make a great future foreign secretary.

Audience: "An amendment – you're missing a trick. You could make it conditional on good behaviour – a race to who of the two is the best behaved. So if you're naughty it goes to your worst enemy." "UN should be based in Delhi not New York." "We could appoint them if they give up nuclear weapons."

Sunny: China and Russia have much less democracy than Pakistan. We should say that we need you to be closer to us and that we recognise your status in the world.

Audience vote: proposition defeated

A European Citizen Service

Dan Whittle, the Young Fabians' International Officer advocated a European Citizens Service to allow young people to engage in projects elsewhere in the continent. Kindness and the aspiration to help others should not stop at our borders, he said. We could ensure than it is as easy for young people to volunteer in Lisbon as in London. The Erasmus programme is the model – a hub that links the national volunteering services.

DMcS: "This is absolutely terrific. It should apply to older people – William Hague and David Cameron and maybe some members of the cabinet! Make it so that it works through all secondary schools.

PH: "I like the spirit. I don't like the idea that it should only be in Europe. It feels practicable – are people going to do it?"

RB: "It's a nice idea – hard to disagree with. But it's also hard to see how the question of language can be overcome. We've got a European labour market but we haven't seen as much flow as we could because of language – I'd want to know how the language issue. I don't see a business plan here."

Audience: "A year in a foreign country means you overcome the language issues. When would you do it?" "Would it be open to all including the poorest families especially those in care?" "You want the state to sponsor middle class kids to go inter-railing." "How is this changing the world?"

Audience vote: narrowly carried

Increasing Aid Target

Fabian member John Newham advocated a plan for Africa like the Marshall Plan or the Beveridge Report that would reverse the decline of the continent. The EU led by Britain should work out a plan that could eliminate poverty and violence, he argued. We should reach 1% of GDP and that should go to universal health and primary education provision. We must link this aid to political change.

RB: "It's hard to know how you would disagree with 1%. However, while money is important, it's how you spend it and on the political leadership you've got that makes the difference. But what else do we do alongside that?"

PH: "It's a great goal but I want to see more of what can be done. But we must acknowledge that Britain can't do this alone. Universal healthcare and education would have a massive impact, but we need to put the money into making it work and governance."

DMcS: "I'm strongly against this. It stops us thinking. We've doubled aid to Africa yet most of those sub-Saharan countries are poorer than when we started. The Marshall plan was deeply colonial. We have to be more honest about Africa and signing cheques isn't the way forward."

Audience: "We can go further." "What we need is practical technological transfer not money." "This makes us feel better about ourselves. Corruption in Africa is going through the roof because of the link with cocaine use in the UK."

Audience vote: defeated

A Tax on Aviation 

Emily Thornberry advocated a tax on low-cost flights. She argued that our biggest challenge is to try to stop climate change. We have to think about the consequences of our use of carbon not least because the third world is the most affected. We can't fiddle while the world burns and flying is central, she said. We are flying round the world more and more. We should tax it – and the money should go to support climate projects in the developing world.

PH: "With this proposal I'm worried about Ed's 'winning the election' criterion! I'm a heretic on this. Aviation is getting focused on to the exclusion of other things such as a general carbon tax hypothecated to inflation."

RB: "We need to reduce air travel and people need to understand what the impact of each flight is. Your ticket should tell you how much carbon you're producing – taxing now is pushing it too quickly. Let's look at the business community not citizens."

DMcS: "My colleagues from Islington always want to punish working class constituents of Rotherham. This is only about 2% of emissions. Scrap old planes. Add a generalised aviation fuel tax."

Emily: "Denis's class analysis doesn't stack up. The increase in flying is the middle classes. We need to bring home to people there is a limit to the amount of carbon."

Audience: "The planet might still fry but at least we'll be showing the way." "The tax must be very minimal and spent on research into other energies." "Why just tax them. Why not ban these flights?"

Audience vote: Proposal defeated.

Finally, Ed Miliband asked for an audience vote out of the two propositions that had been carried. Should we support Dan's or Anne's? The audience was equally split, both propositions were carried.