It was one of the proudest days of my life when I was elected Chair of Labour’s National Executive Committee at Conference in September 2014. Accepting the role I recalled to those present that I shared this privilege with only eleven women MPs In over 100 years of Labour history including Ellen Wilkinson and the […]
Posts Tagged ‘Party democracy’
The Left finds a voice
Jun 15th, 2015 by Michael Meacher.An extraordinary turn of events seems to be happening in the Labour leadership contest. The line-up appeared to be settling down with 4 names (though now just reduced to 3), but nobody from a recognisably Left position. Late in the day however – since nominations close at midday today (Monday) – Jeremy Corbyn entered the […]
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Report of yesterday’s Scottish Labour executive
Jun 14th, 2015 by Guest.Jim Murphy’s last day at the office resulted in the predictable media spin over substance, but in fairness any shortcoming in his ‘report’ was entirely appropriate. Jim’s report on Scottish Labour’s political future was neither a report nor did it have very much to do with Scottish Labour’s political future. It was a series of papers […]
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Letter to good comrades: please nominate Jeremy and give us the debate we need
Jun 9th, 2015 by Ben Sellers.An open letter addressed to Ian Lavery MP (Wansbeck), Dave Anderson MP (Blaydon) and Ian Mearns MP (Gateshead) Dear Ian, Dave and Ian, Yesterday, I spent a couple of precious hours writing a politely worded, standard letter requesting that Labour MPs open up the Labour leadership race for the debate we really need by nominating Jeremy Corbyn […]
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Why, across the UK, we need Jeremy Corbyn on the ballot paper
Jun 7th, 2015 by Neil Findlay.The Labour Party in Scotland and the UK is hurting and hurting badly. Now is the time for our members, supporters, trade unions and affiliated organisations and wider society to engage in a major debate about the future of the party, what we stand for and Labour’s place in our democracy: How do we address […]
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On the responsibities of Left MPs in Labour’s leadership election
Jun 5th, 2015 by Jon Lansman.The entry of Jeremy Corbyn into Labour’s leadership election at last makes it possible to force all candidates to address the widespread opposition amongst party and trade union activists and councillors to austerity. The continuous stream of pronouncements by Andy Burnham to appeal to the Labour right has undermined his credibility as a “left” candidate – the image […]
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Trade union shows how not to consult its members on London Mayoralty
Jun 2nd, 2015 by Jon Lansman.So far the selection of the candidate for London Mayor has left much to be desired. A selection process was imposed on London that no section of the party in London wanted – not the trade unions, not the constituency parties, not the regional board of the party. Then the process was designed as if […]
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How grassroots activists can influence ‘what’s next for Labour?’
May 31st, 2015 by David Pavett.Reviewing what went wrong is a priority for all Labour members. Here David Pavett reports on how one constituency party approached the discussion One hundred and sixty (that’s the official count, I think there were more) people participated in a meeting titled What Next for Labour? in the hall attached to the George IV pub in […]
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What’s the best we can expect from the next leader? More deaf ears to party members?
May 20th, 2015 by David Pavett.It is difficult to discern from a lot of the discussion on the left just what is at stake in the leadership election. There is discussion about whether Andy Burnham is to the right or left of Miliband and of how dreadfully right-wing most of the candidates and potential candidates are. Some are waiting for […]
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The left should place its trust in democracy – not in leadership candidates
May 17th, 2015 by Jon Lansman.After the catastrophic defeat by the SNP in Scotland and the extremely disappointing results in England and Wales, Labour needed a period of debate and reflection about what went wrong and what to do about it. What we have instead is a leadership (and deputy leadership) election. Do not expect an election to provide the […]
