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NEC member fears a pre-Conference fix

Labour Party members are to be denied sight of rule changes arising from the Refounding Labour consultation triggered by Ed Miliband’s election ten months ago. According to veteran constituency representative on the ruling national executive committee, Ann Black, any rule changes to be put to party conference will not be decided until the executive’s next meeting on 20 September.  Labour’s Conference 2011 starts in Liverpool four days later.

In her covering note to her unofficial NEC report, Ann wrote:

As explained below, final recommendations will not be agreed by the NEC until 20 September, and these are likely to include some of the most contentious areas.  So there will be no time for delegates to consult with their local parties before annual conference. In addition current plans are that no amendments will be allowed and the document will be voted on a whole, Yes or No, including any rule changes.

Members need to find their voice to stop this attempted pre-Conference fix. I am going to my General Committee tonight with an Emergency resolution:

This CLP:

  1. Notes the publication of a summary report about the Refounding Labour consultation following the NEC July meeting
  2. Welcomes support for strategic planning by CLPs, more differentiated membership rates, progress under consideration regarding equality and Young Labour structures.
  3. Remains concerned about the apparent absence of measures to respond to members’ calls for more democratic and accountable policy-making. This is now urgent with less than nine weeks before Conference 2011.
  4. Is alarmed about the registered supporters proposals, especially voting rights in leadership elections which we doubt was reflected in submissions and has undermined our confidence in the consultation process.
We therefore request our NEC/NPF representatives to press for:
  1. the distribution to all CLP secretaries of the planned Refounding Labour paper at the same time as it is despatched to the September Organisation Committee* to enable members to be consulted and our representatives to be advised;
  2. the publication all Refounding Labour submissions at the same time to start to rebuild confidence in the Labour Party’s consultation processes.
*due to meet on 6 September

I will no doubt get roundly criticised for wasting their time, as no one takes any notice of members full stop. We’ll see.

2 Comments

  1. Wilf Flynn says:

    Any organisation which says you accept the final document and all rule changes is stitching up the delegates. You have to ask yourself how have we got here, it’s not down to one person but the majority of the NEC. That same NEC meeting appointed a General Secretary who didn’t have the support of the leadership. They equally could have made a decision different they chose not to.

  2. Robert says:

    They chose not to because it would have caused an uproar

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