Posted by Peter Willsman

Pete Willsman’s Guide to Labour Party Conference 2016

Inside Labour Willsman from NECThe Conference Agenda

The following business will comprise the Conference timetable:

  The National Executive Committee (NEC) Report and possible late NEC statements that can be issued to delegates during conference. In 1997 under the Partnership in Power document it was agreed that the NEC Report would include, “a report on the resolutions and comments on organisational and campaigning matters submitted to the NEC during the previous year”. This agreement has never been properly honoured and we need to address this oversight.

  •   NPF Report, including reports from the seven policy commissions of the National Policy Forum.
  •   Contemporary Motions and Emergency Motions that cover matters that would not otherwise appear on the conference agenda.
  •   Proposed rule changes from the NEC and from CLPs. (The rule change proposals from CLPs were submitted last year, but by convention (known as the „1968 Ruling‟) are not tabled until this year. This convention does not apply to rule change proposals from the NEC).
  •   Election for the CLP Section of the National Constitutional Committee (NCC).(Details are set out in written reports from the Conference Arrangements Committee (CAC) (ie. the initial Delegates Report and daily CAC Reports). The CAC is in near permanent session during Conference and acts as the Standing Orders Committee. Delegates have the right to present any queries directly to the CAC itself. Delegates who feel strongly about a point should insist on this right.)

    [If CLP secretaries have any general conference queries before conference they should contact Conference Services on 0845 092 3311 or conferenceservices@labour.org.uk]

     

     

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Peter Willsman reports from Labour’s July executives

Willsman1National Executive Committee 19 July 2016

This was the scheduled NEC meeting for July (below I cover the Emergency NEC meeting of 12 July). The atmosphere at this meeting was much better than at last week’s Emergency NEC meeting. In part this was due to the fact that Jeremy was present for the whole NEC and contributed throughout the meeting. This, of course, was the practice of all leaders until the advent of New Labour. Not only did Tony Blair downgrade the role of the NEC but also he was never prepared to spend more than an hour at our meetings. Jeremy is restoring the custom that served the Party well for over ninety years. Jeremy clearly appreciates the major and governing role of the NEC. One very notable feature of this NEC meeting was that, as has been the case in the past, some NEC members participated in the NEC via phone (in one case from Brittany), but on this occasion the Chair allowed voting by phone. To my mind this is a helpful development because sometimes NEC members are unavoidably absent. Continue reading →

Peter Willsman reports from Labour’s May executive

NEC Report Pete WNational Executive Committee 17 May 2016

The major subject for debate at the NEC were the reports from Baroness Jan Royall. These were handed round at the meeting and collected up at the end. In addition, Shami Chakrabarti attended the NEC to discuss the framework for her inquiry. There was a very friendly and positive attitude at the NEC reflecting the relative success in the recent elections and the general consensus that the bulk of the Party is pulling together. Continue reading →

Pete Willsman’s Report for Labour’s January Executive

Inside Labour Willsman from NEC

National Executive Committee 26 January 2016

The executive was faced with a very heavy agenda for the meeting because not only was there the much-heralded arrival of Margaret Beckett’s Learning the Lessons taskforce report, but we were to hear from Alan Johnson who is masterminding our Labour In For Britain referendum campaign, and Kezia Dugdale, the Leader of the Scottish Labour Party, and her team.

Other major items on the agenda were a detailed document setting out proposed changes following the NEC Governance and Committee Structures Review. Several members of the NEC (including myself) had contributed to the review. In my submission I have proposed that there should be the following new committees: a staffing committee, a policy committee, and a youth committee. I also proposed that the annual women’s conference should have a delegate structure and policy-making powers which feeds into annual conference. Similarly I proposed that the party fully empower all our BAME party members in a fully-functioning BAME section of the party, also with an annual conference with a delegate structure and policy-making powers, which feeds into annual conference. Continue reading →