See below for a letter addressed to the London Labour Party CLP Secretaries from members of the London Regional Executive Committee

TO: CLP Secretaries

SUBJECT: London Regional Conference

Dear CLP Secretaries,

It is with regret that we write to you regarding the London Conference, scheduled for July 24th-25th, because we believe you are due a full explanation and we would ask you to consider communicating this to your members so they are fully aware of the context.

The REC, the legitimate body for making decisions regarding the timing of the regional Conference, had previously instructed the elected London CAC to hold a Conference in November, a timeframe the CAC had been planning their diaries around.

The Regional Office has insisted on breaking the rules in order to forcibly call a Conference with just 7 weeks time to make arrangements – they are claiming the NEC has agreed to overrule, although it is still not at all clear at which meeting this happened, and in any case the rulebook makes it clear that it is the REC’s decision to make and not the NECs.

The Conference Arrangements Committee (CAC) is the body responsible for determining the timetable for the Conference along with making preparations for it. The CAC is made up of elected members who have day jobs and caring responsibilities to factor in.

The Regional Office continually offered to meet with the CAC during work hours, providing just 24 hours for response. Organising a regional Conference is a lot of work for elected representatives to undertake in such a short timeframe and with several CAC members struggling with pre-arranged caring responsibilities and time commitments during June and July, the actions of the Regional Office have created significant undue stress.

These moves also impose stress unduly on CLP Officers. As a recent letter from CLP Secretaries made clear, June meetings are already packed with conference business, and in some cases AGMs, given the deadline to complete AGMs falls in July and CLPs have been unable to meet during the pre-election period. Holding a regional conference in the school holidays also creates a disadvantage for those caring for children, a social labour which almost always falls on the shoulders of women, and goes against our usual practices which allow for a summer break in Labour Party business.

Now the Regional Office has broken the rules again in unilaterally bypassing the democratically elected Conference Arrangements Committee by imposing a timetable without any input whatsoever from the CAC; the body responsible for developing the Conference timetable.

The Regional Office has also refused to consult the Regional Executive Committee on the proposed regional rules, despite every other REC in the country being consulted. Instead the Regional Office unilaterally signed off on a set of recommendations and circulated these to the NEC, and has now broken even these rules in bypassing the regional CAC.

These actions paint a picture of a disturbing pattern of behaviour, including the brazen breaking of the Labour Party rulebook, bypassing the relevant elected bodies of the Party and treating them with contempt, mobilising the Labour Party bureaucracy behind a narrow, factional agenda at the cost of due process, transparency, and accountability.

In spite of all this we would urge all Labour Party members in London to engage in the London Conference scheduled on July 24th-25th in order to exercise your democratic rights as best as possible despite these disgraceful conditions.

Signed,

Jim Kelly (Chair, Unite)

Seema Chandwani (Vice Chair)

Alison McGarry (Women’s Officer)

Rheian Davies (CLP Division 1)

Ranjeev Walia (CLP Division 1)

Francis Prideaux (CLP Division 2)

Fay Dowker (CLP Division 2)

Sam Green (CLP Division 3)

James McAsh (CLP Division 3)

Dorinda Duncan (CLP Division 4)

Munir Malik (CLP Division 4)

Apsana Begum (CLP Division 5)

Bob Littlewood (CLP Division 5)

Emina Ibrahim (CLP Division 6)

Jumbo Chan (CLP Division 7)

Niamh O’Brady (Unite rep on REC and CAC)

James Mitchell (Unite)

Danny Freeman (Unite)

Alan Tate (CWU rep on REC and CAC)

Mary Hanson (CWU Rep)

Chris Clark (TSSA)

Gareth Beeton (FBU Rep)

Elly Baker (NPF Rep)

Adrian Weir (NPF Rep)

Theresa Byrne (London CAC, CLP Rep)

Kathryn Johnson (London CAC, CLP Rep)

Hasib Baber (London CAC, CLP Rep)