Jess Barnard, Gemma Bolton and Yasmine Dar report on recent meetings of the Labour Party’s National Executive Committee and sub-committees.
Women’s Conference
The point was raised that at the last NEC we had a lengthy discussion about Women’s Conference and the attempts made previously to significantly reduce the number of motions that would be permitted to be discussed. It had been agreed to put this on the agenda to discuss at next NEC meeting but it was confirmed this would be brought to the March NEC meeting. We will continue to push for full rights of women members to formulate Party policy and of course for a standalone conference.
Declining Membership
A report from the General Secretary indicated clear (and justified) concern, going into local elections. We also heard a report from the Treasurer. This was welcome because, as Jess Barnard noted, this is the first time in over two years that we had been given a Treasurer’s Report at an NEC meeting. We are hopeful that more regular reporting to the NEC will provide us with greater ability to oversee Labour’s finances. It has been reported in the Guardian that the loss of Short money has created financial problems – therefore this remains a key priority for us to scrutinise.
Meanwhile the Party membership is down to 329,957, down from 339,000 in November and 348,000 in July, and youth membership has fallen to 30,000, having been at over 100,000 five years ago. This downward trend in membership is almost certainly fuelled by unjust and unpopular decisions such as the refusal to end the two-child benefit cap, cuts to Winter Fuel Payments, the subservient approach adopted towards the reactionary and dangerous Trump Administration, and of course a long period of sustained attacks on the democratic rights of members. This is clearly not good for the long-term health of the Party or our financial stability.
CLPs in Special Measures
A paper was agreed updating the NEC on the eight CLPs currently held in special measures. The paper detailed the enhanced membership checks carried out in the CLPs.
A number of CLPs have been suspended for many years, preventing local members from organising and essentially shutting them out of activity with the Labour Party. The Party made a commitment to those that have been in special measures to put more resources into sorting this out. Yasmine Dar demanded a timeline be given to move this forward to give members their rights back – left CLP reps will pick this up again to ensure that this happens and progress is being made.
Policy Issues
As there were few organisational items on the NEC agenda, there was relatively more discussion of policy issues due to the attendance of the Party leader and deputy leader and a cabinet member, which was welcome.
There was a discussion of various policy areas of concern to Labour Party members and trade union affiliates. Trade union representatives expressed concerns about the prospect of further dilutions to the Employment Rights Bill, and emphasised the need to make sure there are no loopholes that undermine the progressive potential of the legislation. Jess Barnard asked Angela Rayner why the Government isn’t repealing the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act, given that the Met Police clearly decided to politically target pro-Palestine protestors on 18th January, and Angela Rayner confirmed she would follow up with a written response as she didn’t have this information to hand.
Keir Starmer gave an update on various key issues. Jess Barnard challenged Starmer on the Party’s use of language that stigmatises disabled people and welfare claimants, pointing out that Ellen Morrison, the NEC Disabled Members’ Rep, has raised this issue many times but the Frontbench seems fully committed to propagating misleading narratives about benefit fraud that undermine the social security system. Starmer agreed to look into someone from his team meeting with the Disabled Members’ Rep. Gemma Bolton asked Starmer if the Government has conducted any impact assessment into the impacts of cutting Winter Fuel Payments, and Yasmine Dar asked how Labour will protect the rights of civilians in Gaza given that the Israeli Government, with Trump’s support, is fully committed to the ethnic cleansing of the population of Gaza.
On this last issue, the Prime Minister said that the role of the UK is to “play our full part” in ensuring that the ceasefire holds, but this commitment didn’t seem to involve ending the UK’s ongoing arms sales to Israel. With regard to the compensation of the WASPI women, the Prime Minister made it clear that the Government policy is not to compensate them as this would conflict with other objectives like investing in the NHS. He also indicated support for a third runway at Heathrow, arguing that the main problem here is that such infrastructure projects “take too long”, apparently without any regard for the catastrophic impacts this will have on climate change and on air pollution in West London.
Wes Streeting gave a report on his work as Health Secretary. Gemma Bolton and Jess Barnard both challenged him on the banning of puberty blockers, despite opposition from Labour for Trans Rights, LGBT+ Labour members, and overwhelming evidence showing puberty-suppressing hormones are a safe and effective way to temporarily pause a young person’s puberty. Streeting’s answer was very disappointing and did not address the core point that the ban puts the lives of many transgender teenagers at risk. Yasmine Dar asked about safeguards in light of the progress of the Assisted Dying Bill, but the response was that this was not a Government bill and therefore not the role of Government to make these amendments.
REPORTS FROM OTHER COMMITTEES
Disciplinary and Complaints Committee
Information on complaints to the Party: the average number of complaints is projected to continue at around 500 – 700 complaints a month. Currently due to the increase in the number of complaints being submitted around policy issues of the Government, the percentage of complaints assessed as valid has fallen from 9% to 2.3%. 26.7% of complaints relate to strategy and 31.5% of complaints relate to MPs, showing a significant level of frustration with the political direction of the party. The complaints form has now been updated to filter out complaints relating to the Government.
There are currently 242 active disciplinary cases, 19 active sexual harassment cases and 105 members are currently suspended, 18% of these have been in place longer than 18 months.
National Policy Forum (NPF)
All NPF reps were invited to an introductory meeting. Keir Starmer attended to set out the priorities for the Government going forward in a brief address to the committee.
The NPF is made up of around 200 representatives who are split into working groups by policy (policy commissions).
Yvette Cooper attended the Safer Streets Commission Introduction. Jess Barnard was able to raise a number of issues, including: lack of access to legal aid as a barrier to justice; failure of the justice system around the issue of sexual violence when less than 1% of rapes result in a successful conviction; institutional racism and sexism in the police; and importantly the use of Tory authoritarian anti-democratic legislation which is being used to shut down peaceful protest, threatening our right to assemble.
Yvette only responded to the matter of justice for sexual violence victims, outlining the government plans for support workers to guide victims through the justice system. As we know, this isn’t good enough and we will keep pushing for stronger transformative policy commitments for justice.
Organisational sub committee
The Party are reporting most target council seats have now selected candidates, but we continue to receive complaints from CLPs and members about delays or active popular candidates with no prior investigations or suspensions against them being blocked from standing. This causes significant harm to the morale of local CLPs and our ability to win local election seats in such politically volatile times.