Victory - Jo Bird Reinstated

VOTE JO BIRD FOR THE NEC

Joint statement from JVL, LRC and Red Labour 15th February 2020

We are delighted that Councillor Jo Bird’s name and list of nominating CLPs has reappeared on the Labour Party website this morning. This must mean that her eligibility as a candidate has been reinstated and that she will be on the ballot for the NEC CLP seats. This is a victory for collective campaigning.

As soon as Jo’s suspension became known, just over a week ago, members have been mobilising at a grassroots level to build a campaign in support of her – and to challenge the nature and timing of the suspension. 

In just seven days, mass organising has resulted in thousands of signatures on an open letter urging the party to clarify the situation, and to act with fairness and transparency – towards Jo herself, to the thousands of members who nominated her and to restore trust in the NEC elections process and the Party's disciplinary process. In addition, members wrote to the General Secretary and some even referred themselves to the NEC in solidarity with Jo. 

Well done to the CLPs who continued to nominate Jo during her suspension. The fact that she now has well over 100 nominations will have added to the mass pressure on the party to review all these issues. 

Jo stands for:

•          Open selection of Labour MPs, just as for Labour Councillors

•          Freedom, justice and equality for all people

•          Members-led policy decided at a sovereign conference

•          Fairness and natural justice in complaints 

This is a victory for solidarity and effective organising. But we have to ask how this could have happened in the first place. We must build on this success to push for further review of both the complaints process and the NEC elections process. And we must push forward to get Jo elected to the NEC as a powerful representative for constituency party members.