Labour's Parliamentary Selection: What's Going On?

Statement from LRC NEC concerning the current parliamentary selection process

The Labour Representation Committee (LRC) views with deep concern the current process of Labour parliamentary selections, which has produced a real sense of outrage in many affected constituencies as well as more widely across the party. 

One of the important impetuses behind the election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the Labour Party was that together we would transform the Labour Party into a genuinely member-led party by strengthening grass roots democracy. We must not turn our back on that commitment and the activism it generated. 

We have seen a variety of situations in different CLPs which threaten that progressive dynamic. Strong support for all women shortlists has been ignored in some cases despite the positive effect the use of such shortlists has had in increasing the number of women in the PLP, and the increasing call for voluntary BAME shortlists, including by LRC affiliate Grassroots Black Left, has not been heeded in others. 

Candidates with serious local support, either expressed through a formal nomination process which has then been halted by the NEC or which is evident to anyone who cared to give it any real consideration, have been omitted from longlists. 

We also note with concern that some trade unions seem to be acting in contravention of their own procedures in nominating candidates without even consulting delegates to affected CLPs. The battle for member led democracy in affiliated unions is as much a concern for us as that in the constituencies themselves. 

We note that the current scramble to trigger or select could have been avoided if the party had acted much sooner in the electoral cycle. But even in the current situation where a general election may be called very soon, the NEC's emergency ad hoc fast-track parliamentary selection process is not fit for purpose. 

We support the statement and model motion from the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy (see below) in regard to emergency measures that must now be taken to reverse this very dangerous situation. 

Labour under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership must stay true to a commitment to democracy from the bottom up. If we fail to do so many activists may well refuse to campaign for candidates imposed by a stitch-up from on high while our enemies will use it to attack the party. We can’t emphasise too strongly that this could have a catastrophic effect on Labour's chances of winning power at the next general election.

Cathy Augustine, Co-Vice Chair LRC

on behalf of the Labour Representation Committee

CLPD statement on the problems in the parliamentary selection process

 
The Campaign for Labour Party Democracy (CLPD) has now received evidence from a number of CLPs which makes it clear that the NEC's emergency ad hoc fast-track parliamentary selection process needs to be revised to fully reflect the views of each CLP's members.
 
CLPD is calling on the NEC to revise the long-listing process to ensure that all those with support in a CLP are included ahead of those totally unknown to that CLP.
 
CLPD is also calling on the NEC, at a minimum, to allow each CLP to add an extra person to the shortlist in order that a positive and democratic response is made to the justified criticisms and to ensure that our Party is united at all levels and thus can be totally focused on winning the General Election.
 
CLPD urges all CLPs and Branches to urgently send a motion along these lines to Jeremy Corbyn, the General Secretary and to their Regional/Scottish/Wales Director.

A model motion that can be considered is set out below.

Model motion

 
This CLP notes that the recently adopted fast-track parliamentary selection process is a cause of concern in a number of CLPs, as it does not fully reflect the views of members in those CLPs.
 
We call on the NEC to revise the long-listing process to ensure that all those with support in a CLP are included ahead of those totally unknown to that CLP.
 
We also call on the NEC, at a minimum, to allow each CLP to add an extra person to the shortlist in order that a positive and democratic response is made to the justified criticisms and to ensure that our Party is united at all levels and thus can be totally focused on winning the General Election.
 
We agree to send our motion to Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour Party General Secretary and to our Labour Party Regional/Scottish/Wales [delete as applicable] Director.