NEC Elections – call for a united left slate
Joint statement from the LRC, JVL and Red Labour
Tue 7 Jul 2020
Labour is entering yet another round of elections, this time for nine members to represent the constituency parties on the powerful 38-member National Executive Committee.
The increasingly right-wing party leadership will be hoping to consolidate their grip on the NEC by depriving the socialist left of a number of seats in the CLP section, in recent years a stronghold of those who supported Corbyn’s leadership. Disunity on the left could help them do so: in this Spring’s by-elections both seats were lost to the right because there were multiple left slates. Following the loss of the leadership it is crucial that socialists in the party do not let this happen again. So, it is critically important that all left Labour organisations work together to arrive at a single unified slate.
The imposition of a new voting system – Single Transferable Voting (STV) rather than First Past the Post – combined with the requirement to submit candidates’ names in a short timeframe while physical meetings are impossible due to coronavirus, presents the left with special challenges. Nominations have to be in by midday this Friday July 10. CLP nominations open the following day, and there will be a campaign period extending till mid-October when ballots are issued, with a closing date of 12 November. Right-wing factions are already prepared.
Jewish Voice for Labour, Labour Representation Committee and Red Labour, are working together with the other nine organisations represented in the Centre Left Grassroots Alliance (CLGA) to arrive at a list of candidates that every party member can be assured will stand firm in defence of the policy gains of the Corbyn period: for a democratic party equally accessible to all members regardless of their background; for open selection for all post holders; and for natural justice, transparency and fairness in internal processes.
We and other CLGA member organisations are currently reviewing prospective nominees for the nine CLP places on the NEC, with the proviso that it may be better, strategically, to nominate a smaller slate of 6 in order to maximise the vote for left candidates.
The two largest and best-established left groups – Momentum and Campaign for Labour Party Democracy (CLPD) – bear a large part of the responsibility for ensuring that this time there is no factional wrangling of the kind that has undermined left unity over the last two years. Other groups involved need to play their part in generating the purposeful and flexible spirit necessary to select a set of able and principled candidates that all will support.
Working together, Jewish Voice for Labour, the Labour Representation Committee and Red Labour have become influential actors in this important, complex and fast-moving situation. We will do our best to keep members informed, and to campaign actively for the success of the unity slate of left candidates.
