Motion 1.
This LRC AGM agrees to affiliate to the Palestine Solidarity campaign
submitted by Pete Firmin, Bisi Williams, Mos Bulbeck Reynolds, Alison McGarry, Pamela Fitzpatrick, Patrick Hall, Terry Conway, Austin Harney, Steve Wright and Graham Bash.
Motion 2.
Declaring a Housing Emergency
The LRC expresses its support for the housing composite resolution passed at the Labour Party conference which included the main demands of the Labour Campaign for Council Housing. Rather than just seeking a commitment from a future Labour government it called on Labour to “demand that the government takes action now to end the housing crisis by”
➢ Fully funding councils to deliver the building of 150,000 social rent homes each year, including 100,000 council homes
➢ Ending Right to Buy
➢ Reviewing council housing debt to address underfunding of housing revenue accounts
➢ Fund the retro-fitting of council housing to cut greenhouse gases, provide jobs and promote a shift from outsourcing to Direct Labour Organisations
➢ Ending Section 21 (no fault) evictions
Both the Party nationally and the Labour Group in the LGA should be campaigning for action now to begin to resolve the housing crisis. We cannot accept passively waiting for the next general election.
The LRC therefore expresses its support for the model resolution of the Labour Campaign for Council Housing for CLPs and union branches, which
calls on Labour to implement the housing composite resolution as a matter of urgency;
calls on Labour groups to press their councils to Declare a Housing Emergency as a launching pad for campaigning which demands that the government adequately funds existing and new build council housing.
This is a weak and shambolic government which has executed a host of U-turns. We need to build a campaign inside and outside the Labour Party to pressure them into executing a U-turn on financing council housing.
The LRC calls on its members and affiliates to promote this campaign in the CLPs and unions.”
Submitted by
Martin Wicks, Pete Firmin, Terry Conway, Alison McGarry, Graham Bash, Phil Jackson, John McGrory, Patrick Hall, John Coates, Bisi Williams, Ian Malcolm-Walker, Harry Stannard
Motion 3.
Local Government Cuts - Building the Resistance
Conference notes local government is suffering a new phase of cuts. Councils face an unprecedented financial crisis through years of cuts and the failure of the government to provide funding necessary to cover the financial impact of the pandemic.
We have yet to see mass co-ordinated resistance to cuts from the trade unions and Labour Party, including Party councillors. The LRC commits to help build a campaign through the left in the Party with trade unions, community and tenant organisations, service users, for funding necessary to not only stop, but reverse cuts.
As a minimum, the campaign should demand the government:
• Honour its commitment to fully fund councils for the extra costs of dealing with the pandemic and lost revenue resulting from the lockdowns.
• Cancel local authority debt held by the Public Works Loan Board, which will provide Councils with an extra £4.5bn spending power a year, including £1.25bn extra for Housing Revenue Accounts.
• Provide Councils with £10bn grant a year to fund building 100,000 social rent Council homes annually, addressing the housing crisis and providing socially useful work.
• Open urgent negotiations on ‘a new financial settlement for local government’ with funding based on measured social needs in each local authority, with an annual assessment to uprate for inflation.
We should also demand Party councillors resist cuts to defend critical services and jobs.
The Left in the Party and trade unions must work with those suffering through cuts to build working class power.
(250 words)
Motion 4
Open Selection
We believe that the current Labour Party selection process is undemocratic and divisive and is responsible for damaged morale of the membership and affiliates which ultimately results in poor election and by-election outcomes.
We note that imposition of parliamentary candidates by Westminster bureaucrats and Party executives undermines the very essence of the Labour Party brand of Democratic Socialism.
This motion calls upon the Labour Representative Committee to adopt a position of full support for the Open Selection Campaign. https://www.facebook.com/labouropenselection
The following website is in the process of being updated https://www.labour-open-selection.org.uk/
Submitted by: George Massey, Ian Hollingworth, Gerry Lerner, Anne Greenslade, Bernard Forbes, Colin O'Driscoll, Eve Hill, Janet Marks, Jenny Mahimbo, Mike Crosland, Sam Geen. John Angliss