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NEC candidate team backed by Labour First and Progress announced

November 21, 2011 7:55 pm

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Luke Akehurst

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I’m pleased to announce I am re-standing for a second two year term as a constituency representative on Labour’s National Executive Committee (NEC).

The team I am part of consists of the following six candidates for the six places:

· Luke Akehurst (sitting NEC member)
· Joanne Milligan (National Policy Forum constituency rep)
· Florence Nosegbe (Lambeth Council’s Cabinet Member for Culture, Sport and the 2012 Games)
· Ellie Reeves (sitting NEC member)
· Ruth Smeeth (parliamentary candidate for Burton in 2010)
· Peter Wheeler (long-serving NEC member until 2010)

Further information about the record and policies each of us is running on will be published in the next few weeks.

All six of us are proud to be supported by both Labour First and Progress.

Constituency Labour Parties can nominate up to six people for the six places up until the deadline of Friday 30 March 2012.

A One Member One Vote ballot will take place during May and June 2012, alongside election of National Policy Forum representatives and selection of Police Commissioner candidates. Each member of the Party can vote for up to six NEC candidates, with the first six past-the-post, including a minimum of three women, electd.

Editor’s note: LabourList welcomes posts from other slates or individuals seeking election to the NEC – email us at mail@labourlist.org.

http://www.stuartbruce.biz Stuart Bruce
I’ll be backing the list, especially as I know several people on it. But I’m more than a bit uncomfortable that five of the six appear to be from London. Peter’s good, but we can hardly expect him to single handedly represent all the constituencies outside London. I know that some of the team have done a fantastic job visiting constituencies, but the Labour First/Progress list should still better represent the country as a whole.
Luke Akehurst
Stuart, 3 of the 6 are not members of London CLPs.

John Ruddy
Its not just London CLPs though that are over represented. We ought to have a wide cross section across the whole country. People who live or work in the south east are over-represented, and this is something which needs adressing.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Mike-Homfray/510980099 Mike Homfray
This was something our constituency recommended to Refounding Labour.

Anonymous
Hi Mike, do you know why it’s taking so long to hear anything more about the Refounding process?
It was all geared up at the beginning, but feels like far too long waiting for further feedback.
I do hope people’s opinions and ideas have been taken on board!
Hope all is well with you in sunny Liverpool!
Jo

http://www.stuartbruce.biz Stuart Bruce
A very precise answer Luke. Saying they are “not members of London CLPs” is not the same as saying they aren’t London and south east centric. Progress is making great strides in becoming less London-centric and Labour First has always had good representation in certain regions, but despite the high calibre of the people on this list it is a step back not forwards. For those of us trying to “sell” the list and persuade local members to back it you make our job so much harder.

Redshift
Who are the Grassroots Alliance slate? I’m sorry but they’ll be getting my vote!
http://www.facebook.com/people/Mike-Homfray/510980099 Mike Homfray
I always vote for a mix of candidates but give my preference to those NOT on a slate. Also, at present all six representatives come from the south which when one considers where labour voters live is ridiculous, so I am hoping that there will be representation from other regions this year
peter wheeler
Only just spotted this piece,(browsing when I m meant to be cooking the Tea!) so many thanks to Alan and Stuart for their kind words and I will be doing my best to get elected to ensure a voice for the ordinary Party members who do the day to day hard work because they believe in the importance of a Labour Government and Labour Councils. I believe those members should be treated with more respect than they sometimes are.
Stuart is right though, we need to build greater representation of different areas into our structures. It’s wrong that there is no elected member from the Labour strongholds like the North, Scotland, Wales and the Midlands- it is also wrong that there is no-one to speak up for members in areas like the South West or the Eastern Region-full of seats Labour needs to re-gain if we are to form a Government yet the Party didn’t even organise a Hustings in these areas during the Leadership election.
That’s why I believe we need a system based on regional elections, ensuring greater representation and accountability. We would be able to expect NEC members to work more closely with Regional Boards, report to regional Conferences, visit and campaign in more constituencies and have a greater background knowledge of the local political situation.
It would mean a slightly larger NEC but we could live with that if the result was an NEC more in touch with the members on the ground.
There are plenty of bigger issues we need to be campaigning on-Tory attacks on employment rights, the threat to social housing and social housing tenants, massively rising unemployment-but i believe such changes would give members a greater stake in the party-and that can only be a good thing.
Peter

http://www.facebook.com/people/Mike-Homfray/510980099 Mike Homfray
Peter – we put the regional solution forward in our CLP response to Refounding Labour – can you find out if there are any plans to consider this?
http://www.stuartbruce.biz Stuart Bruce
Couldn’t agree more. In fact my personal submission to Refounding Labour was about making the party more accessible outside of London and the South East – not just in our heartlands, but also in those regions that we need to win and hold more seats.
I was very disappointed that Refounding Labour wasn’t radical enough. In opposition, sometime from an election and with a new leader we had a unique opportunity to reshape the party for the 21st century. We failed and instead tinkered with some changes that are good and others not so welcome.
If we are to campaign effectively on the big issues of employment rights, social housing, unemployment etc then we must have a party that is in the best of shape to do this. That’s why it is right to look at internal issues at the moment because it makes us better and stronger to focus on the external ones that matter to voters.
Redshift
Peter, I think you have my vote. I’ll admit I didn’t vote for you last time or the time before but it is exactly the regional makeup that makes me most uneasy about the NEC at the moment.

Peter Barnard
As a CLP secretary, I don’t recall receiving anything from the Labour party to tell me that the NEC nomination process has started.

There is something wrong here when people can announce to the world that they have been nominated for places on the NEC, and some CLPs aren’t even aware that the process has started.
jonny morris
Luke, in October you wrote in your blog “Sectarianism is alive and well on the Labour Hard Left” in an attack on Michael Meacher that :”…it indicates Michael is trapped in the early ’80s paradigm of a divided PLP with factional slates for Shadow Cabinet elections”. How is a factional slate for the NEC any different? Or is it a case of “You are a faction, we are a team?”
http://twitter.com/JohnWiseman1 Wiseman of Politics
John Wiseman TULO/Exec Member/Union Convenor/North West CAC/ North West Co-op Party Council Exec Member St Helens South and Whiston and Kevin Bennett TULO/Vice-Chair Warrington South CLP are standing for the NEC/NPF from the North West, as well as Stephen Humphries – CLP secretary and Branch Officer Liverpool Unite 0538 Branch
Anonymous
My constituency shall definitely not be nominating any of these.

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