A message from the NEC’s Ellie Reeves

From @LabourList

Below is a message from Ellie Reeves of the NEC, who bravely stood before the party leadership yesterday to voice the grassroots concerns on expenses and is continuing to fight on your behalf. Well done and thank you, Ellie.

Dear All,

First I want to thank everyone who responded to my email in relation to MPs expenses ahead of the NEC meeting today. I am sorry that I have not been able to reply to all of you personally – I had around 500 emails and I wanted to ensure that I read every one of them ahead of the meeting.

What is clear from your emails and phone calls is that many members feel disappointed, ashamed and let down by a few in the PLP who have either breached the rules or not acted within the spirit of them. As grass roots members, we give up our free time and energy to serve the party and as your representative on the NEC I wanted to ensure that your voice was heard at the meeting today.

That is why, having considered all your emails and also a letter signed by 203 PPCs, councillors and activists, at the meeting today I called on the party leadership to take action to rebuild trust and empower the membership.

Therefore, I proposed that CLPs should be given the opportunity to have a vote to decide whether they wanted to trigger a re-selection in light of their MPs expenses.

Not all MPs would have to go through re-selection. But the final decision should rest with the CLP.

Regrettably, my proposal did not receive widespread support from the NEC. Instead, it was agreed that CLPs could refer their MP to the NEC for their case to be reviewed.

The NEC statement is here.

On the NEC I will continue to fight for grass roots members.

As always, please do not hesitate to get in touch or to circulate this email to other members.

Best wishes

Ellie Reeves