Strong support for lowering the nominations threshold

By Duncan Hall

UPDATE: Sunny Hundal has a list of signatories so far.

Since writing this article for LabourList last week, I have compiled an impressive list of names of those who wish to support an appeal to the NEC and General Secretary calling for nomination threshold in the Labour leadership election to be lowered, in order to allow the broadest possible contest. The proposal is to reduce it to 5%.

Although it is clear that supporters of the two backbench candidates who have put their hats in the ring have the most to gain from such a rule change, the support is very broad. Glasgow South MP, Tom Harris – whose “tweet” on this subject inspired the 5% target – has proudly nominated David Miliband, and yet I’m delighted that he asked to sign up to this appeal, again via Twitter.

He has been joined by other MPs who have emailed me: Katy Clark (North Ayrshire and Arran) and Kate Hoey (Vauxhall).

Former MPs have also added their names to the appeal: Tony Benn, Harry Barnes and Alice Mahon. Eight currently-serving Labour councillors have put their names to the appeal (from the Isle of Wight, Preston and Calder Valley) alongside blogger Sunny Hundal from Liberal Conspiracy and a number of ordinary members, including some brand new members who have joined since the general election. The current total is only 32 – which doesn’t quite equal 12.5% of the PLP – but it’s a high quality list.

It is important that this appeal is submitted to the NEC and General Secretary at the earliest possible opportunity, as it is a difficult proposal to change the rules during a contest, and therefore needs to be proposed as early as possible. It will certainly be submitted this week, but if you would like to add your name and CLP (and/or union branch) to the appeal, please don’t hesitate to contact me on [email protected].

If you are, or know, an MP, union organiser, or CLP officer who might want to join this appeal, please encourage them to do so. Without this change there is a real danger that we might have a very limited contest and debate this summer, and nobody seems to want that. I understand some people believe the threshold serves an important purpose, but I do reiterate that the proposal here is for a temporary reduction, for this contest. Discussons about the general principle are for another time and place.

I look forward to hearing from you: I think we can do this.