NEC Report – 3rd June 2014

Report on the recent Local and European elections

We discussed the recent Local and European election results in full and extended our congratulations to all our newly elected representatives.  We also extended our thanks to all members, candidates and staff whose massive efforts saw us knocking on an amazing 7 million doors during the campaign.

In the Locals we gained 338 council seats (more than any other party), the Tories went down 230, the Liberal Democrats went down 310 and UKIP gained 161.  We took full control of Hammersmith, Croydon, Redbridge, Merton, Harrow, Bradford, Amber Valley, Cambridge and Crawley councils and crucially many of our gains were in key seats that we need to take next year if we are to win the General Election.

In short, what we saw was Labour sweeping the board across London, the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) replacing the Tories as a poor second in the North and the Lib Dem vote collapsing almost everywhere (a collapse which will inevitably affect their activist base going into the General Election).  I’ve written some top tips for newly elected councillors here. Please do share this with newly elected colleagues.

This means that Labour is now the largest party in the Local Government Association (the LGA) for the first time since 2003/04.  Dave Sparks, Leader of the Labour Group on the LGA, becomes the new LGA Chair and the voice of local government and as Dave takes up this new role a new Group Leader will be elected.

In the Euro elections we had our best result on the European stage for 20 years, winning 24% of the popular vote and increasing our MEPs from 13 to 20, nearly obliterating the Liberal Democrats and pushing the Tories into 3^rd place in a national election for the first time.  Our MEPs will continue to sit within the Socialist & Democrats group in the Parliament and will be the 3^rd largest delegation within the Group.  Glenis Willmott continues as Leader of the EPLP and Claude Moraes continues as Deputy.  We discussed the rise of UKIP, the challenge they present to all political parties, the media’s obsession with them and I, and others, called for us to tackle their scaremongering head on.  It will be interesting to see who UKIP end up voting with in the Parliament.

I asked whether our general election target seat list would be reviewed on the back of these results and I will report back if there are any changes to that.  I also called for us to look at funding for those seats.

Leaders Report

Ed Miliband spoke about the recent election results and extended his thanks and congratulations to colleagues across the party.  He said the party should be encouraged by these results and that our response to anti-politics will be to broaden and deepen our offer of change throughout the country.  The elections prove that Tory spin of ‘things getting better’ is not what people are feeling on the ground.  We will advocate openness and solidarity and take UKIP apart on their wider policy offer.

Ed spoke too of the Scottish Referendum campaign and stressed how focussed he and the rest of the Shadow Cabinet are in fighting for the United Kingdom.  I thanked Ed for that and asked that he ensure colleagues across the party prioritised this in the coming months.

Regular readers will know that I regularly raise with Ed the government’s chipping away of workers employment rights.  At this meeting I raised with him the latest change to the employment tribunals procedure – that of Mandatory Early Acas Conciliation.  Rather than help to resolve employment disputes this process has caused confusion to tribunal deadlines and excludes the right of applicants to representation from their trade union at this very early stage of their claim.  Ed agreed to look at this and the issue of employment tribunal fees, which I have raised with him previously.

Agenda 2015

We reviewed the progress of the Policy Review and feedback received on the Agenda 2015 Final Year policy documents which are currently out for consultation.  We also discussed the arrangements for the meeting of the National Policy Forum which will take place on 18-20 July in Milton Keynes.  That meeting is a key milestone on the road to developing the manifesto that will take us into the next election.

We noted that since the beginning of the consultation over 60,000 people have visited the Your Britain website.  At the time of our meeting we had received around 160 amendments from CLPs, though I know this figure must now be much higher since NPF members receive e-mail alerts when amendments are made by CLPs in their region or to documents of the commission they chair and my phone hasn’t stopped buzzing all weekend!  Website figures have also reached a new peak with 10500 visitors in one day and the average daily visitor rate now over 1000.

If your CLP hasn’t made a submission or amendment remember that the deadline for you to have your say is next Friday, 13 June.  So, if you want the party to commit to scrapping employment tribunal fees, to a radical house-building programme and the living wage now is the time to speak up.  Your CLP Secretary can submit amendments to the documents on behalf of your CLP (guidance on how to do so is here).  We want every CLP to be involved in shaping our agenda — so please make sure yours doesn’t miss out.

Parliamentary selections

At our recent NEC Organisation Sub-committee meeting we reviewed progress of our parliamentary selections including those that had become available for selection.  We agreed that Great Grimsby, Cynon Valley, Swansea East, Ashton Under Lyme & Salford & Eccles constituencies should have All Women Shortlists.  I raised the issue of support for our disabled candidates and asked that steps are put in place to ensure the number of candidates coming forward is continuously reviewed to ensure selections are competitive wherever possible.

The Scottish Independence Referendum

We received a report on the Scottish Referendum campaign.  It was noted that a new Referendum Campaign Director and 12 new referendum Campaign Organisers have been recruited in Scotland and that other organising resource will be deployed there to assist the campaign.  Our CLP twinning arrangements there are under review to ensure that we maximise the Labour vote in September.  The new Referendum membership rate launched at Scottish Conference has also seen a good number of supporters motivated by the campaign join the party.   I called again for members across the UK party to be given things to do to help the campaign.  This is a vote that will affect the whole of the UK and lots of members outside of Scotland are keen to help.

NEC & Party Treasurer Elections

The One Member One Vote Ballot to elect your National Executive Committee CLP Representatives, your National Executive Committee Associations of Labour Councillors Representatives and the Party’s Treasurer will take place over the summer.  The detailed timetable for the elections is here.

I’d like to thank all the CLPs that have already nominated me for re-election to the NEC.  I’m proud of my record on the NEC.  I stood to put members first because I believe our party stands a better chance of winning when it listens to and engages its members and activists.  Since then I’ve travelled more than 27,995 miles – to 117 CLPs and counting – to engage members like you, in CLPs of every size and in every region of the country.

I’ve put more information on why I’m standing in my leaflet, which you can download here.  CLP Secretaries can submit nominations online via Membersnet here. If you need paper forms or a form in a Word format just email [email protected] or call 020 7783 1376.  If you are able to nominate me you will need my membership number to do so – it is A914587.  Thank you.

Other issues:

• We noted the work plan for, and progress of, the Collins Implementation Committee, on which I sit, and it was agreed that outputs from the committee should be communicated to CLPs to ensure you’re kept up to speed with developments.
• We agreed a new membership recruitment incentive for local CLPs aimed at increasing the level of recruitment in the run up to the General Election, which I was pleased to support.
• We reviewed the work of our National and Regional Parties and the General Secretary gave a report on the party’s finances.

This is my personal account of this meeting & should not be taken as the official record but please do pass on to other Labour members who may be interested.

Keeping in touch…

Since my last report I’ve been delighted to visit and talk with members in Denton & Reddich CLP, Stoke on Trent South CLP, Eastwood CLP and Exeter CLP.  Like many of you I also spent much of my time out on the doorstep in the run up to the elections, primarily in our target constituency of Bermondsey & Old Southwark which my constituency is twinned with, but I also helped out in Lewisham East, Lewisham Deptford and Sutton & Cheam.  I was also pleased to attend the Bermondsey & Old Southwark CLP Fundraiser with Chuka Umuna MP, the Labour Friends of Bangladesh – Bangladeshi Independence Day celebrations, the United for Labour ceilidh in London and the Progress conference.

Remember if you’d like me to visit your CLP to give an NEC report or facilitate a policy discussion please don’t hesitate to get in touch.