Row beckons as Labour Party in Northern Ireland push to stand Stormont candidates

A row is brewing over how the Labour Party organises in Northern Ireland, after a motion was passed at a recent meeting of the Labour Party in Northern Ireland (LPNI) in support of standing candidates there.

Around 100 members attended the constituency meeting earlier this week, and the motion to stand candidates was passed “unanimously”, a week after the executive committee had also given its unanimous support.

This now puts UK Labour in a difficult position. The party has only allowed party membership in Northern Ireland since 2003 (and only then on legal advice), and supports the Social Democratic Labour Party (SDLP) there, who informally take the Labour whip in Westminster. The SDLP recently elected Colum Eastwood as their new leader.

The party reviews its position not to field candidates once a parliamentary term, and is not set to review the position again before May’s Stormont elections – however, former Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary Ivan Lewis told LabourList in March that the position would “genuinely” be kept “under review”.

During the leadership contest, Andy Burnham (who won the official backing of LPNI) said he would call an “immediate review” of the position had he won in September. While the decision is thought to lie with the NEC, Jeremy Corbyn has said it may be a choice the leader could make.

LPNI CLP secretary Boyd Black said that “the overwhelming feeling of the members of LPNI was that the people of Northern Ireland are crying out for a credible alternative to the sectarian silos of Northern Ireland politics.”  He added that the LPNI’s “1,700 members and supporters made it clear last night that they are fed up”.

However, the move will be met with opposition, including from the Labour Party Irish Society (LPIS). Their chair Matthew Doyle said that Labour has “a proud partnership with our sister party the SDLP”, and that they would continue to “champion, not undermine” that relationship. He said that he believed the NEC would not approve the move:

“I have no doubt that the National Executive of the Labour Party will continue to support the status quo that we do not stand candidates in Northern Ireland and reject this proposal.”

Doyle also pledged that LPIS would work with the NEC to block these changes:

“If local party members do not reconsider then the Labour Party Irish Society will continue to work with Labour’s NEC to block any attempts to stand candidates in Northern Ireland for local, Stormont or Westminster elections.”

You can read the full motion that was passed by LPNI members here:

This motion was unanimously supported by the Executive Committee at a meeting on 30 November 2015,

The NI Constituency Labour Party (CLP) noting: that the intentions of those who join the Party is to secure Labour representation at every level of government and political decision making affecting the people of Northern Ireland; and recognising that the influx of new members and supporters is a further sign of the disillusion of the Northern Ireland electorate with the dysfunctional political structures of Northern Ireland and the political parties that populate them; instructs our Executive Committee (EC) to ensure that the Party is equipped to engage in elections at the earliest date at which it is appropriate to do so.

Accordingly the CLP instructs our EC to:

Prepare and train members who would be suitable candidates; Establish a fighting fund to pay for offices and staff; Prepare a political programme to put to the electorate; Alert the National Executive (NEC) and the Party leadership to the evolving political situation in Northern Ireland and engage with them in the process of promoting Labour’s challenge to the sectarian status quo.

Furthermore the CLP instructs the EC to circulate a strategy to the Party membership no later than 7 days before the next General Members Meeting on 29 January 2016 to give effect to this motion.