Why is Young Labour split over mandatory reselection?

Young Labour’s executive is split over which motion to bring to conference: one advocating mandatory reselection, or one supporting a boost in young people’s mental health services. The power to decide Young Labour’s motion wrests in the national committee, which is set to vote on the options tomorrow.

The majority of members on the national committee are committed Corbynites, and you would expect them to support the mandatory reselection motion. But the (largely Corbynsceptic) activists defending the organisation’s chair, Miriam Mirwitch, are pointing out that young voters across the UK are more concerned by low wages, unaffordable housing and poor mental health service provision than internal Labour Party processes.

Mirwitch’s mental health motion has been criticised by Lara McNeill, the youth representative on the NEC who was backed by Momentum and Unite in the contest to win the NEC seat. McNeill argues that the policy ideas – increasing funding, ring-fencing budgets – are all in the 2017 manifesto. (Replying to the criticism on Twitter, Mirwitch replied: “The proposals in the motion go beyond what’s in the manifesto and are more specific”.) The NEC youth rep also says it doesn’t qualify as a contemporary motion because it makes no reference to a recent event, which means the motion could have gone through the National Policy Forum.

What the row is really about is the feeling among Momentum activists that Corbynsceptics often employ this tactic: using popular issues as “blocking measures” to contentious rule changes. The leadership used a similar scheme to keep Brexit off the conference floor last year, when Momentum urged delegates to prioritise motions on housing, social care, NHS and rail. But it’s worth noting that the Young Labour chair has a mandate of her own, and was elected on a platform of putting mental health firmly on the party’s agenda.

Because Mirwitch’s triumph was a lone victory for Corbynsceptics in the Young Labour elections, and the other elected officers are largely at odds with her politically, public rows between Young Labour’s chair and the committee are likely to be a recurring feature of the year to come.