Ann Henderson set to join Labour NEC after Laura Pidcock resignation

Labour has confirmed to LabourList that Ann Henderson will step up to the party’s national ruling body after the resignation of ex-MP Laura Pidcock last week left a vacancy to fill.

When a national executive committee (NEC) member quits mid-term, the last NEC contest is re-run under the single transferable vote (STV) system excluding votes for the member who has left.

LabourList understands that Henderson has been established as the runner-up entitled to take up the empty NEC seat after Civica Election Services completed the process of reviewing ballots from 2020.

Pidcock quit Labour’s NEC on Wednesday, saying the party is a “hostile territory for socialists” under Keir Starmer and describing the leadership as “devoid of ideas” and “lacking vision”.

She explained in a statement that her “deep unease” in the party was compounded by “the cheering of a Tory MP crossing the floor in the House of Commons”, after the defection of Christian Wakeford.

Her replacement, a former assistant secretary in the Scottish Trades Union Congress, was a member of Labour’s NEC from 2018 to 2020. She stood again as an incumbent on the left slate but was not re-elected.

Contacted for comment on joining the NEC, Henderson told LabourList: “The party faces a number of challenges. I’m looking forward to representing the interests of grassroots members on the NEC.”

She was rector of the University of Edinburgh until 2021, and said she was subject to “unsubstantiated public allegations of transphobia and abuse” during her time in the post.

When Henderson was elected chair of the NEC equalities committee in 2019, LGBT Labour said they were “appalled” and it was a “kick in the teeth” as she had shared “material that has been described as transphobic”.

A Labour Party source at the time said Henderson brought “a wealth of experience” to the role of chair as a “lifelong equalities and women’s rights activist” and longtime campaigner in the labour movement.

As both Pidcock and Henderson were on the Labour left, the factional balance is unchanged on the NEC and Starmer will continue to have a reliable majority for key votes.