Jane Thomas: Why I am standing to be a local party rep on Labour’s NEC

Whilst the Tories are disappearing down some black hole with their selection campaign to replace Boris Johnson, there is an important set of elections within the Labour Party about to start. You will soon receive your ballots to vote in the national executive committee (NEC) elections and I want to explain why voting for me – and my Labour to Win colleagues Johanna Baxter, Gurinder Josan, Abdi Duale and Luke Akehurst – is so important.

It is a total abrogation of duty if we do not do everything we can to get Labour elected at the next election. Those most marginalised, those relying on food banks, those juggling three jobs on zero-hours contracts and those who will be suffering from climate chaos (it’s always the poor and vulnerable who are in the eye of any storm) don’t have the luxury of engaging in some ideological crusade. They need a Labour government now.

12 years of Tory misrule have scarred the country. I can see it in the work I have done with the Fairness Commission’s Our Fair City campaign in Sheffield. I saw it when I helped to set up and run a mutual aid group as Covid hit. People who have been most affected do not need another internecine internal war within the Labour ranks. They need to see us out there campaigning and winning and advocating for them. And our public services need supporting – but we can’t support them if our time within the party is spent attacking Keir Starmer or indulging in point scoring.

I’m angry. And you should be too. But I’m not angry with the party or people within the party. I’m not bothered about factions as long as we can come together in a common cause to defeat the Tories. And neither should you be bothered. We are a broad church and a broad church right now is just what this country needs.

I am angry for the total disregard the Conservatives have for people in my wonderful city of Sheffield. I’m angry for the way the NHS has been brought to its knees, for the way teachers have been treated and all the other public sector workers who have seen a decline in their salaries and working conditions. And I’m scared – especially when you see that the Tory leadership candidates have consistently voted against measures to address climate change. They deserve no place in the future governance of the country if you care about the future of your children and grandchildren

We have precious little time to turn this around. But we can. We need to make ourselves attractive to donors so we can build that war chest. We need to ensure we have the money to fund our regional offices and, most importantly, our key seats properly. We need a plan, as we did in the 1990s, for a pathway to power.

I have a huge amount of campaigning experience, not just within the party but working for large non-governmental organisations like Friends of the Earth where I learned so much about what good activism looks like. More recently, I helped lead Oliver Coppard’s selection and then the election to become Labour’s mayor in South Yorkshire. I know, first hand, that we can win back these ‘Red Wall’ seats because I saw what we did here in May. And I know that in this part of the country there is a wealth of talent and expertise waiting to be unleashed.

But we need an NEC that is willing to unleash that talent, that will nurture candidates that will win for us and not bring us into disrepute; an NEC where all its constituent parts are facing in the same direction and wanting to win – and are willing to put the time in to make that happen.

I am unashamedly a supporter of constitutional change for the country – but wholesale change, not cherry picking. If we are to be a modern, progressive society we need to look like one. We need to reform our voting system, embrace devolution, reform the House of Lords, value and protect local government, update our outrageously outdated parliamentary system and move to enshrining rights. And we need to make it clear that our future lies in constructive ties with Europe.

The country has to change and so has the party. I pay tribute to those who have been at the forefront at making this happen. I want to be part of a team that wants change to happen. But not just change for the party, change for our communities and our workers who so desperately need a Labour government. So, I’m asking you to support me by giving me your first preference vote and give your second, third, fourth and fifth preferences to my Labour to Win running mates.