NEC to vote on controversial plans for one day women’s conference

Good morning. While national eyes might be focused on a spat over the Elgin marbles between Rishi Sunak and the Greek Prime Minister, we here at LabourList are, as ever, focused on the internal machinations of our beloved party. A meeting of Labour’s national executive committee (NEC) later today is expected to sign off on plans for the party’s women’s conference to remain a one-day event next year, LabourList can exclusively reveal. The shorter conference is as opposed to the two-day, standalone affair recommended by the party’s democracy review in 2018. The next women’s conference will take place before next year’s full party conference in Liverpool in September.

The plans to downsize women’s conference have proved controversial in the past, and were the subject of a protest at this year’s party conference. We can perhaps expect more of this now that the decision is to be formalised. Proponents argue that holding it in advance of full conference maximises people’s opportunity to attend, however. Our editor Tom has a write-up of the debates around the issue from earlier this year. Labour was contacted for comment.

Scottish selections

One person having a very busy few days is NEC member Johanna Baxter, who’ll be attending today’s NEC meeting after being selected last night to fight Paisley and Renfrewshire South (currently held by the SNP’s Mhairi Black, who has said she will not be standing again at the next election). She had previously served as NEC chair; James Asser took over that role earlier this year. Blair McDougall, who ran the Better Together campaign in 2014, was picked for East Renfrewshire. He came third in the seat in 2017, which is currently held by the SNP’s Kirsten Oswald.

Mini frontbench reshuffle

Two weeks ago, we covered the spate of frontbench resignations that accompanied the ceasefire vote. This left gaps in the top team, and we now know how Labour will be filling them, thanks to a series of appointments made yesterday. Two MPs elected at by-elections this parliament join the frontbench, with West Lancashire MP Ashley Dalton becoming shadow equalities minister in Anneliese Dodds’ team, and Michael Shanks becoming a shadow Scotland minister under the party’s other Scottish MP, Ian Murray. Meanwhile, Alex Davies-Jones takes over Jess Phillips’ old brief as shadow minister for domestic violence and safeguarding, while Steve McCabe replaces Rachel Hopkins as shadow veterans minister. Feryal Clark takes over Naz Shah’s former brief as shadow crime reduction minister. 

Paula Barker was until the ceasefire vote shadow minister for devolution; that role has now been taken over by Jim McMahon. Until September’s reshuffle, however, she served as shadow homelessness minister, and has written for LabourList about what the party needs to do to get a grip on homelessness as soon as it finds itself in power. She warns that “increasing supply will do the vast bulk of the heavy lifting in ultimately ending the crisis, but to solely rely on this outcome is a trap for Labour”.