We are running pieces from candidates for Labour Students chair on both the Organise and Socialist Future slates.

The piece from Socialist Future-backed candidate Anya Wilkinson can be found here and the piece from Anna Baxter can be found here.

Ballots opened in elections to the Labour Students national committee on Thursday.

Fourteen years of Tory government have been disastrous for students. We face a tough cost of living crisis, squeezed by an unfair maintenance system, rising bills, and a housing crisis. On graduating, we’re left with a lifetime of rising debt due to soaring interest rates. The Tories’ inability to listen to campus unions has left us with poorer learning conditions and without a voice.

Students need a Labour government, and Labour Students will be key in getting one. Our brilliant activists are putting in the hours up and down the country to elect hard working Labour MPs in target seats who will deliver the change we need.

Chairing Leeds Labour Society, I’ve built a dedicated team of campaigners who are fighting for Labour around our city and in Yorkshire. I’m running for Chair of Labour Students so our national movement can be at its best in the general election campaign, and will be a strong, inclusive organisation for all its members afterwards too.

Here’s my plan to do it:

Subsidise campaign travel

For too long, being a well-travelled Labour activist has been out of reach for students. As our costs are soaring, there isn’t always space for campaign travel costs in a student budget.

Like I’ve done in Leeds, I want to make campaigning in key seats (often outside student cities) accessible with a travel fund for students, so all students can play their part delivering a victory this year.

Provide training for members and committees

Labour Students is a place to develop lifetime leadership and campaigning skills, but our clubs and our further education members often have few resources. We need to equip our members with these skills to play leading roles in election campaigns, organise against bosses in the workplace and run progressive campaigns outside of the party.

It’s our responsibility to help club committee members deliver for their members, so I’ll make sure training is always available.

I’ll provide resources to establish Labour clubs in universities without them and pair new clubs with established ones in their region to help them flourish.

Hold events in every region

Most of our members are outside London and our events should be too. I’ll make sure we’re campaigning in every nation and region, and hosting socials and events around the country as well.

Members in every part of the country, including those outside large university clubs, must be able to get involved.

Stand up for students and hold the leadership accountable

I know how angry students are at the party’s transphobia crisis. 50% of young members are LGBTQ+ and this is top of the agenda for so many of our members. If I’m elected, I guarantee that Labour Students will always stand in solidarity with our trans siblings and publicly hold the party accountable: asking for a meaningful transphobia definition, and progressive policies on self-ID and gender affirming healthcare.

We’re also in desperate need of student finance reform, progressive housing policy, and better working conditions: I’ll stand up for these.

I’m delighted to have won the first round with an overwhelming majority of student nominations. The Organise24 candidates are committed to creating a Labour Students which is inclusive, energised and organised and I am proud to be standing with a team of such talented and dedicated activists.

This year, all Labour Students can play a part winning on campuses, in the NUS, and around the country, and standing up for a transformative Labour government. I’d be honoured to lead this effort. When ballots open, vote for an organised, effective Labour Students which will deliver for its members, by voting for Organise candidates.