Election post-mortems, membership rise and Burnham – what we know about this week’s NEC meeting

Labour officials have seen a jump in party membership since Andy Burnham emerged as a possible contender in a future leadership contest, LabourList understands. 

It is not clear by how much, but the rise in membership figures was discussed at this week’s national executive committee (NEC) meeting. Party officials this week approved Burnham as the Labour candidate for the Makerfield by-election next month, after no other applicants made the shortlist. 

The NEC meeting came in the wake of Labour’s dismal and difficult local and regional election results, which were discussed and reflected on by senior party officials. 

LabourList understands that feedback from doorsteps in Scotland, where Scottish Labour lost four seats and finished a distant second to the SNP, focused on anger over Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ cuts to winter fuel payments, the decision not to compensate Waspi women, and the revelations of former US ambassador Peter Mandelson’s close ties to Jeffrey Epstein. 

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In Wales, senior party officials heard figures that 61 per cent of Labour voters decided instead to back Plaid Cymru, after the Welsh nationalist party successfully turned the contest as a two-horse race against Nigel Farage’s Reform.

In the English local elections, where Labour lost swathes of seats to Reform and the Greens, the NEC heard that voters wanted change, hoped to send a message to the government, and also preferred Green and Reform candidates.

Figures shared at the meeting included the fact that of those who switched from Labour to Reform, 47 per cent cited the need for change. 

Elsewhere in the meeting, concerns were raised by the GMB trade union about the government’s planning and infrastructure act, which became law last December. A major piece of legislation, ministers hope it will speed up the planning system and end delays in the delivery of green energy infrastructure. 

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LabourList understands that at the NEC meeting, the GMB expressed concern at the focus on clean energy and the lack of a similar focus on investment in the oil and gas industry. 

The party also discussed the cost of attacks on Labour party premises in recent years. There have been multiple acts of vandalism, graffiti and more serious damage to constituency offices and local party headquarters in recent years. 

The NEC meeting heard that since 2023, attacks on party premises have cost Labour £8,000.

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