Labour letter pushes for lower leader threshold
9:15 am - May 26th 2010
Tweet | Share on Tumblr |
Labour activists are circulating a letter appealing to the Labour NEC and General Secretary, trying to persuade them to lower the nomination threshold to 5% for leadership election.
Organiser Duncan Hall says, “The idea is to see whether we could get all six candidates onto the ballot paper.”
The letter has so far been signed by Labour MPs as well as local members. There are plans to give it wider circulation and put pressure on the party hierarchy to reduce the threshold.
The text of the letter comes from an article written by Duncan Hall for LabourList last week.
There is a simplicity in such a move. And there appears to be a precedent for making a temporary rule change for the contest. After all, the rule is that people must have been members for six months before they can vote in a leadership or deputy leadership election. The NEC rightly waived this rule for this contest and the 2007 one. As such, there should be no difficulty in making a similar temporary decision about this contest. The party can consider whether a more permanent rule change is necessary or desirable in its own leisure at a later date. Today we don’t need to debate the general principle, merely what will work for this contest.
So who’s in? Let’s give the party members the choice they really want. Let’s have the broad range of candidates that all the candidates themselves say they want. Let’s show the country the broad range of talent we have in the Labour Party, and show the country how democratic, mature and comradely we can be. This is an enormously important contest: let’s make it a good one.
Signatories
Tom Harris MP(Glasgow South)
Kate Hoey MP (Vauxhall)
Katy Clark MP (North Ayrshire and Arran)
Tony Benn (Former MP for Chesterfield)
Harry Barnes (Former MP for Derbyshire NE)
Alice Mahon (Former MP for Halifax)
Sunny Hundal (Liberal Conspiracy Blog)
Cllr Geoff Lumley (Agent, Isle of Wight CLP)
Cllr Matthew Brown (Preston CLP)
Cllr Robert Boswell (Preston CLP)
Cllr Drew Gale (Preston CLP)
Cllr James Hull (Preston CLP)
Cllr Taalib Shamsuddin (Preston CLP)
Cllr Peter Rankin (former leader of Preston City Council) (Preston CLP)
Cllr Susan Press (Calder Valley CLP)
Former GLC Councillor Dave Wetzel
Frances Kelly (Finchley CLP)
Jago Parker (Halifax CLP)
Ben Ferret (Rugby CLP)
Stephanie David (Bexleyheath and Crayford CLP)
Duncan Hall (Vice-Chair, Skipton and Ripon CLP)
Alex Otley (Bristol West CLP)
Norrette Moore (Uxbridge & South Ruislip CLP)
Tom Davies (Walthamstow CLP)
Andrew Fisher (Croydon Central CLP)
Lynne Wallace (Vice Chair, Preston CLP)
Owen Jones (Hackney North and Stoke Newington CLP)
Jonathan Burke (Hackney North and Stoke Newington CLP – L0091362)
Steve Revins (Perry Bar CLP)
Sonia Bridge (new member – doesn’t know CLP yet)
David Brown (new member – doesn’t know CLP yet)
Patrick Briggs (new member – Durham)
Tweet | Share on Tumblr |
Sunny Hundal is editor of LC. Also: on Twitter, at Pickled Politics and Guardian CIF.
· Other posts by Sunny Hundal
Story Filed Under: News
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
Reader comments
The letter is going to have to be delivered very soon – possibly this evening (Wednesday) but please consider adding your name if you can!
You can send it in an email to:
I can always send a follow-up list if necessary!
“Sonia Bridge (new member – doesn’t know CLP yet)
David Brown (new member – doesn’t know CLP yet)”
WTF?
“Sonia Bridge (new member – doesn’t know CLP yet)
David Brown (new member – doesn’t know CLP yet)”
This just looks ridiculous.
But good luck to you. It shouldn’t only be Labour lefties signing this – Burnham seems to be having a hard time getting nominated!
Best of luck with this Dunc, I’ll send you an e-mail to add my name
Sorry that it looks ridiculous to you but I have contacted the Labour Party about my new membership and they have replied that they have been recently inundated with applications and will get back to me in due course.
Sonia
Sunny et al.,
Have just sent Duncan / – my CLP to add.
Sorry for the mixup.
Sonia
Sonia
CLP’s are based on current parliamentary constituencies, so if for example you live in the Eltham constituency you will be a member of Eltham CLP.
cheers politicos – not an abbreviation i was familiar with but am now
Thanks guys. Personally, I think it adds strength to the argument that some people on the list are brand new members. And actually I’ve had one or two quite long-standing members telling me where they lived so I could work out which CLP they were in!!
This has now been sent off – fingers crossed everyone! The final list was:
Tom Harris MP(Glasgow South)
Kate Hoey MP (Vauxhall)
Katy Clark MP (North Ayrshire and Arran)
Tony Benn (Former MP for Chesterfield)
Harry Barnes (Former MP for Derbyshire NE)
Alice Mahon (Former MP for Halifax)
Ron Atkins (Former MP for Preston North)
Christine Shawcroft (Constituency Section of NEC, personal capacity)
Chris McLaughlin (Editor, Tribune Magazine)
Sunny Hundal (Liberal Conspiracy Blog)
Mike Calderbank (Co-editor, Red Pepper and Brent Central CLP)
Graham Witham (Chair, Greater Manchester Fabian Society)
Tom Miller (South East Representative, Young Labour)
Paul Smith (Bristol East CLP, former PPC Bristol West)
Sarah Evans (Hampshire NW CLP, former PPC)
Cllr Geoff Lumley (Agent, Isle of Wight CLP)
Cllr Matthew Brown (Preston CLP)
Cllr Robert Boswell (Preston CLP)
Cllr Drew Gale (Preston CLP)
Cllr James Hull (Preston CLP)
Cllr Taalib Shamsuddin (Preston CLP)
Cllr Peter Rankin (former leader of Preston City Council) (Preston CLP)
Cllr Susan Press (Calder Valley CLP)
Cllr Dave Young (Calder Valley CLP)
Cllr Janet Oosthuysen (Calder Valley CLP)
Cllr Mike Cordingley (Stretford and Urmston CLP)
Former GLC Councillor Dave Wetzel
Andy Birchall (Wigan CLP, Chair of Chorley Trades Council)
Steve Ratcliffe (Preston CLP, CWU)
Bill Adams (Preston CLP)
Derek Barton (Preston CLP)
Frances Kelly (Finchley CLP)
Jago Parker (Halifax CLP)
Ben Ferret (Rugby CLP)
Stephanie David (Bexleyheath and Crayford CLP)
Duncan Hall (Vice-Chair, Skipton and Ripon CLP)
Alasdair Russell (Youth and Student Officer, Warwick and Leamington CLP)
Sharon Blank (Chesterfield CLP)
Val Graham (Chesterfield CLP and UNISON)
Chris Burrows (Leeds Central CLP)
James Croy (Vauxhall CLP)
Bob O’Brien (Tatton CLP)
Joe Culley, Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland CLP)
Simon Cuff (Oxford East CLP)
John Spence (Streatham CLP)
Alex Otley (Bristol West CLP)
Norrette Moore (Uxbridge & South Ruislip CLP)
Tom Davies (Walthamstow CLP)
Andrew Fisher (Croydon Central CLP)
Lynne Wallace (Vice Chair, Preston CLP)
John Wiseman (St. Helens South CLP)
Owen Jones (Hackney North and Stoke Newington CLP)
Jonathan Burke (Hackney North and Stoke Newington CLP – L0091362)
Rory Macqueen (Hackney North and Stoke Newington CLP)
Charles Donaghan (Stretford and Urmston CLP)
Claire (Beth) Aze (Stretford and Urmston CLP)
Frank Shea (Stretford and Urmston CLP)
Graeme Rawlinson (Stretford and Urmston CLP)
James Doran (Darlington CLP)
Steve Revins (Perry Bar CLP)
Ben Sellers (City of Durham CLP)
Paul Griffin (Hayes and Harlington CLP)
Pamela Galloway (Central Devon CLP)
Lee Griffin (Hayes and Harlington CLP)
Beverley Griffin (Hayes and Harlington CLP)
Felix Gott (Horney and Wood Green CLP)
Vinothan Sangarapillai (Hornsey & Wood Green CLP)
Simon Hewitt (Islington South CLP)
Alex Gilmore (Edinburgh South CLP)
Jenny Lennox (Walthamstow CLP)
Mike Sheridan-Shinn (Boston and Skegness CLP)
Helen Sheridan-Shinn (Boston and Skegness CLP)
Polly Cobb (South Norfolk CLP)
Andreas Paterson (Norwich South CLP)
Dominic Morris (new member – Hampstead and Kilburn CLP)
Sonia Bridge (new member – Hackney North and Stoke Newington CLP)
David Brown (new member – Hackney North and Stoke Newington CLP)
Patrick Briggs (new member – Durham)
Reactions: Twitter, blogs
-
sunny hundal
RT @libcon Labour letter pushes for lower leadership threshold http://bit.ly/aSlm85
-
Liberal Conspiracy
Labour letter pushes for lower leadership threshold http://bit.ly/aj9kZY
-
Political Animal
Fully support this letter http://is.gd/cpHRb, though I wouldn't have published it with signatories who 'don't know CLP yet'.
-
More pressure to put all Labour candidates on ballot | Liberal Conspiracy
[...] follows a letter sent earlier by activist Duncan Hall which gathered nearly a hundred signatures from CLPs across the [...]
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.