Conference, my name is Jasmin Beckett.
I’m a socialist, a feminist and a proud trade unionist – a Communications Workers Union member. I’m a working class woman from Liverpool and I am standing to represent you on our NEC. Conference – however this election goes, I am so proud to be standing here. Because let’s be honest, people like me don’t normally stand for this position. In fact, people like me don’t even get through the door. When I was growing up, I wasn’t interested in politics because it felt like politics wasn’t interested in me. I know that so many working class women share my story. Every step of the way whether it was my teachers at school, or the old white men in my CLP, I’ve been told the best I could hope for was marriage and a minimum wage. Growing up, life did not seem fair. I got angry. I got into fights. And eventually I was expelled from school. *** Removed due to personal reasons *** Society says I shouldn’t be stood here in a plush conference venue running for Labour’s governing body. But I’m standing here today, not despite my life experience – but because of it. Wirral Young Labour taught me that the anger I felt at society could be channelled into fighting for social justice. So I got involved. I channelled my anger at the cruel bedroom tax, into kicking out our local Tory MP, Esther McVey, the minister responsible for that disgusting policy. I channelled the anger I felt at seeing my friends and family relying on food banks by organising a massive Wirral Young Labour fundraising effort to help our food bank support those in need. But most people don’t get that chance to get involved. If being involved in Young Labour means spending hundreds of pounds to go to a conference, then something is badly wrong. If running for election means pushing myself into crippling debt, damaging my mental health, and facing some of the worse sexism I’ve ever encountered, then that’s not democracy – that’s a disgrace. If we’re going to be a democratic movement, we need ‘One Member One Vote’. I’ll put an end to the endless reviews and wrangling. I’ll make democracy in Young Labour a reality and finally introduce ‘One Member One Vote’. I know how unwelcoming the culture of the party can be – that’s why I believe our liberation groups should be autonomous, well-funded and unashamed about pushing young women, BAME, disabled and LGBT members to the front of our movement. Conference, we’re on the up – we’ve got 50,000 young people, excited about Jeremy’s leadership and bursting to get out there and fight austerity. We’ve got to remember that different Labour factions aren’t the enemy. My maintenance grant wasn’t taken away by Progress, my EMA wasn’t scrapped by Momentum, and Open Labour didn’t close my old school. This Tory government of millionaires is destroying our NHS, our welfare state and our very democracy. Young Labour should be a movement rising up against Tory austerity. I love Young Labour – but I know it can be better than this. Against all the odds I’m standing here today – standing on a record of leading campaigns and winning them; of beating Tories and putting our values into practice. Elect me for a Young Labour that doesn’t just get angry – but takes real action to build a movement for social justice. Elect me, and with Jeremy Corbyn as our leader we can change Young Labour and together I know we can change our country.
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What will I do if elected? 1 – Introduce a mental health rep position on the Young Labour national committee 2 – Create a mental health charter for all Young Labour groups and CLPs to sign 3 – Join up with the Labour Campaign for Mental Health to help fight Tory cuts to youth mental health services and actively combat stigma within Young Labour 4 - Create an anti-bullying charter to ensure no Young Labour member feels targeted or isolated within out movement Jeremy Corbyn has done some fantastic things since becoming the leader of the Labour Party and his focus on mental health has been welcomed. Young Labour must follow Jeremy’s lead and put ourselves at the front of the battle to end mental health stigma and practices which discriminate against those with mental health problems within and outside of our party. We must fight the underfunding and devastating cuts being made by this Tory government to mental health services and holding them to account on their promises around additional funding, especially to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS). In September I was elected to Labour’s National Policy Forum as the youth rep for the North West and I recently had an email informing me I had been allocated to the Health and Care Policy Commission also sat on by numerous NEC reps and MPs such as Luciana Berger and Emma Reynolds. Young members must be listened to within these policy commissions on policy and I want to ensure I put young members are the forefront of all of the work I do within that, especially on tackling mental health stigma. If elected to the NEC I will be able to actively change Young Labour to fight cuts to mental health services and ensure our own practices accommodate those with mental health problems. Firstly, if elected I will create a Mental Health Rep position on the National Young Labour committee to work with the disability officer and fight for better internal practices in the party with regards to dealing with mental health and campaigning on mental health issues including stigma and funding cuts. This would be following Jeremy’s lead after he introduced a Shadow Minister for Mental Health into the shadow cabinet giving those with mental health issues a voice. Secondly, I will work with the Labour Campaign for Mental Health to create a charter that all CLPs and Young Labour groups should sign. During a tough election campaign members can often feel obliged to be on the doorstep day in, day out. Those with mental health issues like depression or anxiety can find it difficult to live up to the expectation of being the ‘perfect campaigner’, myself included. This exhausts our activists and makes them feel as though all they are is foot soldiers ready to be disposed of outside of election times. My aim is for this charter to encourage all CLPs and Young Labour groups to be aware of the issues those with mental health problems face in terms of involvement in campaigning and other aspects within our party and commit to creating a mental health friendly party. As mentioned, the Labour Campaign for Mental Health has already done fantastic work within our party from running stalls and events at conference and across the country to doing the ‘my story’ awareness campaign which had many party members sharing their stories and experiences of mental health. If elected I want to ensure Young Labour is working with the LCMH to create a more inclusive youth wing and give our members the tools to lead the fight on tackling mental health stigma and funding cuts in wider society. Debate within our party is positive and healthy, but when that 'debate' becomes personal and leaves people feeling like they don't want to be involved then we must look at ourselves. Every young member should be able to voice their opinions without being worried of a backlash and no one should be feel left out because they don't belong to a faction. I will work with Young Labour groups to create an anti-bullying charter within our party to ensure debate never turns personal. Last year a member of Conservative Future took his own life due to internal party bullying and we must ensure that Young Labour takes action to ensure no member is left feeling bullied out of Labour. I want Young Labour to pinoeer the great work that Jeremy Corbyn and Luciana Berger have already done on mental health awareness and ensure our party is accessible to every young member across our movement! #Jas4NEC #YL16 1 - I’ll introduce an annual Young Labour Trade Union month in line with the TUC’s young workers month 2 - I’ll engage with FE colleges, and schools to get Labour into the heart of people’s communities 3 – I will ensure every area of the country has an active Young Labour group by setting up new groups 4 – I’ll put the contact details of your local youth officer on the back of your membership card so you can always reach someone in the know 5 – We need to offer young members specialised training so they can develop new skills. I’ll do this by offering online webcasts and workshops at all national events and at conference. Young Labour has had an amazing and welcomed increase in membership since last Summer, we must ensure we engage with members old and new to continue our movement and continue changing the lives of our members.
We have thousands upon thousands of new young members who are fired up and wanting to get active but if Young Labour doesn’t reach out these new members could easily fall off the radar. When I joined Labour in 2011 I was lucky enough to live near an active group in Liverpool and had a close friend to accompany me to meetings, but many young members don’t have this and find themselves fighting tooth and nail to become active until the barriers are too much that they give up. After becoming active I spoke at conference to Ed Miliband raising the issue of cuts to my already failing school, got out on the doorstep and soon began to take on leadership roles myself. Young Labour and the opportunities it presented me at a time in my life when I was struggling to fit in anywhere have changed my life and I want every young member to have that too. As a result of Young Labour I’ve been able to raise money for Foodbanks, put on a production of The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists raising thousands for mental health charities, set up a hardship fund for my Young Labour group, campaign in key seats across the country and get rid of vile Tory MP Esther McVey. The things I’ve done in politics weren’t handed to me on a silver platter, I had to fight to get involved and it’s a fight no young member should have to have. If I’m elected as your NEC Youth rep I will promise to make Young Labour the most engaging organisation it can be, for all young members, not just those privileged few. First I want to roll out what we have done within Merseyside Young Labour by reaching out to our communities going into schools, colleges and youth clubs to tell young people, particularly in disadvantaged areas that their voice matters and that they can have a say in politics. We have gained some of our most active members from doing this and I will roll out an online training programme, seminar sessions and a training pack for members so we can do this in every region across the country. Online training sessions can help empower grassroots members wherever they are, by giving members the skills and help to localise efforts to improve their regional groups. I will roll out an online training series with funding from our party and trade unions to help members set up Young Labour groups, increase membership and become more engaging for members. Our young members are talented and everyone has something to bring to the table, one size often doesn’t fit all and this programme will help all young members gain the skills they need to improve our youth movement. Over the past few months I’ve spoke to members from Leeds to London to learn more about what you want from our Party. Too often I heard young members saying they came across Young Labour years after they joined or had never heard of it at all. This must change. I promise to ensure every area of our country is covered by an active Young Labour group. I will do this by creating a Young Labour Grassroots Network of young members who want to see more activity in their regions and by giving them the skills and resources they need from their regional offices this will allow young members to go into surrounding areas and set up Young Labour groups. Our regional offices and CLPs must do more to support young members wanting to do this and I will make this a priority if elected. I have set up a number of Young Labour groups across Merseyside and in surrounding areas because I’m passionate about every young members being able to get the most from Young Labour and I am proud to say groups I have helped set up such as St Helens Young Labour and Liverpool Young Labour are now active groups bringing in new members every week. Once I had the skills to do this it was easy and I will ensure we give power back to our young members in this way. All members are given a membership card with their CLP secretary’s name and contact details on but this doesn’t tell any young member how to get in touch with their local Young Labour group. I will make this change to ensure all young members’ membership cards also has a Young Labour contact on it along with a Young Labour welcome pack delivered to all young members to give them information about how to get involved. We must stop young members falling through the net. Young Trade unionists have for too long now been an add on to our youth movement, I want to put our young workers back the centre of everything Young Labour does. To do this I will create an annual Young Labour Trade Union month in our calendar where we can have a recruitment drive, raising awareness for the importance of our young workers joining trade unions and having events centred around issues young workers face. With the Tories anti-trade union bill we must help our Trade Unions be stronger than ever. Young Labour was set up to engage and connect with young people across the UK who believe in social justice, equality and fairness we must champion those labels to fight the Tories and be the most united organisation we can possibly be. This is the Young Labour I want to create and by engaging members through online videos, more debates, engagement with our trade unions and ensuring the country is covered by Young Labour groups we can work together to get Jeremy into number 10 in 2020. Young Labour and Labour Students must become more democratic organisations and our youth representatives must be accountable to the young members who vote for them. How will I make Young Labour more democratic? 1 - Introduce OMOV (one member one vote) and Online Voting for all regional and national elections 2 - Crowd sourcing of questions for me to put to the leadership on your behalf 3 - Hold a live web stream after NEC meetings to answer your questions 4 - Regular meetings with my counterpart at unions so I can put young trade unionists views back at the centre of Young Labour If elected NEC Youth Rep I will be ensure all youth committees, excluding liberation positions, nationally and regionally are elected by an online OMOV (one member, one vote) ballot. Introducing online voting will make our structures much more accessible and reduce the cost of participating. No young members should be locked out of democracy in our party simply because they can’t afford an expensive weekend away. It’s outrageous that at a time when the Labour movement is bigger than ever before, democracy is still only available to a tiny minority of members and an even tinier proportion who can afford the cost of entry. As NEC youth rep I’d take these views to the committee that’s been tasked with conducting the review into Youth Structures and demand they do more. The constant stalling and delaying should not be tolerated. We are a national political party with numerous resources and brilliant minds; this is a problem which must be solved immediately. But introducing one member one vote is not enough to change the culture of elitism that has developed in Young Labour and Labour Students. Every NEC meeting I attend I will crowd source questions to put to the leadership of the party on your behalf and make myself as open as possible by providing a live web stream after each meeting where you can ask me questions about decisions I have taken on the NEC. Jeremy has changed the nature of PMQs by opening it up to the people we represent and I want to do the same for the NEC. As well as that I’ll work with the Young Labour, Labour Students, and Young trade union groups to arrange regional events where you can feed back to me your priorities so that I can take this to the NEC and truly be your voice. The views of young trade unionists need to be put back at the centre of our movement, to do this I will meet with the NEC youth reps at each of our unions before NEC meetings to ensure the views of our young workers are taken into account. The NEC is too closed a body, many young members are unsure what the NEC does and what decisions are made each week. I want this to change. I want to make clear the process and structures so that young members can hold the entire NEC to account. I will produce a guide to the NEC with jargon busters and a who’s who so who represents you is clear. I want to be the NEC youth rep that listens to members, in my NEC campaign I have conducted surveys to take into account views of young members when building my manifesto. I got over 100 replies which shows young members really want to have their say, if elected I want to continue this work and create surveys for what young members want to see from our NEC and from the party. We must move Young Labour into the future and ensure we are becoming a more democratic movement. With thousands of new members joining the Labour Party since the leadership election I want to ensure all young members get a say in who their representatives are with one member one vote and are able to hold their representatives accountable with online surveys, web live streams and regular updates on decisions being made. We are a stronger movement when we are open and democratic and when member’s views lead the direction of the party. I want to be your NEC youth rep, to fight for young Labour and Labour students to get the democratic structures that they deserve once and for all. We need to start building a movement, not a machine; a Labour party where your income doesn’t determine how far you go. A more democratic and accountable Young Labour is the first step to do just that. |
AuthorJasmin Beckett Archives
June 2017
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