Full NEC Meeting 24th January 2018 Leaders Report Jeremy expressed his disappointment in the lack of BAME candidates that have been selected by the party so far in early selection seats. Keith Vaz expressed his worry about this during the last meeting and along with BAME Labour is looking into how we can mediate this potentially through mechanisms such as all BAME shortlists. On the recent reports of deselections Jeremy stated the story in the Sunday Times was nonsensical and wrong. This is welcomed as we must be focusing on winning the next general election with so much at stake. Before walking into the NEC meeting we were met with protestors outside the building shouting “get the Tories out of Southside” - I asked Jeremy if he would condemn the treatment of our staff in this way which I know he has done before. It is completely unacceptable that abuse of Labour Party staff is becoming normalized and it is important that the leadership of the party look at how we fix this increasing issue. Jeremy has taken a hard line on the government awarding contracts of almost £2bn to Carillion despite the company being in financial trouble. He said he will continue to press the government on this in the coming weeks to hold them to account. Report by Jonathan Ashworth Shadow Health Secretary Jonathon Ashworth came to report to the NEC on the ongoing NHS crisis. A year ago he came to the NEC to highlight the 2016 winter crisis and was sad to say things have not improved. Jon read out some shocking statistics which highlight the seriousness of the crisis such as bed occupancy being at 93% and remaining at dangerously high levels. Or the fact that 24,000 people waited in the back of an ambulance for over an hour during the Winter. The report reminded us all of the importance of holding the Tories to account on their mistreatment of the NHS and how Jon and the team are working to do that. Local Government Report Nick Forbes (LG rep) discussed the issues surrounding Haringey council’s HDV plan. The NEC voted unanimously to mediate with Haringey council to discuss the issues surrounding the plan. This was an incredibly difficult position and although I was not 100% comfortable voting with intervention of any sort, an amendment that was made to the original proposal was the best outcome we were going to achieve. I am completely against the NEC intervening in the affairs of locally elected cllrs and completely support Nick in his plight to sort this issue out. For more information, check out this article. General Secretary Report Action Saturdays are being organized for the next few months in the lead up to the local elections. The aim of these days are going to change slightly and we will now be focusing on building up our volunteer capacity. It was great to hear that new members are coming along and feeling like they’ve had a positive experience. We have 1800 signed up to our next campaign day so far. We still have a membership of over 500,000, which is great to hear. Alyn and Deeside by-election I have been over to Alyn and Deeside campaigning this month in the by-election for Jack Sargent. It’s been great to see so many members get out on the doorstep for Jack, January by-elections are also the toughest but the effort has been fantastic. Polling day is Tuesday 6th February, I will be heading over so please do join us if you can spare an hour! Labour Students National Committee I called into a Labour Students National Committee meeting. We discussed the upcoming Labour Students conference and voted on whether this should be a delegate system or an OMOV system (which would delay the election by months). The committee voted with the delegate system. The election will take place on 3rd March I would encourage members to put themselves forward for the committee positions! Trip to Israel and Palestine I was recently lucky enough to go on a trip to Israel and Palestine with the Union of Jewish Students. It was genuinely one of the most incredible and informative trips I’ve ever been on. During the week we spent time in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Ramallah and on the Lebanese and Syrian borders. One thing that struck me most from the trip is that the complexities of the conflict are further away from being solved than ever before. We met Palestinian political activists who expressed fears that for children growing up there the conflict will become normal and there will never be a resolution. It made it even more clear to me that we must steer away from the BDS movement as boycotts only serve to create further divisions. The conflict can only be improved with positive engagement between Israelis and Palestinians, not by boycotting just one side. Trips like this are vital for ensuring leaders across political parties are educated on the complexities of the conflict, rather than the current level of debate which leads to the marginalisation of Jewish people. Sweeping generalisations and campaigning for boycotts only serve to create further division. Thank you so much to UJS for giving me this opportunity and I’m looking forward to finding ways to support positive engagement on this issue in the Labour Party. If you have any questions about anything in this report please do send me an email: [email protected] Jasmin
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AuthorHere are my Monthly NEC Youth Rep reports and my full NEC meeting reports, starting from March 2016 I'll keep this updated so you know what's going on. Archives
January 2018
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