Equalities Academy - 4th February I was really excited to chair our Young Labour Equalities Academy in Bristol. In July I put a paper through the NEC which would guarantee that this event would become a permanent fixture in the Young Labour calendar. I am so pleased that we are now able to deliver that along with 3 other national events per year. The Equalities Academy was a great event with members from across the country coming along to take part in training, panels and talks. Such events just for women, BAME, Disabled and LGBT members are so important to ensure we are putting diversity at the heart of the Labour Party. We have now opened up registration for our Young Labour Political School and you can sign up via email. London Young Labour and Scottish Young Labour conferences - 11th February Huge congratulations to Miriam Mirwitch elected as London Young Labour chair and Liam Gleeson elected as Scottish Young Labour chair. These were two really successful youth conferences this month which also featured engaging discussions and training. Expansion of regional and national youth events is one of my main priorities this year so the example set by groups like London and Scotland will be at the forefront of discussion. CLP Youth Officers Training Webinar - 13th February When I was running for NEC youth rep one of my priorities was to introduce more training for young members and to ensure this is accessible. Webinars are a great way to do this and I was pleased to hold our first online training webinar for CLP youth officers this month. The webinar compliments our booklet and the training sessions I have been giving across the country on this topic. You can find it here: https://members.labour.org.uk/webinar-library By-election Campaigning - 23rd February In February we had by-elections in both Stoke-on-Trent Central and Copeland. Thanks so much to all of the young members that travelled to both seats and put in hundreds of hours of campaigning. I spent polling day in Stoke and I'm so pleased that Gareth Snell was elected. Sadly in Copeland we didn't manage to hold the seat and this shock loss is something we as an NEC must look further into. Meeting with Young European Socialists - 24th February
Myself, Iain McNicol and Caroline Hill met with representatives from YES to discuss Young Labour and Labour Students involvement with the group. The meeting was really productive and the limit on the number of members was lifted whilst ensuring we have our democratic rights at this conference. Our engagement on an international level is so important and I'm proud we are giving our young members these opportunities. NEC Women's working group - 28th February We had another meeting of the working group that has been set up to oversee the implementation of the new, more powerful women's conference as voted for by national conference 2016. All women on the NEC are invited to attend. (It is important to note that the 2017 women's conference will be an interim, transitional conference due to lack of time to organise). Prior to this meeting I created a survey for young women members to take, looking at the timing of this new conference, how it will make policy and training at the event. The purpose of this was to see what we can do to ensure the conference is accessible for young women, as few often attend women's conference. Over 100 young women completed the survey which is fantastic and I summarised the responses in a paper and circulated this to the NEC working group. At the working group we agreed the following: - An interim Women's Conference Arrangements committee (WCAC) - The future make up of the WCAC - The amount of policy discussion at the 2017 interim women's conference I was also appointed to the WCAC with 5 other NEC members. I'm really excited to ensure the conference is accessible for all women across our movement. If anyone has any questions with regards to my report please do not hesitate to get in touch: [email protected] Thanks Jasmin Jasmin Beckett Labour NEC Youth Rep
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CLP Youth Officers Training – 9th January On 9th January I delivered a training session at London Region HQ to CLP youth officers in London. It was a great opportunity for CLP YOs to give me feedback and ask questions. Over the past few months I’ve been working with the party to develop training resources as set out in my paper than I took to the NEC in September. So far I have helped develop a booklet for CLP youth officers and delivered training in the Liverpool, East Midlands, Southend, Eastern region, Wales and London. You can find the booklet here. Next month I will also be doing a live webinar for CLP youth officers to round off this training package. The live webinar will be recorded and available for others to watch. My aim over the next few months is to develop more training for young members so if you have any ideas about what you would live to see please get in touch. NEC Equalities Committee meeting – 17th January Elections At this meeting we elected the chair and the vice chairs of the NEC committee. The results were as following: Chair – Keith Birch Vice Chair Youth – Jasmin Beckett Vice Chair LGBT – James Asser Vice Chair BAME – Keith Vaz Vice Chair Women – Ann Black Vice Chair Disability – James Asser Women’s Conference After conference an NEC working group was set up to decide the logistics of the new Women’s Conference. Labour Party Conference in September 2016 voted to give policy-making powers to Women’s Conference and we are working hard to get this up and running as soon as possible. Due to the amount of work that goes into holding such a large conference the Women’s Conference in 2017 will be held immediately before Annual Conference in Brighton. However, the working group is currently considering whether in future years this conference should be moved to be a standalone conference with some separation from annual conference in September. Women delegates elected to their CLPs will be able to attend women’s conference to vote whilst the conference will also be open to observers so that the conference is accessible. We are still looking at financial and staffing costs for the conference and will be meeting again in the next week to discuss this. Safeguarding officer and Complaints The NEC was informed of the appointment of the party’s new Safeguarding Officer. I will be setting up a meeting with them in the next month to discuss the safeguarding of young members and vulnerable young adults in our party. I am committed to working with our new Safeguarding Officer to make Young Labour a safe space for all young members. The Governance and Legal Unit have been working on making Labour’s complaints procedure more fit for a party with 540,000 members. The new Safeguarding Officer will act as the main point of contact for people wishing to report abuse which will make the process more transparent and fair. Women’s PLP Report – Jess Philips MP Jess Philips MP, chair of the women’s PLP presented the women and equalities committee report on Women in the House of Commons after the 2020 report. The NEC Equalities committee discussed our commitment to ensuring we look to expand the use of All Women Shortlists especially in light of the boundary changes which may significantly impact the amount of women MPs (especially BAME women). We will be working hard over the next few months to look at the best way of expanding this. The report also calls for UK political parties to select at least 45% women as parliamentary and local candidates by 2030. Jess also talked about the Jo Cox foundation and its work in seeking a more family friendly parliament which is a huge barrier to women participating in politics. It is so important our structures are fit for the 21st century. Shadow Women’s and Equalities Team Report – Sarah Champion MP Next Sarah Champion spoke about her work as Shadow Women and Equalities minister. She talked of the work being done by the team on women in the economy tackling violence against women, FGM and maternity discrimination. She talked of the work on plans to establish an All Party-Parliamentary group on FGM. Finally, she praised work done by Paula Sheriff on consumer inequality which includes the difference in prices of male and female razors and VAT on women’s sanitary products. Representation of Disabled Members It was noted that disabled members still are hugely underrepresented in all areas of the party and the importance of making selection processes more accessible to those who define as disabled. A consultation on disabled member’s issues has been sent to CLP secretaries, so get in touch with your CLP if you wish to contribute to this important consultation. NEC Disputes Panel – 17th January Elections Ann Black (incumbent) was elected chair of disputes panel. CLPs in special measures We discussed various CLPs which remain in special measures. Again, the NEC disputes panel stressed the importance of working with CLPs to get them out of special measures as soon as possible. I stressed the importance of ensuring CLPs were a welcoming space for young members, especially those under the age of 18. We agreed it is also important for the party to give training and support to local CLPs and role holders to tackle issues arising. NEC Organisation Sub-Committee – 17th January Elections Chair – Jim Kennedy Vice Chair – Cath Speight CLP Motions and Contemporary Resolutions We read through the recent motions from CLPs and affiliates which were noted by the NEC. CLP and branch quorums Ann Black has provided research of CLPs looking at the rules around meeting a quorum at CLP and branch meetings. The current quorum is 25% but as membership has now grown to half a million (over 4000 members in some CLPs) it is clear that the majority of CLPs and branches feel this ought to be changed. Various quorum levels were discussed and recommendations will be made to regions. Northern Ireland I have recently received many emails from young members regarding standing candidates in Northern Ireland. Elections will be taking place in Northern Ireland in March 2017 and we will not be standing candidates in these elections. Prior to me taking up my position on the NEC the NEC agreed standing candidates in Parliament would be reviewed again after the 2015 General Election. That review was supposed to occur last year, and the NEC agreed a panel of committee members to conduct the review. However, the leadership election and other events last year made it impossible for NEC members to carry out that work in 2016. The Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, General Secretary and Labour Party officials have been in discussion and are working to establish a timetable that will allow the review to take place as soon as practicably possible this year. However, the announcement of elections for the Assembly means we cannot conduct that work until those are complete on March 2nd. The NEC panel intend to visit Ireland and Northern Ireland shortly after these elections to consult with relevant stakeholders and Party members on the question of whether the Labour Party should stand candidates in Northern Ireland. Until the conclusion of that review, the Party’s agreed position remains that Labour will not stand candidates at any election in Northern Ireland. As stated this will be looked up in the upcoming year and I would like to ask for member’s opinions on this. So if you have a strong view on either side of this debate please get in touch: [email protected] Donald Trump protest – 30th January It has been such a dramatic start to 2017 with Donald Trump taking office and I have been disgusted by his executive orders, especially the one being labelled a ‘Muslim ban’. Theresa May as the leader of our country is in a position to be strong and as a key ally to the USA put pressure on Donald Trump to row back on such archaic policies. Young Labour members were out up and down the country on 30th January to stand in solidarity with those who are being barred from getting back into their own country purely based on their faith. I was out in Liverpool with Liverpool Young Labour members to show my disgust. You can find the petition to prevent Donald Trump from making a state visit to the UK, which has now reached over 1.7 million signatures: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/171928/ Children and Education NPF Committee meeting – 1st February In my role as an NEC member I also sit on Labour’s National Policy Forum and therefore on an NPF policy commission – Education and Skills. Update from Angela Rayner MP – Shadow Education Minister Angela Rayner MP firstly updated us on the work she has been doing. She emphasised that the reintroduction of grammar schools is a serious threat to social mobility, we have more children from working class backgrounds going on to further education than ever before and to risk that would be a disgrace. The reintroduction of grammar schools is nothing but an ideological bargaining chip from Theresa May who is playing politics with children’s education. Since getting into power the Tories have scrapped EMA, maintenance grants for the poorest students, BTEC and vocational courses and now they are trying to bring back a regressive system. General comments There were comments from the commission of Labour not being brazen enough in 2015. We must think more about what high quality education looks like in early years’ education. It was remarked that there are 3 attributes important in early years’ education derived from research: self regulation, playfulness and oral communication. We also looked at focussing on children’s emotional development rather than introducing competition at such an early age. Education should be for life not just for employment. Angela said her and her team have looked at the Finland model of education who don’t have formal education until later but focus on early years’ education for longer. Finally, we spoke about mental health and issues faced by school children with CAHMS, however it was noted that this topic falls under the Health Commission. The next meeting of the commission will be in March. Equalities Academy and my thoughts on Reclaiming the Internet I wrote a blog for the Young Labour website on the Reclaim the Internet campaign to tie in with our Equalities Academy. Check it out here. If you have any questions with regards to this report please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me: [email protected] Jasmin Beckett NEC Youth Rep Hi everyone, this is my last report of 2016! I've had a fantastic year, thanks so much to all of the brilliant Young Labour members I've the pleasure to work with. Check out my monthly NEC reports since March under NEC Reports on my website. Happy New Year! Jasmin Labour NEC youth rep December Report
Special NEC Equalities Committee meeting On Monday 12th December we had a special NEC Equalities committee meeting to discuss the reports into anti-Semitism and practical action we will be taking as a party. Prior to the meeting I met with various groups and members including a group of young Jewish Labour Movement members to discuss the issue around anti-semitism. The meeting with young JLM members was to explore what practical action they would like to see come out of the various reports into anti-semitism. Along with the Labour leadership we have been working incredibly hard to stamp out anti-semitism and other forms of abusive behaviour when found. We have taken steps to tackle online forms of abuse with an online code of conduct. You can find information about this here: http://labourlist.org/2016/09/the-starting-point-is-to-treat-all-people-with-dignity-and-respect-labour-clampdown-on-abuse/ The meeting began by agreeing to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of anti-Semitism, the Government will also be signing up to this: “Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.” Jeremy Corbyn all involved for their their work on the various reports over the past year. Jeremy condemned all forms of racism and anti-semitism and called for strong action to be taken against those found guilty of anti-semitism. This was welcomed. We were presented with a paper based on Jan Royall’s report into anti-semitism in Oxford University Labour Club in early 2016, the Chakrabarti Report and the Home Affairs Select Committee Report along with conversations with JLM and other organisations about the ongoing issue of anti-semitism in the Labour Party. The discussion took place around: - Training - Discipline - Suspensions - Sanctions - Special measures - Complaints I added that I think we need to be training candidates, potential leaders and those who set an example to members in identifying and tackling anti-semitism. I will be pushing to ensure we have an anti-semitism training session for Young Labour members at our Equalities Academy in February. Labour Students have already taken the step to introduce training with the Jewish Labour Movement in tackling anti-semitism into individual Labour clubs along with a session nationally at their Summer Training event in August. We recognise that we need to make our complaints process easier so we are appointing a national Head of Safeguarding and Complaints in the new year and establishing a dedicated complaints system. The new role will be a named contact for complainants which we hope will open up the process and make people who wish to complain feel more comfortable in doing so. This is an important step forward and I aim to meet with the new member of staff in the new year. From the meeting we have agreed the following: - We have already adopted recommendations from the Chakrabarti report but aim to develop practical rules and guidance around these points - Development of training around broader equalities issues - A new disputes and disciplinary procedure (fit for a party with half a million members) - A full time Head of Safeguarding and Complaints - All complaints to be addressed to one place to make the process more open and accessible - Investment in our governance and legal processes and dedicate more resources to these functions - A clearer suspension process - Urgent attention to any parts of the country that have been under special measures for more than sixth months We will be meeting again in 2017 to discuss further practical action and have a lengthier discussion into the discussion points. If you have any questions around this report or want to get in touch send me an email: [email protected] I hope you all have a great Christmas and New Year! Jasmin Labour NEC Youth Rep NEC Away day On 22nd November we had our bi-annual NEC away day. Leader’s report We opened with a report from Jeremy Corbyn who discussed work he had been doing over the last few months. He commented that after the leadership election it is now time to look outwards towards the elections in 2017 and a potential general election if called early. Jeremy discussed his speech at CBI and also the party’s plan on Brexit, he reaffirmed we will not block a plan to leave the EU. We are now working to secure the best possible left wing deal from Brexit to protect workers and the environment. General secretary’s report Iain McNicol reported on by-elections we have contested this year and spoke of the upcoming mayoral and local elections that we are working hard to prepare for. He commented that Labour has developed numerous training programmes and bursaries for candidates from disadvantaged backgrounds and those who are unrepresented. The upcoming year’s priorities are maintaining financial stability, preparing for an early general election and engaging our new members. We welcomed Iain’s praise to staff for their continued hard work (often out of working hours). Urgent Business Next we we discussed NEC committees and policy commissions of which the membership is renewed each year (see below). It was agreed every member of the NEC will sit on the organisation sub-committee and disputes panel. I was also reallocated to Equalities sub-committee. Suspensions It was noted 1000 people were suspended from the party during the leadership election and 800 of those have now had their suspensions lifted with a formal warning. All of the remaining more serious suspensions are being investigated and we will discuss these at our next NEC disputes panel meeting. It was also noted at NEC disputes that we re-look at and suggest improvements for this process. Report from Rebecca Long-Bailey MP – Autumn Statement Rebecca outlined the party’s plans for the Autumn statement and what our response would be. It was an incredibly comprehensive and detailed update. She spoke about our economic plan to prepare businesses and workers for the future by adequately equipping them. Also how we need to be the party for all income groups which is key to our electoral success. Our economic plan for post leaving the EU was also outlined and then she took questions from the NEC. Keir Starmer MP – Brexit update Keir Starmer MP (shadow Brexit secretary) then gave a fantastic report on the party’s response to Brexit. He echoed Jeremy restating that the party will not block Brexit in Parliament. He agreed we more work with the EU to secure the best possible outcome for the UK and condemned Theresa May for having no proper strategy. The Tories are completely divided on this issue, much more than is being played out in the media which is a reason as to why the Tories are worryingly quiet on the issue. We then went to questions from the NEC and I asked what Labour’s key manifesto pledge and one liner on Brexit would be if we are to go into an early general election? And also if we are looking at strategy to deal with a potential fall out from pro-remain Labour voters if we are going to now stand on a platform to not block leaving the EU. This is something I think is incredibly important as we must portray that although we are not a pro-Brexit party, we will not block Brexit. We must have a clear plan on how we communicate this to voters and I was reassured by Keir’s response that the party is working hard to do this. It was also discussed how we can’t simply brush off the issue of immigration, we must look at how we deal with this issue from the point of being the Labour Party instead of looking at how other parties deal with it. John Trickett MP – Preparation for an early General Election John Trickett was up next to discuss the parties plan for 2017 elections and our plan for an early general election. He confirmed that Labour will vote for an early general election in parliament if given the chance to. We must be ready for an election whenever called. We discussed various preparations being put in place for a snap general election, we are drawing up a list of key seats which will not be made public. Rebuttal and attack will be vastly improved and worked on over the coming months as this was an issue raised many times. We have new bits of technology including the Doorstep App and social media will be a key part of our development. We are also preparing for 2017 elections that are definitely taking place including local elections, mayoral elections and country council elections. Next we talked about messages and targeting. I asked how we can ensure we can improve messaging and work on ensuring our key messages and rebuttals are having the effect we want on voters. This includes ensuring we are avoiding terms which may mean different things to different people. I am assured this is something the party are looking to hugely improve. Financial report The party is now debt free for the first time in our history and it was noted that although this is a huge success we must plan carefully and follow our successful financial plan which has worked to get us out of debt. We have over half a million members but membership numbers constantly change so we must still stick to our financial plan. This is a welcomed report and the party’s financial team deserve to be commended for their work on the long-term financial strategy. The next full NEC meeting will be in January along with various sub-committees. Welsh Young Labour Conference It was fantastic to be able to attend Welsh Young Labour and Labour Students conference in Swansea on the 5th November. It was their biggest conference yet with loads of members coming down for the weekend. I delivered training for young members attending on what Young Labour is and how to be an effective CLP youth officer, afterwards young members had loads of questions about various processes involved with setting up a Young Labour group which is great that young members are thinking of setting groups up. I was also able to attend a fantastic training event on how to liberate your Labour club ran by Ellen and Sheri-Ann, young members attending this session had many great ideas about how we can encourage more women, BAME, LGBT and disabled members to get involved and stand for positions within Young Labour and it was refreshing to hear so many good ideas on this key issue for the party. Meeting with Young Jewish Labour Movement members On Monday I travelled down to London to meet with young members of JLM to consult with them with regards to a meeting I will soon be having with the NEC Equalities Committee to discuss how we implement the recommendations of the Chakrabarti report into anti-Semitism. For me it was an eye-opening and quite an emotional meeting where members told of experiences they have had with anti-Semitism and we came out with some good practical action points that I will take to my Equalities meeting so I can properly represent young Jewish members views. London Young Labour Reception I attended the LYL reception at Labour HQ on Tuesday 15th November. This was such a fantastic event organised by the brilliant London Young Labour committee. I got the chance to chat to new members who had came to this event as their first event so it was brilliant to find out their reasons for getting involved. When speaking at the event I talked about the exceptional work that has been done by London Young Labour over the years including the election of Sadiq Khan, the engaging policy forums and phone banks. Eastern Region Youth Conference I was delighted when asked to chair Eastern Young Labour’s VERY FIRST regional conference! One of my main aims whilst I’m NEC youth rep is to get regional conferences and events up and running to make Young Labour more accessible for all so I was excited to be a part of this. We started with a workshop from the wonderful Isobel Morris (NPF rep for Eastern) who worked through questions with breakout groups on different areas of policy. We had over an hour on this and it was great to see young members discussing policy so passionately and with such extensive knowledge. Next I delivered my training workshop for CLP youth officers and for any young members training to engage others. Once again members had loads of questions afterwards and it was good to be able to help young members gain new skills and information. Training for young members is so important and I’m looking forward to developing more over the next few months. We then had Iain McNicol (Labour general secretary) came to do a question and answer session, as always Iain was incredibly engaging and answered young members’ questions for over 40 minutes. Myself and Eastern region rep, Jess Barnard then updated young members on various things Young Labour are doing nationally before finishing off the day. A hugely successful event! Labour National Policy Forum On 19th-20th November I attended the National Policy Forum in Loughborough where we elected Ann Cryer as the new chair of the NPF along with our vice chairs: Shabana Mahmood MP, Katrina Murray and Mick Wheelan. I then was asked to chair the Children and Education Policy Commission session with Angela Rayner MP (Shadow minister for Education). Angela gave us a quick update on what is happening in the Education department and where Labour are up to in terms of holding the Government to account on Grammar Schools. Next I opened up the discussion and members fed in what they thought the commissions priorities should be over the next year which we took note of, there were some really interesting contributions from the floor. We then had a great session from Keir Starmer MP on the plan for a successful Brexit and then went on to another workshop. It was a really interesting weekend and a great opportunity to meet the other brilliant NPF reps. At our NEC away day we agreed the policy commission co-chairs will be:
I will be sitting on the Early years, education and skills committee again this year. Meeting with politics students from India On 29th November I was invited along to Lancaster House to speak to a delegation of politics students from India who were in the UK to learn more about how we do politics here. I spoke to them about the work I do with Young Labour and how this links in with Labour Students and our trade unions. It was such an interesting meeting and we’ve exchanged emails to hopefully link up in the future! CLP Youth Officer training booklet During my election to the NEC one of my main priorities was to that ensure we are giving young members new skills and providing resources, this was also something I included in my NEC paper. Over the past few months I have been working with the party to launch a new programme of training for members across the country. The first booklet, ‘How to be an effective youth officer’, was launched last week and is the first of many new training resources for young members! Alongside this I have been travelling around the country to deliver workshops for youth officers in the Eastern region, Wales and East Midlands and hope to do many more over the next few months. Check out the booklet here: https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/labourclp85/pages/116/attachments/original/1479390830/Being_a_Youth_Officer.pdf?1479390830 A new registration process for Young Labour groups Another thing I have been working with the party to deliver this year is a more formal process of registering for Young Labour groups to make it easier for those wanting to get involved to find out what Young Labour structures and groups exist in their area. As a result of this we have devised a new registration process which will require all existing Young Labour groups and those wanting to set up groups to register the details with their regional office which will then form a database of Young Labour groups. This will be up and running in the next few months so please keep an eye out. Equalities sub-committee Every 2 months the NEC has 3 subcommittee meetings: Equalities, Disputes and Organisation. Firstly, we had our bi-monthly Equalities committee meeting. We heard a report back from women’s conference and discussed how we can look forward to our now more powerful women’s conference in the future, with its own policy making powers. I stressed the importance of ensuring young women members are encouraged to be delegates at this as women’s conference throughout the years is generally dominated by women over the age of 27. With the conference taking on more important roles I will be working as part of our NEC working group to ensure young women are fully involved in this conference and look at ways of going about ensuring that. Next we had planned to discuss anti-Semitism within the party and look at how we can turn the reports into action. Conference passed the first 6 recommendations of the Chakrabarti report which was an important step but we now must work hard for our Jewish members. I raised the issues that young Jewish members have got in touch with me about. I talked about not dismissing the home office select committee report as ‘biased’, as a parliamentary committee I think it is important that we take their concerns and everyone who has given evidence to it seriously. Next I wanted to push that we ensure Jewish Labour Movement have a place on our equalities sub-committee which was welcomed and accepted. I’m looking forward to working with them to ensure the legitimacy of current and further reports are upheld. I welcome all reports we have had so far from Baroness Jan Royall, Shami Chakrabarti and the Home Office Select Committee, but we now must turn these words into action. Whilst Jewish members are still put off from attending meetings I will be fighting to ensure their concerns are taken seriously. It was agreed at the end of Equalities Committee that a meeting amongst all groups concerned will be taking place in the near future and I am still waiting on confirmation for this date. Disputes panel During disputes panel we agreed that all members who have been suspended due to the leadership election will receive correspondence by 1st November. Ensuring suspended members aren’t in prolonged limbo is incredibly important so I am glad we are dealing with this quickly and efficiently. I also raised my concern with safeguarding for members under the age of 18 and how we need to be looking at this for future issues in terms of how we run our now much larger CLPs. As the youth rep on the NEC I am uncomfortable with members under the ages of 18 even being invited to hostile meetings and stressed the need for quick action on all cases. We have developed a new safeguarding policy which you can find here: http://www.labour.org.uk/page/-/8680_16-Safeguarding-children.pdf Oxford Brookes Labour Club Visit After a full day of meetings, I travelled across to Oxford to speak at Oxford Brookes University Labour club, it was a great meeting in which I talked about my experiences from joining the party to being on the NEC. The majority of the room were new members which is really positive and I was therefore able to go through the different structures of the party which members said was helpful. We then had a good Q&A and there were loads of interesting questions. Thanks to Oxford Brookes for inviting me! Women’s Conference Working Group The following week I attended a meeting with women from the NEC to discuss the rule changes we had passed at conference with regards to a women’s conference that will now be able to pass policy. This is a fantastic change we worked hard to get through conference as it gives women’s conference more powers within the party. We agreed the upcoming rules for 2017 and delegate percentages for CLPs and affiliates as a first step. Again I raised the issue of ensuring that young women are able to participate in these processes, as young women are often hugely underrepresented at women’s conference. This is something I’ll be working hard with this committee to ensure so young women feel confident to stand for delegate elections when the women’s delegate places become more important. We also agreed that there would be a certain number of visitor passes to women’s conference so as not to exclude those who do not get elected to be a voting delegate, which is crucial for accessibility. The next meeting of the working group is 5th December. East Midlands youth conference I was thrilled to be asked to chair the East Midlands Young Labour session at their regional conference. I took the opportunity to introduce new members there to Young Labour, what it is and what we do whilst also presenting training for CLP Youth Officers. The CLP youth officer training went down really well and young members had many additional questions to ask me. I was proud to be able to say I was delivering on my commitment to have more training for young members after passing my paper through the NEC on giving Young Labour more resources. Labour Students Political weekend After East Midlands youth conference in Derby I headed straight to Birmingham for my final event of the month, Labour Student’s Political Weekend! I arrived in time to hear the brilliant Jack Dromey MP speak about the importance of trade unions in our modern society and ensuring BREXIT was a fair deal for the country. A highlight of the conference was a session with Ruth Smeeth MP who spoke passionately about her work with Jewish Labour Movement in light of anti-Semitism she has experienced. She also spoke about her experiences running for election as a woman in the general election and it’s truly amazing how hard she worked. The liberation talks are always my favourite part of Labour Students events and in particular Sheri-Ann Bhim’s BAME ambassador talk was fantastic. Sheri-Ann speaks passionately about BAME representation and how we can make the party more diverse. Again there was a huge range of training events and political talks for Labour Students to listen to and take part in over the weekend which is a credit to the organisation and the national office. Saturday Women’s conference Saturday is the day before national conference proceedings begin where all self defining women in the Labour Party meeting for our annual conference. It’s was a great day packed with celebration, remembrance and fantastic speakers. Reclaim the Internet panel During women’s conference I was on a panel along with Yvette Cooper MP, Melantha Chittenden (LGBT+ officer at NUS) and Sam Smethers. I shared my experiences of abuse online after my election to the NEC along with the daily abuse I get from trolls on twitter, via email and on my personal Facebook. There were fantastic contributions from the floor with women from across the party sharing their own experiences of online abuse. The amount of women who shared stories from when they stood for an election, internally or externally, and experiencing harassment and abuse was extremely distressing. Holding an elected representative to account should never amount to abuse, which is something I have unfortunately found myself repeating too often. NEC meeting That evening we had a full NEC meeting at the conference centre where we discussed the rules going to conference. We confirmed that the rule changes we had voted on to allow Scotland and Wales a place on the NEC would go to conference, I was proud to have voted for this and proud to say it passed through conference along with all of the other rule changes the NEC submitted. Sunday Young member’s day On Sunday when full conference starts Young Labour has its annual gathering alongside conference proceedings. I helped to run the day of events. Welcoming young members We firstly welcomed the Young members who had travelled from near and far to be at our annual gathering. My role was to welcome young members and present them with a quick 15 minute presentation about what Young Labour it is, the types of things we do and how they could get involved. Next, I introduced Iain McNicol, general secretary of the Labour Party. As usual Iain was fantastic at engaging the young members in the room and young members had the opportunity to ask him questions. Question time After this we moved on to our Young Labour Question Time featuring panellists, Cat Smith (Shadow Minister for youth affairs), Ayesha Hazarika (former adviser to Ed Miliband) and Martin Edobor (Chair of the Young Fabians). It was a great session giving young members the chance to ask panellists questions. Frances O’Grady We then had a short break and were joined by General Secretary of the TUC, Frances O’Grady. I was honoured to chair this session for young members as Frances is a huge inspiration to me. All Labour affiliated trade union’s general secretaries are men, so it’s great to see Frances leading the way for women in the trade union movement. She talked about important issues such as sexual harassment in the workplace and moving into a modern working world which touches upon issues in the Workplace 2020 campaign in the Labour Party at the moment. Young members had the opportunity to field questions to Frances. Young Labour reception The Young Labour reception was later that evening where young members could enjoy a drink (both alcoholic and non-alcoholic) and time to chat to fellow young members. I introduced general secretary Iain McNicol to come and talk to the reception, along with Cat Smith MP. In his speech Iain talked of the youth paper I took to the NEC the week before which focusses on training and resources for young members (find it here : http://jasminbeckettnec.weebly.com/nec-reports/nec-youth-review-update-tuesday-20th-nec-meeting) I’m really looking forward turning this paper into action for Young Labour. Anti-semitism rally On Sunday evening it was a privilege to speak at the Jewish Labour Movement anti-Semitism rally. I spoke about the previous NEC meeting where I was proud to vote for rule changes to allow our party to be able to tackle anti-semitism more adequately and with clearer guidance. Week after week I get emails from Jewish members who no longer feel safe or welcome in our party and it was so important for me personally to speak at this rally to show solidarity with Jewish members in our party. Huge well done for JLM for organising and all of the work they are doing on this important issue in our party. Monday NEC meeting – 7:30am At 7:30am on Monday morning I attended an NEC meeting where we agreed a statement of 10 key priorities for the Labour Party which the leader’s office had agreed and written. I was happy to agree these aims. Young Councillors training After some much needed breakfast I went along to chair the Young Labour Councillors Training session with guest panellists Matthew Patrick, Samantha Jury-Dada and Gemma Welsh. CWU reception My trade union held its reception on Monday evening, it was great to hear general secretary Dave Ward speak about the future of the union and meet up with some CWU friends. Always the best reception of the conference (not biased)! Tuesday CLP Youth Officers training On Tuesday morning I presented a Young Labour CLP Youth Officers training, I talked young members through the different challenges to expect and how to overcome obstacles. It’s really useful to talk to young members about the difficulties they have faced when taking on such roles so we can help with this. In light of the workshop and my paper that I passed through the NEC I’m working with the Labour Party to create resources for young members who are looking to take on the role of a CLP youth officer. To do this I want your input, so if there is anything you would like to see from these resources send ideas to: [email protected] Labour students panel After sitting in the conference hall for the morning I spoke at the Labour Students event launching their new priority campaign “A Million More Voices” aiming to get students across the country signed up to register to vote after the government has made it harder to join the electoral register. I spoke about my own personal experience living with students who didn’t sign up to the electoral register and ways I think we can tackle this. I also spoke about priority campaigns in general and how myself and the Labour Students officers can help young members set up their own ‘Million More Voices’ campaigns in their universities.
Education panel After the Education and Children debate in the conference hall I was on a panel at the Education and Children policy seminar which members were invited to discuss policy with members of the commission. I was on a panel with shadow education minister, Angela Rayner MP. It was great to hear what members want from the commission and talk about how best we feel the Labour Party could tackle the Tories on education and their regressive policies, particularly with grammar schools. NEC meeting After a full day I had one final NEC meeting. It was great to welcome new NEC members but incredibly sad to say goodbye to some exceptional NEC members, in particular Johanna Baxter and Ellie Reeves, two strong women who have helped me so much since I became a member of the NEC. We also said goodbye to the formidable Ann Lucas and Denis Skinner. Glenis Willmott MEP was elected chair of the NEC and Andy Kerr (CWU) was elected Vice Chair. We also thanked Paddy Lillis who has been a fantastic chair in a tough year for the Labour Party. It was also great to welcome Kezia Dugdale and Carwyn Jones as Scottish and Welsh rep onto the NEC. I was proud to vote for Scotland and Wales to have representation on the NEC and it was great to have them take up their seats that evening. Wednesday Leaders speech Finally, on Wednesday we got to hear the leader Jeremy Corbyn’s speech to conference. It was great to hear Jeremy speak about how we are going to take our message to the country, which is ultimately the most important thing we need to be focussing on as a party. In true Labour Party conference style, we finished with a rendition of Jerusalem and the Red Flag before the close of #Lab16! If you have any questions about my report please feel free to email me: [email protected]
Jasmin NEC Youth Rep I'll be doing a full NEC monthly report soon but just a quick update on Tuesday's NEC meeting for young members:
I expressed my disappointment that a Youth Review paper was not brought to the NEC by the Chair of the youth strand after months of consultation with young members. Cancelled meetings and postponing the process gave me no option other than to create and circulate my own youth paper to the NEC based on young members responses to the youth consultation. Whilst every other strand circulated their paper and spoke to it during the meeting, the youth paper was pushed back and ignored. After 3 hours, I eventually spoke on my paper expressing my huge frustration that young member's concerns are being kicked into the long grass again. After further discussion at the meeting, I am proud to announce that the NEC supported the youth paper I created (below) which enshrines events, training and resources for young members from CLPs to Young Labour groups. There was no formal vote on this as, (against my wishes), it has again been pushed back to an away day in the near future. I'm proud to be putting young members as my priority and fighting for their voices to be heard on our NEC and when it comes to the away day young member's responses to the discussion process if what I will be fighting for. This is just the start (hence no huge rule changes in my paper below), and the discussion will continue with the NEC at an away day in the next few months where I will continue to fight for young members voices. But for now I will deliver on the training, resources and events for Young Labour mentioned in my paper, fulfilling the pledges you elected me on. 5th July - Organisation subcommittee We had an org sub meeting in which we heard from Tom Watson MP who came along to update us on the party reform progress. I gave an update on the youth review in which I talked about the fact we now have 70,000 young members, as opposed to the 20,000 a few years ago. Young Labour needs to now change to accommodate these young members as we can’t expect our old structures to work for everyone. I spoke about the questionnaire 1000 young members had filled out and the findings we had from that, the members who ran youth review sessions in their regions and those I had attended across the country. The main findings from this looked at the age range of young Labour and how that may need to be shifted to accommodate our increased members but the most resounding thing found was that young members overwhelmingly want OMOV (one member one vote) for all future NEC and youth committee elections. Something I agree is so important for engaging our young members, rather than just allowing those who can afford to attend an expensive conference being able to elect the representatives for ALL of young Labour. Myself and Chair of Young Labour Caroline Hill were elected with a mandate to bring in OMOV and that’s something we will work hard to fight for. The NEC agreed with these main points and we also talked about increased training for young members and how we can better engage with new members. This youth review is still at an early stage but I will continue to keep you updated on its progress. 12th July – Urgent NEC meeting On 12th July we were called into Labour HQ for an urgent NEC meeting. This was because a leadership election had been triggered after Angela Eagle gained the nominations to make a leadership challenge. Prior to the meeting I put out a survey to take into account young member's views before I voted on the various decisions. This survey is for me to gage young member's views, not something I was going to release after informing young members who filled it out it would be a confidential survey. I read all of the 3000 responses and I can say it was incredibly mixed with young members having varied opinions on the leadership elections. Thanks to all those that filled it out, I'll continue to do more surveys before NEC meetings as I have done in the past. I also received hundreds of emails and messages prior to the meeting and as usual I took the time to read them all. Thanks to those that sent in comradely emails, I really try to take into account young members views before I do anything. This meeting was a one item meeting, to discuss firstly the legal decision as to whether a sitting leader would be required to obtain nominations in the event of a challenge, the timetable of the leadership election and the various rules surrounding the election. 32 out of 33 members of the NEC were present, Mary Turner (GMB rep) was unable to attend due to illness and we began the meeting by wishing her well. We began with the Chair notifying us that Andy Burnham and Debbie Abrahams had requested to address the NEC to talk about a negotiation process from a third party figure between the PLP and the leader. The NEC voted to allow AB and DA to address the meeting but voted against prolonging negotiations further. Next, we went onto the first item into the agenda to talk about the rules surrounding whether a sitting leader would have to gain the required nominations in the event of a challenge. A motion was put forward to make this vote a secret ballot as NEC members spoke up about abuse and intimidation they had received prior to the vote. It was highlighted that women on the NEC in particular are targeted with such abuse including rape threats and I know I had received hundreds of emails with one informing me “there would be consequences if I voted the wrong way”. No NEC member should feel vulnerable and intimidated to vote a certain way, that’s why I voted for a secret ballot and the vote was won by 17-15. We were then reminded that the vote as to whether a sitting leader would need the required nominations was a crucial legal decision, and if the wrong decision was made in light of legal advice then the Labour Party could face prosecution. I spoke and highlighted the fact that this decision, contrary to what some thought, was a legal decision and not a factional one. We heard from QC James Goudie who gave legal advice and read through documents outlining other bits of advice. We were then able to ask questions, this debate went on for around 3 hours whilst we tried to work through the important parts of the legal advice and the interpretation of the rules. After more debate we come to a vote on whether a sitting leader would need the required percentage of nominations from MPs and MEPs to get on the ballot in the event of a leadership challenge. The NEC voted that a sitting leader would not need the required percentage of nominations in the event of a leadership challenge by 18-14. The vote itself presented a very difficult set of circumstances for members of NEC on all sides of the debate, and I believe that the protections of a secret ballot were vital. It’s a shame that a secret ballot was a necessary step, but I stand by my decision to support it, and stand in solidarity with my fellow NEC members by respecting the integrity of that secret ballot and our fears for safety. This was the first NEC meeting where I was subject to abusive and scary messages suggesting there would be ‘consequences’ if I voted the wrong way and sexually abusive messages on my personal Facebook. This was the first NEC meeting where I was ushered through the back door into the building due to protests outside. And, this was the first NEC meeting where I was concerned for the wellbeing of myself and members in the room. I am therefore standing united in solidarity with my fellow NEC members and the NEC voted to ensure the sitting leader did not have to gain the required nominations in light of a leadership challenge. We had a break before we moved on and tensions were high. I was genuinely scared for my safety before and after the meeting and it was incredibly difficult to watch NEC members breaking down in tears due to their own fears, with anonymous threats of rape online and NEC member’s home addresses and phone numbers being posted on Twitter. Another comment posted online was “if the NEC voted the wrong way then I will take out a shotgun”. All of these comments have been reported but as a 20 year old woman it doesn’t make it any less terrifying and I hope therefore members appreciate my decision to vote for a secret ballot. I post my reports every month informing young members of NEC meetings and post survey’s before every meeting so this decision was not taken lightly. Next, we looked at the timetable of the leadership elections and to ensure staff had enough time to do their job properly and were not under an undue amount of pressure we voted to have the leadership results announced in September. Then we looked at the role of registered supporters in the leadership elections. It was agreed by all that there must be a freeze date as the pressure on our staff and party last time put them under extreme pressure and stress to ensure everyone was processed on time. In light of a potential snap general election we needed to ensure this was as rigorous as possible. The NEC agreed with a freeze date and various freeze dates were discussed .We eventually compromised on a 6 month freeze date which I voted for. This is similar to all other freeze dates we have for internal elections. Finally, the NEC agreed to raise the £3 fee for registered supporters as last year we were overwhelmed with Tories and UKIP supporters joining (and even a cat) because the price to be a registered supporter was too low. It’s not right that our members felt devalued and that we had to question supporters’ commitment to the Labour Party. It was first discussed to have a fee between £12 to hundreds of pounds; myself and others voted for a compromise of £25 to become a registered supporter. This was passed. After a 7 hour meeting the NEC were all in agreement and the meeting was closed by the Chair. 18th July – Reclaim the Internet Conference I attended the Reclaim the Internet conference which is an initiative looking at the abuse women (in particular) receive online and how we can reclaim in the internet and tackle this so women feel able to state their views. We heard from fantastic speakers such as Yvette Cooper, Jess Phillips, Stella Creasy and Chris Keates. Chris is the General Secretary of teacher’s union NASWT and spoke in particular about the abuse teachers are subject to online by pupils, such as ‘rate my teacher’ where comments can be incredibly abusive. I’m really looking forward to bringing this campaign into Young Labour when looking at how we treat each other online. If you want to see more check out their website: http://www.reclaimtheinternet.com 19th July – Full NEC meeting On 19th July we had our full NEC meeting. Honouring Jo Cox We began by talking about honouring the life of Jo Cox and spoke about how we could work with her family to do this. I suggested doing a collection for refugees at conference in Jo’s name. Other suggestions were an award at conference in Jo’s name and a shield in the House of Commons. It’s important that we keep Jo’s memory alive and I’m proud that we were discussing this. Women’s Conference I raised the issue with the General Secretary that many young memebrs have contacted me about after the emergency NEC meeting which was that women’s conference (our biggest women’s gathering) may be overshadowed by the leadership announcement on the same day. This was an issue I felt incredibly strongly about as if this is ignored it will make women in our party feel undervalued and that the party doesn’t take their concerns seriously. Unfortunately, we were told the date if changed would cost the party in addition of an extra £40,000 and delegates would have to be brought up to Liverpool for an extra day incurring huge costs for the party. So this would sadly not be possible. I asked the general secretary if he would pledge to ensure he would do everything possible to ensure our women’s conference would not be overshadowed by the leadership announcement and mentioned how disappointed young women members were by this. He said he would ensure everything was done to ensure women’s conference goes ahead as normal. Under 18s Registered Supporters I then spoke about another issue that young members had brought up with me regarding the fact under 18s are unable to sign up as registered supporters and those who joined after January were therefore excluded completely. This was something I was unaware of and feel it is incredibly important to ensure 14 year olds+ are included in this leadership election. My concern was expressed around the fact that Labour party members must be 14 to join therefore I asked our general secretary why under 18s were excluded from being registered supporters. The GS outlined that this was in the rules that due to relevant checks that need to be made with regards to address, parental approval and the requirement that registered supporters were on the electoral register meant under 18s were unable to sign up as registered supporters. In future leadership elections I will push for a rule change to ensure all from the age of 14 are included in the registered supporters bracket if they so wish to be. Preparing for an early general election Jon Trickett gave a presentation about the work he has been doing with staff preparing for an early general election. Questions were raised about our policy process and how this would include our National Policy Forum. Members suggested that those who stood in 2015 should be allowed to stand again without challenge as it would be almost impossible for the NEC to manage 650 selections in the space of a few months. It was clear our strategy was being planned and I’m looking forward to hearing more on this at the next meeting. EU Referendum We had a presentation on the EU referendum. In which I raised how positive it was that the turnout for young people was much higher than expected but also how young people would be most affected by Brexit. I asked what could have been done to persuade more Labour voters to vote remain and how we can use this argument going into an early general election. The biggest issue by far was ensuring we don’t lose voters to UKIP after the exit from the EU. The Chakrabarti Report Shami Chakrabarti came along to the meeting to present her report on anti-semitism in the Labour Party to the NEC. She stressed that some of the worst examples of anti-Semitism were laced with misogyny and believes our code of conduct should be extended to include this. I expressed that many young Jewish members had contacted me and had been really disappointed with the party’s reaction to the anti-Semitism they had faced. Along with the fact that some Jewish young members don’t feel safe attending party meetings anymore. I therefore wanted to ensure steps were being taken to ensure young Jewish members feel safe and feel that their concerns were being taken seriously. This is something I will continue to fight for. 20th July - Domestic Violence Campaign One of my personal campaigns with the platform I have on Labour’s NEC is to put domestic violence on to the political agenda. 1 in 4 women suffer domestic violence at the hands of those who are supposed to love them and this in turn effects thousands of children growing up in a household where violence is present. This campaign is important to me as I was one of those children, luckily a few years ago I managed to get away from that but some aren’t so lucky. Over the next few weeks I will meet with representatives from domestic violence charities, MPs and Trade Unions to talk about how we can work together to tackle this problem and raise awareness. Whilst the Tories are cutting women’s refuges and services to women suffering from domestic violence we need to come together to fight for victims and those desperate to escape. I planned to walk 10k with Refuge on 11th September a few months ago when I had an idea to get Labour members involved so together we can raise as much money as possible for domestic violence sufferers. Therefore, I have created a ‘Team Labour’ to walk the 10k. The 10k is titled ‘Walk 4’ as it will take us across London’s 4 big bridges to highlight the fact that 1 in 4 women suffer from domestic violence. There is also a Facebook event here which I have created where you can find out how you can join our team. I’ve already put together a small team but it'd be great to see a huge representation of Labour members there supporting this cause. Please join me on 11th September, it costs £10 to enter and you can join our team by searching ‘Team Labour’ when you are registering. Any questions get in touch: [email protected] Register here: http://www.refuge.org.uk/get-involved/1012306-2/ 22nd-24th – Young Activists Academy On Friday 22nd July I set off to Nottingham for our Young Activists Academy. This was a weekend I’ve been looking forward to since March when I helped secure funding for the event at our ‘NEC funding development panel’. I fought to get this funding for this training event for young members because I know how important giving young members the skills they need to make their own path within Young Labour is. I promised in my manifesto that I would ensure young members get the training they need and I’m proud to be delivering on that. The weekend was brilliant and I’d firstly like to thank all of the amazing Labour Party staff that gave up their weekend to come along and give the training sessions. We started with a dinner on the Friday evening with Tom Watson MP and had an early night ready for the next day. On Saturday we were all up bright and early for breakfast and a packed day full of training. Each training session lasted 3 hours (with a break in the middle), we had 2 on Saturday and the final session on Sunday. Session 1: Next Generation – finding & developing young leaders Session 2: Building relationships & Capacity building Session 3: Identifying your issue & turning it into a winning campaign After these fantastic sessions were delivered we had a round up plenary session where the aim was that these young leaders who were picked to attend from applications in their region would go back and train up their own young members. All young members will be sent the powerpoints and training packs to hold their own ‘Young Activists Academy’ in their own region. This is a great way of community grassroots organising and I’m so glad the weekend was a huge success. 25th July Gavin Shuker Summer School I was asked by Gavin Shuker MP to come along and give a session to his Summer school which he holds every year for young people from his CLP. My session was about why the Labour Party needs young people and my role representing young members. It was so great to hear how they thought the Labour Party could better engage with young people and I’ll be sure to take this on board!
Meeting with the US Embassy That afternoon I was asked to go along to the US embassy to talk to them about the work I do within Young Labour and see how we can better link up in the future. It was a really interesting meeting to talk to their officers about Young Labour and hear their ideas about youth engagement. 12th June – Tooting campaign day On 12th June I joined Labour Students on the doorstep in Tooting for the fantastic Dr Rosena Allin-Khan. The Tooting by-election was called for 16th June after former MP Sadiq Khan was elected mayor of London in May. I campaigned with students and young members from across London who came down for the day to help in Tooting, despite the weather we knocked on hundreds of doors across the constituency and hopefully helped towards a Labour win! 13th June – Meeting with Labour's International Projects Manager I met with Labour’s International Projects Manager on June 13th to talk about how we ensure the Labour Party has a global presence during meetings of other democratic socialist parties around the world. It was useful to discuss how Young Labour can also play a role in this. 14th June – Meeting with the Shadow Cabinet, Trade Union leaders and the NEC I was invited to take part in a meeting of the shadow cabinet with trade union leaders and other NEC members to listen to Jeremy talk about the fact that the friends on the greatest issues of our generation such as global poverty and improving the lives of people across Europe. We know that the EU protects our human rights and also protects key worker’s rights. That’s why we are working hard for a remain vote. 15th June – Meeting with Dave Ward (CWU general secretary) I was invited down to CWU HQ on 15th June to meet with the general secretary of my trade union, Dave Ward. It was great to catch up with Dave after my election to NEC and talk about how we can work together to encourage more of our young members to get involved in their trade unions. One of my main priorities when I ran for NEC was to ensure Young Labour engages more with our trade unions and puts young trade unionists at the heart of our movement. This is a priority that I am working hard on by meeting with various trade union leaders to discuss how we can better work together. 16th June – Tooting by-election The Tooting by-election took place on 16th June. I arrived in Tooting early with many other Young Labour members to campaign for Dr Rosena Allin-Khan in the key marginal seat. We knocked many doors in the morning and noticed Labour posters in almost every window. Rosena went on to win Tooting that evening with an increased majority. I’m proud to have helped on this campaign and of the young members that hammered the doors day in day out for 6 weeks to get Rosena elected. She will be an asset to the PLP. Sadly, I left door knocking in Tooting at around 2pm when we got the news that one of our MPs, Jo Cox had been shot and stabbed in her constituency. We were unaware of the extent of the news at the time. I headed over to Labour HQ where we eventually got the news that Jo had tragically died. Although I didn’t know Jo the news hit me and many other Labour friends incredibly hard. Jo was out doing her job, serving her community and her constituency. She was always fighting for what she believed in whether that was campaigning for a remain vote or helping refugees. Jo was also a Mother and a Wife, her children are now left without a Mother because of this mindless murder. The strength that has been shown since Jo’s murder by her family and the Labour Party has been incredible. Jo said in her maiden speech “We have far more in common than which divides us” which is something we often forget in the Labour Party. We have came together under the idea that we have #moreincommon to raise money for charities that Jo Cox devoted her life to and if you can spare a few pounds please donate in her memory: https://www.gofundme.com/jocox. 23rd June – EU Referendum For most of June I was out on the doorstep campaigning for the UK to remain in the EU. It was a fantastic campaign following the battle bus up and down the country and helping out at key Labour In for Britain events. Polling day was a big operation, I was put in charge of Euston station in the morning as a key part of the campaign was visibility and ensuring Labour had presence. I stood outside Euston where young activists joined me in the morning putting stickers on voters and talking to them about the importance of their vote. During the day I made my way to South London to knock some doors where we received a good response. Eventually I was back at Euston for a final push, the mood was positive and voters were telling us they had been out to vote remain. It was a fantastic day and the effort shown from our young members was phenomenal, I’d like to personally thank all the young members, young trade unionists and Labour students that came out to encourage people to vote. Unfortunately, the vote was not positive and Britain sadly voted to leave the EU. Opportunities for young people and students will decrease and our cost of living will increase. We must now encourage the government to ensure we get the best deal for young people if we are to eventually leave the EU. If you have any questions or require my monthly report in a different format please get in touch at: [email protected] Thanks Jasmin NEC Youth Rep
5th May – Polling day I spent polling day doing a tour of North West key seats with Theresa Griffin MEP. I’m used to staying in one seat on polling day so it was a nice change to be able to travel the region. We set off early in the morning and drove to West Lancashire from Liverpool to knock doors in Rossendale which we were told was at risk of being lost. After this we drove back across to Manchester to campaign in a key marginal seat where I met loads of activists who had been out since the early hours. Finally, we made out way back towards Merseyside to the Wirral to campaign in Pensby for Mike Sullivan. I stayed in Pensby until around 10pm when the polls closed before finishing for the day. Another successful polling day operation!
survey young members can take part in before the NEC suggest recommendations. The event in Birmingham was a great success, many young members came along and we had some really great discussion about various issues such as cheaper events, the need for OMOV for Young Labour and how we can better engage with our young members in the trade unions. These young consultation events and the survey are the most important part of the youth review as young member’s views must be at the forefront of the changes made, it’s your young Labour so ensure you have your say. 13th May – Launched Labour Students In for Britain with Jeremy Corbyn I was excited to launch the Labour Students In for Britain campaign with Jeremy Corbyn and Glenis Willmott on 13th May. We had hundreds of young people turn up at the Casa in Liverpool for the launch to hear our guests speak and I put forward the case as to why remaining in the EU is so important for students and young people. Less than half of young people said they would go to the ballot box in a recent poll so we must be a part of ensuring they are motived to do so! 17th May – Full NEC meeting On 17th May we had a full NEC meeting. I brought up the concerns young members had raised with me with Tom Watson about the time period of the youth review being during the May elections, the EU campaign and during exams for young members. Tom fully agreed with these concerns and promised everything will be done to ensure young members can fully take part in the youth review. Jeremy Corbyn gave his leader’s report in which he spoke about our performance during the recent May elections. Jeremy also talked about the Labour Students In for Britain launch which myself, Glenis Wilmott and Jeremy launched in April, it was a great event where we engaged with students on Liverpool campus to encourage them to register to vote. Jeremy stressed that young people will be crucial in deciding the outcome of the EU referendum as polls show young people overwhelmingly want to remain. We as a party must ensure they get out and vote on June 23rd. He also stressed the importance of young people in the run up to 2020 and how we must ensure we engage with young people over the next few years. Andy Kerr, CWU representative on the NEC talked about Jeremy attending the CWU’s recent conference and said how grateful delegates were that he spent time talking to them on conference floor rather than just giving a speech. Jeremy said he attends all union conferences he is invited to and is grateful for the opportunity to talk to members. Jeremy also spoke about turning young members into activists, something I believe is incredibly important and want to put at the forefront of my time on the NEC. I was really proud to announce last month that we would be holding a Young Activists Academy at the end of July, for which I helped secure funding from the NEC development fund in March. This will be a fantastic opportunity to bring young members together, fully funded and give them the skills to become activists and go on to share these skills with members. Our General Secretary Iain McNicol gave his report. He talked about the fantastic work that has been done fighting the Trade Union Bill in parliament which has allowed us to get concessions from the government. Rosie Winterton (Chief Whip) has worked particularly hard on this and we all agree the work she has done has been invaluable. The General Secretary also talked about a training pack that would be released in relation to EU campaigning. I asked about concerns young BAME members had raised with me about their experiences on the doorstep when campaigning with the remain team, in particular racist abuse on the doorstep making them feel unsafe. Iain completely agreed that this must be a priority for the party and he will ensure there is a section dedicated to this in the training pack. Angela Eagle spoke about the National Policy Forum (NPF)’s new online initiative called ‘Labour is Listening’ which has had positive reactions so far. This is a more modern and updated version of ‘Your Britain’ which was used to get policy ideas during the 2015 general election. Angela has worked hard with the policy team to develop this and it encompasses all varieties of social media to bring it up to date. Finally, Baroness Jan Royall came to NEC to present her report on Youth Conference and the Oxford University Labour Club anti-Semitism inquiry. The NEC decided that the report will remain confidential, however, I can say that the Royall report gave many suggestions as to how the party can improve how our youth movement operates which will feed into the youth review. The report also upheld the result of the election in which I was chosen as NEC youth rep, standing by both the accuracy of the count and my behaviour as a candidate. 28th May – Spoke at an EU event on behalf of Labour Myself and Ed Miliband were representing The Labour Party on 28th May at a cross-party remain event. There was a young person from the Tories, the Greens and the Lib Dems also speaking at the event. It was great to introduce Ed and answer questions from the audience with him. I spoke about how important remaining in the EU will be for me, my country and our future, my home city of Liverpool has benefited hugely from EU membership and the city which has struggled in the past has been completely regenerated as part of the EU which had a huge impact on my life growing up in a less than well off area. It was great to hear why the EU is so important to young people across the parties too. |
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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