For those still able to work in the Labour Party…

JVL Introduction

The Campaign for Labour Party Democracy offers two model motions, on Arms for Israel and on the Forde Report.

Read on.

RK

Model Motions for CLPs

Gaza – Suspend UK arms supplies to Israel

The death toll in Gaza is rising every day. Plus, regrettably, the position being put forward by Labour’s leadership is damaging the Party.

• Recent polling by YouGov (here), indicates that Labour’s leadership are increasingly considered to be badly handling its response to the situation in Palestine and Israel.
• Some Labour MPs have tabled an EDM (here) calling for the suspension of UK arms supplies to Israel.

Model motion:

This CLP notes:

• the death toll of Palestinians in Gaza has now risen beyond 30,000, the majority of whom are women and children;
• there are currently 1.5 million Palestinians sheltering in Rafah, already under military assault, whilst the Israeli government is threatening a large-scale invasion of Rafah;
• the International Court of Justice, on 26 January 2024, found it plausible that Israel’s attacks on Gaza are in breach of the Genocide Convention; and
• there is a continuing flow of arms from the UK to Israel.

This CLP believes the UK should not provide material that can contribute to the slaughter of innocent civilians in Gaza, and that therefore UK arms exports to Israel should be suspended.

This CLP calls on the Labour Party frontbench to demand the Tory government suspend all arms exports to Israel.

Motion to be sent to Keir Starmer Leader, Angela Rayner Deputy Leader, David Lammy Shadow Foreign Affairs, and NEC members.

Address the issues raised by the Forde Report

Nearly two years after the publication of the Forde Report, it appears that important recommendations it made are still being ignored and that the issues of factionalism, misogyny and racism in the Party are not being tackled.
CLPs may wish to adopt a motion calling on the NEC to address all the issues Martin Forde’s report raised.

Model motion:

This CLP notes that it is now nearly two years since the Forde Report was published, and nearly four since the ‘leaked report’ revealed problematic issues of factionalism, misogyny and racism in the Labour Party, as well as pointing to potential electoral malpractice with unapproved resources diverted during the 2017 general election.

We further note that Martin Forde has expressed his dissatisfaction with how the Report has been received and addressed by the Party, and factionalism in the Party, in particular in candidate selection, appears more embedded that ever.

This CLP notes that there were four important elements of the Forde Report:

1. The ‘monoculture’ of Labour’s workplaces and the resulting factionalism that we see, as evidenced in the Report.
2. The ‘Ergon House project’, and the specific undermining of efforts by the Leadership during the 2017 general election for Labour to win more seats – Forde found that funds were siphoned off, outside of usual controls, to shore up seats of MPs opposed to Corbyn.
3. The racism and sexism that appears to be far too prevalent in the Labour Party.
4. The completely dysfunctional complaints process inherited by Corbyn’s Leadership, plus the lack of engagement with Jewish Voice for Labour and issues with the antisemitism training introduced.

We call on Labour’s NEC to report back to members on how it is addressing these issues as a matter of urgency, in particular:

1. Why it has been reported that the NEC has rejected proposals for a more ‘civil service’ style approach to staffing.
2. Why it has failed to address accusations of institutional racism, and in particular anti-black racism, including its failure to implement the Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Conference and Committee as agreed by Annual Conference and detailed in the rulebook, which would allow BAME members and trade unions to address the issues raised.
3. Why it has failed to engage with Martin Forde about the implementation of his report.
4. What measures are being taken to overcome factionalism and build a united Party for the general election campaign.

Email addresses for NEC members