Liverpool Riverside CLP – whose MP Louise Ellman is considered on the hard right of the party – has long been the most right-dominated CLP (constituency Labour party) in Liverpool, in spite of a majority-left membership.
The CLP was suspended over what turned out to be entirely unsupported allegations against members – and on its reinstatement was forcibly converted from an ‘all-member meeting’ to a branch/delegate-based structure. A rush of delegations from other groups then cemented the right in charge, in spite of the best efforts of left-wing members to organise.
Last night that changed.
At Riverside’s AGM on Friday evening, the left won every one of the six ‘exec’ positions and most of the other CLP officers.
All of the CLP’s crucial delegate positions to the city’s ‘LCF’ (local campaign forum) – the body that controls campaigns and local election candidate selections – also went left.
Riverside’s Chair, Tim Hayden, told the SKWAWKBOX that the left had competed on a platform of total support for Liverpool Women’s Hospital, which faces closure, for the RMT union’s battle to keep guards on Merseyside trains and the FBU (Fire Brigades Union) fight against cuts by a fire authority that has a £25m reserve but pays ‘resilience payments’ to some firefighters to break strikes aimed at preventing a £1.9m cut in Liverpool’s fire services.
The fact that these battles are necessary in a Labour city is a good indicator of the scale of the task – and shows that last night’s victory is a huge landmark in the alignment of Liverpool Labour to the wishes and politics of the vast majority of the UK’s Labour members.
Congratulations to Riverside members.
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