This morning, CLPD (Campaign for Labour Party Democracy) and Momentum announced that they had agreed a unified slate of candidates for Labour’s elections to the National Constitutional Committee (NCC).
Since then, CLPD-affiliated Jewish Voice for Labour has backed the unified slate and another affiliated group, Grassroots Black Left (GBL) has now also given qualified backing to the slate – but has combined its statement of support with a call for black voices to play their role in the making of future slates:
It’s good news for Left unity a united slate has been agreed for the election to the National Constitutional Committee (NCC) of the Labour Party. We welcome the fact it includes Jewish Voice for Labour and Grassroots Black Left (GBL)-backed Stephen Marks, which is a victory for the pro-Palestinian cause, of which Jeremy Corbyn has been a champion in parliament for more than three decades.
It is a pity that three Black candidates came off the slate, reducing the number to two out of the six. If GBL had been given a say, which as the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy’s Black affiliate it should have been, we would have liked Corbyn-supporting Iqbal Sram, an ex-Manchester city councillor, lawyer, medical doctor and past Labour Black Sections and Anti-Anti-Racist Alliance leader in the North West, included. He’s a Momentum member and an executive committee member of Momentum Black Caucus.
The Campaign for Labour Party Democracy has indicated GBL will be consulted over the Left’s slate making in future and Iqbal, who is well-qualified to be on the currently not fit for purpose NCC, will be considered as a future candidate.
We agree with the Labour Representation Committee (LRC), on whose National Executive Committee GBL is represented by our co-chair Deborah Hobson, who have said: “The LRC continues to have serious concerns about how left slates are constructed, whether by the Centre Left Grassroots Alliance, or parts of it, particularly the way in which Black candidates are hand-picked by predominantly white organisations with no reference to organisations of Black members.
We welcome Momentum’s support for the long-overdue reform of the discredited, undemocratic slate making process for Labour’s ruling NEC, NCC and all other party bodies.
grblackleft.com
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