Five months after south-west region inserted itself into council selections, party still has no candidates
The entire elected executive of Lockleaze branch Labour party in Bristol resigned en masse on Sunday in disgust at the fact that not only has Labour’s southwest regional office hijacked its council candidate selection process – as it did with the city’s mayoral selection and others – but has so far failed even to choose candidates, with elections less that two months away.
The officers explained in a statement released today:
We are writing to you to let you know that we, the committee of Lockleaze Labour Party, have taken the decision to resign. We feel that we have no other choice.
In October 2020, a meeting was to held to select two candidates to stand as councillors in elections to be held in May 2021 as both our longstanding councillors Gill Kirk and Estella Tincknell were retiring. The process was overseen and approved by the Bristol Labour Party Campaign Forum which was responsible for the selection of candidates. There were six excellent local candidates. The two candidates selected by due process were Alfie Thomas and Anna Lart Greene (see attached photo). Both are in their twenties, committed to the local area and able to speak up for local people on Bristol City Council. However, our chosen candidates were blocked by the South West Labour Party Regional Director and no one from Regional Office has talked to us about reasons for doing so.
Instead, Regional Office took over the selection process. They have not met their timetable for the selection of candidates which means that we still do not have Labour Party candidates in place for May’s election, despite campaigning officially starting on March 15th. Therefore, our position as committee members is not tenable.
We regret the decision we have had to take but have been given no alternative.
Lockleaze Labour Party Committee
Anna Lart Greene, one of the candidates barred by region after being selected, tweeted the statement along with her own comment on being suspended by the party simply for calling for the regional office to be accountable for its actions:
The scandal of Labour’s conduct in the Liverpool mayoral selection may be the best-known of the party’s war on the democracy of its members, but it is by no means the only one – and Labour’s abuse of its members in Bristol has been truly appalling.
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