Right-wing unions and party combine to maintain flouting of fundamental principle of justice
Last night, Labour added to its long and sorry list of shame when the party’s national executive voted to continue its practice of retrospective expulsion.
Retrospective punishment is outlawed as a fundamental principle of justice, because it would self-evidently be wrong to punish someone later for doing something that they were allowed to do at the time. But under the Starmer regime the Labour right has long been kicking out members for associating with groups that were not ‘proscribed’ at the time, but were since outlawed to salve the right’s fear of arguments they know they can’t win.
These retrospective expulsions have been disproportionately applied to Jewish party members, leading to complaints against the party to the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) after it became clear that left-wing Jews are more than thirty times more likely to be targeted than non-Jewish members – and their leaders more than two hundred times more likely.
But this structural and intentional antisemitism appears to have given the slightest pause to the right-wing cabal obsessed with tightening its grip on a party in which it has no honest place, as the right-dominated NEC voted by 22-15 to maintain its abuse of power.
This was only a one-vote swing from the result of the ballot on the motion to reinstate Jeremy Corbyn on the same afternoon, which was defeated 23-14. Member representative Ann Black is understood to have voted against retrospective expulsions but not in favour of reinstating Corbyn.
Labour insiders have told Skwawkbox that the Unison, GMB, USDAW and Musicians’ unions sided with the Labour right on both issues, a dark day for the union movement.
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Labour insiders have told Skwawkbox that the Unison, GMB, USDAW and Musicians’ unions sided with the Labour right on both issues, a dark day for the union movement.
If I was you skwawky, I wouldn’t write any pieces about their members’ plight(s) anymore. They’ve shown their hand, the reptiles. Fuck the lot of ’em.
Starmer is immoral, not immortal. When the left eventually have a majority on the NEC they will be able to retrospectively get rid of ALL on the right who have acted undemocratically.
MR AJ
How close are we to that
And how do we fix PLP
I stopped my DD in the hope of Bankrupting the fuckers
I also think a Socialist Party with JC as spiritual leader and one of the younguns as leader could hit the ground running
Unions, members and supporters are crying out for Clear Red Water
Only JC can fire the starting gun and get us all to take that leap of faith
Doug agree JC could be a great help but we can do it ourselves! Solidarity!
I see Doug’s having a laugh again….. Did you somehow miss all that happened in the years after he FIRST fired the ‘starting gun’? Yes!, he was shot to pieces by numerous fascist thugs, and they’re STILL firing! One thing’s for sure, any new party with Jeremy as its ‘spiritual leader’ will DEFINITELY hit the ground!
And YOU know it!
_________________________________
Anyway, I just did a search to see if any of the MSM or Jewish newspapers have covered the retrospective vote and, as expected, they HAVEN’T, and for the obvious reason. But I did come across a BBC article from last September. Here’s the headline and a few passages from it:
‘Labour losing members hand over fist under Starmer, warns John McDonnell’
[The article starts by saying that ‘In a BBC interview he suggested….’, but it doesn’t appear to say in which program the interview took place.] Anyway
But Mr McDonnell argued that far more left-wing members of the party were now facing disciplinary action through guilt by association
.
He said that the action being taken against them is being applied retrospectively.
He told the BBC: “What’s happened is a number of groups have been proscribed and we are now receiving reports of large numbers of members of the party being excluded from the party on the basis of statements or retweeting something from one of these groups before they were proscribed.
“This flies in the face of natural justice… It is like being guilty of pre-crime.”
Anyway, at least the BBC gave the issue some coverage. BUT (in the article) they also quote Luke Akehurst at some length supporting (of course!) retrospective expulsions, and he says the following at one point:
Mr Akehurst justified a trawl of social media to explore whether people had supported the now banned groups
.
“We have to be wide ranging,” he said.
“You might not be able to access their list of members so you have to be able to work out who might be members from the ways they publicly express support.”
And if you never WERE???!!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-58591455
Allan Howard
JC would be wrapped in cotton wool and wheeled out for major rallies, altogether now ‘Oh Jeremy Corbyn’
Meanwhile the rest of us can do the necessary dirty work
Yesterday was the day Starmer’s Labour totally disgraced itself and showed once and for all just how vindictive and without principles morals or decency it is. Shame on them all.
I thought Unison were now run by left leaning members. Leading to left representation on the NEC.
It will take time for the Unison’s left majority on the executive to assert its authority over the entrenched right-wing. But the pressure is on.
The GMB and USDAW are in a class of their own! Noting is immutable, however.
That Candidate spoke for The Union and for The Union’s Members, unless there is a Disciplinary Enquiry for their Gross Insubordination, we must assume That UNISON will Act as a Right Wing Union and therefore is a Right Wing Union.
Nothing to do with Jeremy Corbyn, but we need to look at these Unions’ and Politicians’ Actions and take action accordingly.
ie Change your UNION vote Against your Neo-Labour Party TORY SCUM MP/Block their Candidate from taking a Seat, etc.
We have the Power, but we’re not using it, we’re handing our Power to the TWO Ruling TORY Parties on a silver platter with a Red Apple in it’s Mouth, Time and Time Again!
Thanks Paul
As you say it comes as no surprise GMB and USDAW voted against. Maybe Starmer and GMBs leadership have had a cosy chat about not reducing the unions donations. Oh and there’s the speech GBMs GS made at a meeting during Conference about antisemitism in the party.
Yes they are After trying to neutralise the union’s nec and getting rid of the president. But apparently the the reps in the Labour nec can do as they please so it seems. Probably an aspect that needs to be tackled.
I know People feel solidarity with the Left wing President of the Union and think that they should stay to support him, However as The UK Labour Party’s Slow Death by Occupying Parasite Party The Thatcherite Neoliberal Neo-Labour TORY FILTH Party and the Final Straw of Jeremy Corbyn’s “CORBAN”, as called for at a BoD Meeting, shows, within The Party, Within The Union, etc We are Outnumbered, not just by The MPs, Reps, CLPs, NECs, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, but also by Their Paymasters The Elites/Establishment/Xlateral Commission and Their MSM, Pollsters, etc, etc!
That is why The MANY needs to Put Pressure on PAL and Members to get their Act Together NOW, so that we can boot as MANY of The FEW OUT of their Seats and Make way FOR The PEOPLE!!!!
Smarmer shat on the £15p/h for low paid workers – which includes just about all shop workers (usdaw)
I don’t remember hearing him utter so much as a peep for music venues and the like during lockdown (musician’s union) Mind you, when you’ve got michael dugher running music uk, you deserve what you get.
And as for the GMB… so much for them…Take yer pick.
https://skwawkbox.org/?s=gmb
BackofBeyond,my understanding is that the Labour Party suspended from Party membership a member allowing the right wing to maintain control.
I don’t mean this as an insult to anyone in Particular, BUT ALL WE DO IS TALK! TALK, TALK, TALK, TALK! We need to Mobilize NOW, Jeremy to Join The PAL, get it Registered, get 645 Candidates Registered and Announced NOW! Not after the next GE! NOW!
We NEED to Act against these Right Wing Unions and Boycott them IMMEDIATELY, why TALK about the TALKING! NO! NOW! En Masse, withdraw your Membership, Show some FUCKING PASSION! There is ONLY ONE UNION in PAL at the MOMENT SUPPORT THEM instead of a bunch of Right Wing TWATS who will see you sink at your next Tribunal for Unfair Right Wing Dismissal!
STOP TALKING AND START DOING!
PLEASE @SBSteve! Put out a Call to Put Pressure on The PAL and to Boycott The Right Wing Unions!
Labour Membership, WHAT Labour Membership with about 10-15 Democratic Socialists left in That Parasite Occupied Party The Thatcherite Neoliberal Neo-Labour TORY SCUM Party, do you really think your membership means anything AT ALL! GET OUT!
Pressure on PAL to get registered, get Candidates Registered and Announced and START TAKING THIS SERIOUSLY FFS! We have 15-20 Democratic Socialists Left in The House of Commons! ARE WE REALLY GOING TO WAIT UNTIL THOSE TORY SCUM PARTIES GOT RID OF ALL BEFORE WAKING THE FUCK UP!!!!!!!!!?
The PAL doesn’t even have a Website, Twitter handle or anything of Real Substance yet! @SBSteve, you know these are experienced Politicians Can we do something to get them to take this SERIOUSLY and get these Candidates and The UNITED PAL Party on a ROLL NOW!!!
Neutralizing Corbyn and the left in one foul swoop,or just a everyday occurrence in the pill 💊popping NEC kangaroo court…..Apart from the move on Jeremy Corbyn its more of the same……Things have been brought to a head and I can only hope its the birth of a much needed opposition party that the people need so desperately.
The same principles apply as with criminal law…
Retrospective criminal laws are prohibited by Article 7 of the European Convention on Human Rights, to which the United Kingdom is a signatory.
Article 7 – retroactivity
Article 7 prohibits the retroactive criminalisation of acts and omissions. No person may be punished for an act that was not a criminal offence at the time of its commission. The article states that a criminal offence is one under either national or international law, which would permit a party to prosecute someone for a crime which was not illegal under domestic law at the time, so long as it was prohibited by international law. The Article also prohibits a heavier penalty being imposed than was applicable at the time when the criminal act was committed.
Article 7 incorporates the legal principle nullum crimen, nulla poena sine lege into the convention.
Could the UK’s signatory status of the ECHR (and its Article 7 which prohibits retrospectivity of legislation) not provide an opportunity for appeal here?
Is it worth bothering,? We know starmer’sWEFLabour party is as corrupt as hell and would whenever it suited them claim exception.
Would it not just be easier to start a new member-led Movement and Party? It’s not like we’d ned to give-up a very real prospect of forming the next Government or anything.
I do wonder if it’s lawful for even a private association to apply rules retrospectively. We need to someone to make a challenge but it may have to go up to the ECHR – a long journey.
The 200 -300,000 members who’ve quit or been unfairly kicked out could find out.
Crowdfunding? If everyone gave 50p it’d be enough.
Paul Smith-
Don’t think it would need to go that far. It seems pretty clear cut, and Anneliese Dodds allegedly conceded that privately to a union official. It’s the principle of retroactivity- retroactively applied rules, these aren’t banned organisations.
That Starmer was a high profile legal figure, makes this even worse.
Upto Corbyn now…
What will he do?
If he starts a new Party to reclaim social justice he will have legions of supporters behind him.
Labour is lost in the Bliar wilderness full of wolves in sheep clothing.
You wouldn’t want a party which openly opposes the very foundations of natural justice to exercise power. In fact it would be wrong to assist them to do so. If elected, Labour could very well attack another country, which would almost certainly lead to the deaths of hundreds of thousands, starting with the most vulnerable, the very young and the old.
Where they have no candidates pledged to socialism, socialists should campaign against neo-liberals and imperialists, returning to the basics of political education.
Bevin…you are so very right and in the final anlysis its about the people of Britain and those who are the majority and the most vulnerable to the neo liberal alliance including the Labour party.A political movement comes from extreme despair and many ex members and the general public have reached that point….ITs do or die time and I hope and pray that the Labour party I used to know rises in a independent working-class movement.I have chosen my route and its Ireland but British people need a leader and a future and its not the Labour party or the age old enemy of the people the conservative and unionist party.
Joseph
From what I have seen over the last 40 odd years on my visits to friends in Dublin, Clare and Kerry, Sinn Fein are a progressive party in waiting and have the potential to move the tectonic plates, the demographics are similar to Labour under JC
But I would respectfully suggest they put reunification to bed for the foreseeable future
Treat it like a winning lottery ticket that you cash in when it’s the right time and you can carry all the people with you
That way they have the time to destroy the two Conservative parties and build houses, build infrastructure, build public services, build the future
When I first visited the youth were the most highly educated kids I’ve met, that was so they could leave and work abroad, that changed, now they can choose to stay and grow old and watch their kids thrive at home
Regards
I think we miss the point, this is Machievellian politics. They only do anything if it suits their interests. The only morals or values they have are to further their interests and ultimately that means power, money and influence. They will claim they do this for a greater good, but it is all lies. Or alternatively they also bow to the powerful and do their bidding. Most times it is a mixture of the two.
Just found out that, regardless of whether or not the NEC had voted for the motion, Mr Corbyn would in all probability not have had the whip restored.
The motion was that the NEC “urged the whips office” etc. etc.
So, even if it had passed, it was a toothless motion.
Spot on goldbach and its not called the parliamentary Labour party for no reason other than a party within a party and was set up that way from the beginning because it was built on sand.
Also I am beginning to think that the Corbyn phenon was an aberration. He was a blip of hope in the sea of corruption. If we think the sea will suddenly change from putrid filth to pure milk we are deluding ourselves. But hey, what are we but players on a stage? Need to fight the good fight. Keep it up skwarkers!