LPNI Right To Stand

This CLP notes:

• In Northern Ireland over 1,000 fee-paying Labour Party members, and almost 40,000 trade union members who pay the political levy, are denied the same rights and representation as their counterparts in the rest of the UK. This is because Labour’s National Executive Committee has repeatedly refused members in Northern Ireland the right to stand Labour Party candidates in any election: for local councils, for the regional government at Stormont, or for Westminster.
• The Conservatives already stand candidates at every level of government in Northern Ireland and claim to be a UK-wide party of government, a claim Labour cannot make, as Labour seeks no mandate from this region of the UK

This CLP believes:

• The Labour Party has a responsibility to grant to all of its members and affiliated trade union members, including those in Northern Ireland, the full representative rights of membership.
• The Labour Party also has a responsibility to Northern Ireland citizens to offer progressive, cross-community, Labour policies and values at every level of government, a political space which is currently vacant and offers significant electoral potential.

This CLP calls for:

• The Labour Party NEC, at its next meeting, to commit to standing candidates for election in Northern Ireland at local, devolved and national government, ahead of the next set of public elections, and to engage with the Executive Committee of the NI CLP on the process of organising branches in Northern Ireland akin to Scotland & Wales.