Labour Party Conference 2004 – draft proposals for rule changes

More NEC seats for CLPs

National Executive Committee: Representation of Scotland and Wales

Proposed Draft Constitutional Amendment

The Labour Party Rule Book 2003, Section A, Chapter 4 - Elections of national officers of the party and national committees, Subsection 4C Procedural rules for

elections for national committees, 4C.2 Election of the National Executive

Committee

Paragraph 4C.2a (iii) reads as follows:

1 Division III (CLPs) shall consist of six

2 members , at least three of whom shall be

3 women , to be nominated by their own CLP

4 and at least two other CLPs . The ballot for

5 these places shall be conducted among all

6 eligible individual members of the party by

7 means of a national one-member-one-vote

8 postal ballot conducted to guidelines laid

9 down by the NEC.

Amendment

Line 1: Delete: “six” and insert: “eight”

Line 2: Delete : “three” and insert: “four”

Line 4: After “ballot for” insert:”six of”

Line 8: After “ballot.” insert: There shall be two separate ballots for the two

remaining places, one in Scotland and one in Wales. They shall be

conducted among all eligible members in Scotland and Wales

respectively by means of a one-member-one-vote postal ballot. All

three ballots to be”

Supporting Arguments: The Scottish and Wales Labour Parties have a separate identity to that in English Regions and each has its own General Secretary. In addition the Scottish and Welsh parties now monitor the work of the Labour Groups in Scottish parliament and Welsh Assembly. There is therefore a strong case for automatic representation on the NEC from Scotland and Wales.

Our suggested rule change increases CLP representation from six to eight. It would redress the loss of a seat from seven to six which CLPs suffered in 1997 when Partnership in Power was first introduced.