By Dave Levy

I am one of the Centre Left Grassroots Alliance candidates for Labour’s National Constitutional Committee. It is unfortunate that one needs to stand on a slate, as the central promise for members of the NCC must be to act with fairness and consider the evidence on any cases on which they sit. This I will do.

I believe that our rules should be interpreted in the context of UK and human rights law and that the principles of natural justice must be maintained and offered to all members.

At the centre of any judgments that I make will be fairness to any accused and justice to any victims.

If required, I will demand that the NCC gets independent legal advice as recommended by the Equalities and Human Rights commission.

I joined the Labour Party in 1974 and have been in membership since then. Since returning to London and moving to Lewisham Deptford,  I have held a number of  positions in my CLP and branch, having been Secretary of the CLP for the last two years, having also served as such in 2015.

I am a trade union accompanying representative and thus have much experience in advocating for the victims of bullying and discrimination. I would like to bring that experience to the NCC – all I can say is it badly needs such experience.

I am a member of the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy and have authored and campaigned for many rule changes to make the Party more accountable to its members.

I recently rejoined Momentum.

I am supported by the CLGA and would ask you to vote for me, and my running mates, Jabran Hussain, Marion Roberts and Harry Stratton. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank those CLPs that nominated me and them.

Dave Levy is a member of Lewisham Deptford CLP, membership no A006829.

Further useful campaigning information from CLPD

1) Suggested Rule Changes (Constitutional Amendments) for Annual Women’s Conference 2023
 
Please find attached here suggested changes to the rules for the National Labour Women’s Organisation which can be submitted by CLPs or affiliates to the Annual Women’s Conference (AWC) for discussion and vote – the deadline is 12 Noon on Thursday 14 September 2023. They can also be found on CLPD’s website here.
 
2) Suggested motions for Annual Women’s Conference 2023
 
Please find attached here suggested motions for submission to Annual Women’s Conference 2023. The closing date for motions and constitutional amendments is 12 Noon on Thursday 14 September 2023. Motions must be 250 words or fewer and on topics relevant to women. They can also be found on CLPD’s website here.
 
3) Suggested motions for Annual Conference 2023
 
Please find attached here suggested motions for submission to Annual Conference 2023. The closing date for motions and constitutional amendments is 5pm on Thursday 21 September 2023. Motions must be 250 words or fewer. These suggested motions are additional to the suggested motions circulated earlier this month, which can be found here.

4) Model motion in defence of the right to boycott

The Tory government’s ‘Economic Activity of Public Bodies (Overseas Matters) bill’ (or ‘anti-boycott bill’) threatens to erode local democracy, restrict freedom of expression, and undermine campaigns for social and climate justice. It will limit the ability of public bodies to make ethical choices about spending and investment that reflect widespread public support for human rights. The bill specifically opposes the boycotts of Israel that supporters of Palestinian human rights organise.
Attached here is a model motion opposing the ‘anti-boycott bill’ for CLPs to consider and forward to the NEC.
A briefing in support of the motion is attached here.

5) Reinstate Diane Abbott – petition

In April this year an initial draft of a letter by Diane Abbott was mistakenly sent to the Observer. When this was pointed out, Diane immediately apologised, withdrew the letter and disassociated herself from its contents. Despite this, Diane has been suspended from the Labour whip and the Party is allowing this situation to drag on.
Labour Black Socialists (LBS) has launched a petition calling for the whip to be restored to Diane Abbott.
The LBS petition can be found here.