A rally has been announced for 1pm on Sunday October 8th outside of Labour’s Party Conference in Liverpool, ahead of a crunch vote in the afternoon.

The Keir Starmer-controlled NEC is proposing a rule change to remove equality officer positions from local party (CLP) executives.

John McDonnell MP, patron of Disability Labour, will address the rally. The campaign groups Compass and Momentum are backing the rally, alongside Labour’s official affiliates on youth and disability, as well as women’s and black members’ groups.

Momentum has launched a campaign against the changes, with nearly 1,000 signatories collected on its statement – mtm.is/equalityroles. Open Labour has also spoken out against the changes strongly:

The NEC last week passed proposals to remove key equality officer positions from local Party executives. The changes will be voted on at Labour Conference on Sunday afternoon. Ahead of this, Labour’s official equality affiliates will be among those rallying against the changes.

In the wake of the changes, Disability Labour slammed the Party for being “institutionally ableist” and creating an “unsafe space” for disabled members – just the latest of the leadership’s failings towards disabled people.

Starmer has also downgraded women’s conference, scrapped previously-agreed democratic structures for BAME and disabled members, ended the traditional Youth Day at Conference and previously silenced the Party’s own youth wing over policy differences.

Mish Rahman, Labour NEC member, said: “Labour members are being let down once again. Barely a year on from the Forde Report, we are seeing active steps back on equalities, actively fostered by the Labour leadership. The rationales offered to justify this downgrade of equality positions on CLPs simply don’t stack up: this is nothing less than an attempt to disempower members from marginalised groups, at a time when the leadership is consistently failing to stand up for their rights in the face of far right Tory authoritarianism.”

Labour Women Leading said: “Labour’s women members are tired of being treated as second class citizens in our own Party. The Party’s own rules dictate that Women’s Conference should be a two-day affair, and the last such event was a vibrant success. Yet now our Conference has been watered down to a one-day event, without any fringes. The Labour leadership should listen to its women members and members from other marginalised groups, reinstate Women’s Conference to its full capacity and abandon this attack on equality roles in CLPs.”

Nabeela Mowlana, Chair of Young Labour, added: “Young members are vital to Labour’s campaigning efforts across the country – we must not be taken for granted. After Labour’s changed stances on tuition fees and rent controls, this rule change would disempower young Labour members locally, ahead of a General Election where we will be crucial to getting out the vote. With young people on the sharp edge of the housing and climate crises, and as the Tories turn their back on the future, we implore the Labour Leadership not to do the same.”

Hilary Schan at Momentum said: “Starmer’s attack on equal rights is merely the latest failure on equalities from a leadership which treats its own members with contempt. Our rights to democratic policy-making are ignored, as are local parties’ ability to choose their own candidates, while Women’s Conference is downgraded and now mandatory equality roles in local Parties scrapped. We need a democratic Labour Party and a leadership which stands up for progressive values in a context of rising hate, instead of silencing its own members.”

Rally For Equalities

Disability Labour, Young Labour and Labour Women Leading are staging a rally outside Conference on Sunday at 1pm in opposition to the NEC’s rule change seeking to downgrade equalities officer roles within CLPs.

We’ll be joined by a host of inspirational speakers including John McDonnell MP, outside the Leonardo Hotel (formerly Jurys Inn), 31 Keel Wharf, Liverpool L3 4FN

Please also sign our statement against the rule change here: mtm.is/equalityroles

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A full list of those speaking so far and details of rally.

Also on Sunday:

Socialist Campaign Group rally

And finally on Sunday:

CLPD is recommending the following six subjects are voted for the priorities ballot on Sunday.

Housing

Schools

Reform of Universal Credit

Health Funding and Structures

Free School Meals

Asylum and Immigration