Attempts by Labour’s dominant faction to fix Conference may yet backfire, however.

“A motion to scrap the two-child benefit cap has been blocked from being discussed at Labour’s Annual Party Conference at the end of the month,” reports Left Foot Forward. “The motion, submitted by Open Labour, Compass and Momentum, was rejected by the Labour Conference Arrangements Committee.”

The CAC says that this is because it does not meet the required criteria, including covering “more than one subject” and “does not relate to a new issue not substantially covered in the NPF report.”

The organisations supporting the motion reject this and say the CAC has blocked the motion on tenuous procedural grounds. “Not allowing this motion to be debated is a senseless act,” they responded, adding that blocking the motion is “indicative of the hyper-factional culture at the top of the Labour Party that is stifling progress that will genuinely help people in need in Britain.”

The blocking of the motion by Labour’s CAC seems all the more absurd, given that the Government seems to be rethinking the issue. Partly to breathe new life into her flagging Deputy Leadership campaign, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson yesterday branded the controversial two child benefit cap as ”spiteful”. The apparent U-turn comes just months after several Labour MPs were suspended from the Party for voting for it to be scrapped. Some  – including former Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell MP – have yet to have the whip restored.

The new moderate left grouping, Mainstream, which has the support of Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham among others, has launched a petition calling on the Conference Arrangements Committee to allow delegates a chance to debate Labour’s policy on child poverty.

Palestine too

It’s not just the two-child benefit cap. Labour Hub understands that motions on Palestine, council housing and trans rights have also been blocked by the CAC on spurious procedural grounds. All motions have the backing of the left in the Party and can be found here.

The CAC determines what’s discussed and voted on at Party Conference. It currently has a pro-leadership majority – but it also has a majority of union delegates, some of whose unions have policy in support of issues raised in some of the motions. Activists in affiliated unions would be wise to explore this further in the interests of grassroots accountability. The deadline for appeals is Monday.

Over thirty motions on Palestine are reported to have been blocked. The Palestine Solidarity Campaign tweeted: “Just days after a UN commission of inquiry confirmed that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, it is shocking that Labour officials are trying to block a large influx of motions in solidarity with Palestine at this year’s party conference.”

John McDonnell MP tweeted: “Bureaucratic control is now out of control.” He added: “With more than thirty motions on Palestine submitted to this year’s Labour Party Conference, it is clear that Party members see Israel’s genocide against the Palestinian people as a major issue that needs to be raised on Conference floor. This week’s landmark report by a UN Commission of Inquiry, that concluded Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, should be a wake-up call. The government should join those including Sadiq Khan who have spoken out this week to make clear that what we are witnessing in Gaza is genocide and urgently implement sanctions, including a full arms embargo and a ban on all trade that aids or assists Israel’s crimes against the Palestinian people. Delegates must not be prevented from discussing these issues at conference.”

Momentum agreed: “The Labour leadership, which is complicit in Israel’s genocide in Gaza, is preventing Party members from debating the issue at Conference.”

It said: The blocking of motions on the two-child cap and Israeli genocide among other issues is another example of hyper-factional Party management causing Labour to sink in the polls and members to leave in droves.”

A Conference debate on council housing has also fallen victim of the CAC’s factional manoeuvring. Martin Wicks, Secretary of the Labour Campaign for Council Housing, told Labour Hub: “Once again the leadership works to avoid a debate on council housing. Why? Because they know that if it gets to the Conference floor delegates will demand a large scale council housing programme – something which they are not prepared to fund.”

Emergency Motions

There may be other ways to get some of these issues onto the Conference agenda. The Campaign for Labour Party Democracy are asking CLPs to consider submitting an Emergency Motion to Conference on Gaza, attached here as a Word file and here as a PDF. The deadline for Emergency Motions is 12 noon, Friday 26th September 2025.

The Conference Arrangements Committee will only consider Emergency Motions for debate if they meet the following criteria:

• deal with an issue which could not reasonably have been the subject of a motion, and
• has arisen after the closing date for motions – 5pm; Thursday 11th September 2025, and
• be a matter of urgent and immediate importance to the discussion by the whole Labour Party at Annual Conference.
• are 250 words or less.
• address one issue only.

CLPD and Momentum Guide have produced a guide to Annual Conference, attached here as a Word file and here as a PDF.

The Deputy Leadership contest

CLPD also has some suggested questions for the Deputy Leadership candidates. The
restricted choice means there are now only two candidates left in the race – the leadership candidate Bridget Phillipson and the recently sacked Lucy Powell. CLPs are encouraged to try to raise issues that the candidates ought to be discussing.  Attached, here as a Word file and here as a PDF, are questions that raise some of these issues.

CLPs will be meeting this week to make their nominations for Deputy Leader. The period for CLP nominations closes on Saturday 27th September.

Stop press: At its appeals meeting on Monday September 22nd, the Conference Arrangements Committee decided that motions on the two-child benefit cap would be debated after all. All the other motions, mentioned above, remain off the Conference agenda. Sasha das Gupta (Momentum Co-Chair) said: “Blocking motions challenging our Government’s ongoing complicity in Israel’s genocide of the Palestinians as well as other key issues on spurious procedural grounds, is a typically anti-democratic move by the Labour right to prevent any scrutiny of its increasingly reactionary political agenda.”

Image: https://thebluediamondgallery.com/finger01/c/committee.html License: Creative Commons 3 – CC BY-SA 3.0 Attribution Link: Pix4free.org – link to – https://pix4free.org/ Original Author: Nick Youngson – link to – http://www.nyphotographic.com/