Left CLP reps report back from Labour’s National Executive Committee meeting held on Tuesday 28th July.

The meeting opened with tributes and obituaries for a number of Labour colleagues who have sadly passed away including Cllr Peter Smith, Cllr Shanika Mahendran, Baroness Meta Ramsey, Roy Hattersley and George Howarth.

General Secretary’s report 

The General Secretary thanked NEC members for their recent messages of support, noting that it had been a privilege to serve the Labour Party for the past sixteen years. She said that her priority in the last couple of months in post will be getting the Party ready to win the next General Election, ensuring a smooth transition towards the new leadership team and securing a victory in the Manchester Mayoral by-election. 

The GS reported that preparations for annual Conference are well underway and the Party is working closely with Number 10 to ensure Conference serves as a major political platform for the new leadership and Cabinet ministers. The Party is also looking to maximise the commercial arrangements to boost income generation from the Conference, including the somewhat controversial ‘business day’. A full Conference grid will return to the NEC in September, so we can update in more detail then.

A key question for members is when the National Policy Forum (NPF) report is going to be published, as only topics which are not covered by the NPF report can be submitted as contemporary motions to be voted on (and eventually passed as policy) at Conference. We were told that the report would be published next week (the week beginning 3rd August), which leaves a narrow window for members to meet and pass motions, particularly for Women’s Conference. 

The GS reported that the annual audit has gone smoothly and the Party is seeking to return to a balanced budget at the end of 2026, which follows a number of years of deficits, this is being made possible by higher than expected donations, which have funded by-election campaigns. 

Several senior appointments and departures were announced, and of course Bridget Phillipson has been appointed Party Chair.

Gemma Bolton asked when a timetable for the General Secretary election would be published; this is still pending, but the response indicated that arrangements would be put in place as soon as possible and are expected to follow a process similar to previous elections, and we were assured that the NEC will be given opportunities to scrutinise candidates. The previous recruitment process allowed the NEC to interview only one candidate, so we hope that this time there is a pool of candidates for the NEC to consider.

Concerns were raised that the recent leadership contest created perceptions of a two-tier system within the Party, as the MPs were essentially given total control of the appointment of the Party leader. The General Secretary acknowledged these concerns.

Jess Barnard asked for an update on membership, noting the difficulties facing the Party in recent years retaining members and the impact of the new leadership (the Burnham bounce), and whether the GS could confirm this and what plans were in place to engage new members. The GS said that membership numbers are stable and there have been some new joiners. The NEC is still not given detailed figures.

Additional issues were raised, including CLP executive members’ access to mailing lists to reach members, ensuring that selections for candidates are happening at the earliest opportunity, and regional inconsistency within the Party organisation.

Bridget thanked Anna Turley for her work and said it was an honour to become Party Chair.

Her remarks focused on returning power from Westminster to local communities, defeating the right through campaigning at every level, support for Labour councils and innovating campaign methods across the party.

Conference business 

The NEC noted the Conference timetable grid and discussed the proposed constitutional amendments which had made it through the submission process. Only one rule change had made it through, which is being proposed by Disability Labour. The NEC agreed to support the rule change, which is welcome for improved accessibility. Jess raised that others had been submitted, including one by the Socialist Health Association, but that they had not had a response from the Party.  A senior staff member reported that this had been ruled out of order but did not specify why; he confirmed that he would send an explanation to SHA. 

Manchester Mayoral Campaign

Kate Bolger is serving as Interim Executive Director for Nations and Regions and gave an update on the campaign. This is the largest by-election the party has fought, covering ten boroughs. The electorate is very diverse and a breakdown of the electorate by area was provided to the NEC. It was raised that the voting system for mayoral elections is not supported by the current doorstep application, limiting campaign data collection.

Cabinet member’s Report

Louise Haigh addressed the NEC in her first meeting following her appointment. She reflected on becoming only the second woman to hold the office previously occupied by Barbara Castle.

Her report focused on establishing a new Office of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, the political priority of ‘delivering devolution by default’ and  reindustrialisation – using procurement to support British businesses and local economies through prioritisation of the social good within this process. 

Jess welcomed the commitment from the PM to end rough sleeping, but raised concerns about the impact of austerity on wrap-around support services, particularly for people with multiple complex needs, and support into work. Unfortunately Louise didn’t answer this question. 

Leader’s Report

Andy Burnham outlined his political priorities for the Party, with a large focus on his One Labour team. He argued that Labour is strongest when united and said he wanted to end briefing against colleagues while ensuring all traditions within Labour were represented in government – however, members of the Socialist Campaign Group are notably absent from any of his Cabinet positions. Burnham repeatedly stressed the need to reindustrialise Britain and to create high-quality jobs in communities that feel left behind.

This time, a new process for asking questions to the PM was unceremoniously announced after his address, and a list of names of pre-submitted questions was handed to the chair to read out. Notably both Jess and Gemma were not taken once again, which appears blatantly factional as this is a frequent occurrence. 

These questions related to railways and support for staff, national care services, where he agreed that the government needs to work in partnership with the trade unions to support care workers, and on young people, where he said he would support the ongoing review led by Bridget into student debt and loans. On retail and high streets he said the recent action to support pubs would be followed by wider measures on adult gaming centres and vape shops to create fairness. He was asked a question on Access to Work and support for disabled people, acknowledged the need to improve diversity and Black representation in the Number 10 team, and was questioned around resilience to climate disasters and support for firefighters tackling growing numbers of wildfires and floods. 

Jess was going to ask: Over the weekend into this week we’ve seen Israeli armed forces and settlers carry out violent attacks across the West Bank while attacks on Gaza continue. You have indicated that you are likely to introduce restrictions on trade with settlements. Given that these actions reflect Israeli state policy and are being carried out using weaponry, some of which comes from Britain, what further action will you take to address this? Can you commit to ending UK arms sales to Israel and ensure that any new sanctions fully comply with the International Court of Justice’s obligations on states not to assist or support Israel’s  genocide in any way? Unfortunately Andy did not address the ongoing genocide.

Gemma was going to ask: I was out a few weeks ago with St Mungo’s doing the homeless count, and we discussed at the time the success of “everyone in” and how it in many ways proved we could end rough sleeping in the UK. So I was over the moon when you announced it as your first policy on becoming our PM. However, we know tackling homelessness runs much deeper, and many homeless people struggle to maintain tenancies. Homeless people need support workers and often recovery and rehabilitation providers to support with keeping people off the street once they are housed. How can we work to further support homelessness teams in councils or charities to work with homeless people to find secure homes and maintain those tenancies?

His clearest commitment of the meeting was to raise the need for visa-free touring for musicians during the forthcoming UK-EU Summit.

The Deputy Leader followed Andy, and spoke about becoming Education Secretary and outlined priorities including expanding technical and vocational education.

Jess once again was not taken but sought to raise a concern that vocational education risks becoming overly focused on defence industries when tied to local jobs, without a broader strategy for reindustrialisation across the wider economy and jobs sector.

A change of leadership is certainly welcome and there was clearly more political substance to Andy’s Leader’s Report but we will be looking to see much greater improvements in democracy and accountability at NEC level – including a willingness to answer, not silence, questions from left CLP reps, as well as restoration of democratic rights to grassroots members.

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