Welcome to the & District Branch of the Labour Party

New Member Booklet

The Labour Party needs members – members like you!

The Labour Party nationally and locally will try to communicate with you, mainly by email. If you are not getting emails on a fairly regular basis please get in touch, because it probably means with have an error on your address. Call the Labour Party on 0345 092 2299.

You can meet lots of other people just like you at one of our meetings or social events.

But, going to a meeting can be an off-putting experience if you don’t know the ropes. Please don’t worry about this. It isn’t hard to learn who, what and how, and no one expects you to read and digest the entire rule book before you can take part. Most of us haven’t read all of it ourselves anyway. You will receive an invitation from your branch membership coordinator inviting you to a social to get to know people as soon as they receive your contact details.

The thing is, you can learn it as you go along, and bit by bit you’ll become more familiar with the structures, procedures and wording. Not being entirely sure of how it works shouldn’t stop you from expressing your opinion. Ask questions if you need to, and remember that it’s your party as much as anyone else’s.

LABOUR is a great movement for national and international campaigning, social justice and economic opportunity, fairness and democracy.

LABOUR is also a great grassroots movement, working for change at local level, through campaigns on such issues as our health services, our schools and housing, the environment and climate change.

LABOUR is looking to win, to gain greater influence on local authorities as well as Parliamentary power.

YOU can help, because people together in the Labour Party can really make things happen. We can fight economic and social inequality. There's an electoral mountain to climb, and you can help Labour to reach the top.

THE LOCAL PARTY

Branches and Wards Constituency Labour Party includes branches in Bishop Auckland & Coundon, Gaunless Valley, & Dene Valley, Teasdale and Spennymoor & District. The Spennymoor & District branch is a recent (March 2018) amalgamation of the Spennymoor and Tudhoe branches.

Most branches meet once a month on a weekday evening for a couple of hours to talk about what’s going on in your village or town, to debate politics and policy, to organise campaign and fundraising activities and hear reports from local councillors. Sometimes there is a speaker, but not always. If you are lucky the meeting will end with people going to the pub!

You belong to the Spennymoor & District Branch and we meet monthly on the second Wednesday of each month (the third Wednesday in July and no meeting in August) in the Annex of the Spennymoor Settlement, The Everyman Theatre, O'Hanlon Street (Off King Street), DL16 6RY. Meetings commence at 7pm and a meeting notice, agenda and minutes from the previous meeting plus any accompanying documents will be circulated at least 7 days in advance by the branch secretary, Lynn Gibson, who can be contacted on [email protected] or 07724 817069. The AGM is held annually in June.

Our monthly meetings are friendly and varied and there is usually a guest ‘political education’ speaker and some ‘social time’ at the end so that members can get to know each other. We collect £1 from each member at the end of meetings to pay for the hire of the room and we also hold a raffle, where the winner of the previous raffle donates something to be raffled at the end of the next meeting. We also hold fundraising events to raise funds for the branch and have quarterly social events in the Spennymoor WMC where we welcome members new and old in an informal setting.

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Branch Officers Your elected officers and coordinators in Spennymoor from the AGM in June are:

Chair Ian Geldard Vice Chair Campaigns Martin Harmer Secretary Lynn Gibson Treasurer Barbara Graham Women’s Officer Amy Sellers Youth Officer Eva Moore Business Committee Observer Lynn Gibson Membership Co-ordinator Alan Grainger Fundraising Co-ordinator Steven Jones IT, Social Media & Community Liaison Co-ordinator Martin Harmer Auditors Neville Dart Jeff O’Hehir

Websites and Social Media You can be kept up to date on local issues via the Spennymoor & District Labour website https://spennymoorlabour.org.uk/ We are always on the lookout for members willing to provide news items for the website, if you have suggestions for content, please contact Martin Harmer, our branch IT Coordinator through the secretary at [email protected]).

We also have a closed group Facebook account https://www.facebook.com/groups/spennymoorlabour/ which is for members of the Spennymoor & District Branch and its supporters and invited members from other branches. We also have a Twitter account (@spennymoorblp) and a public facing FB group https://www.facebook.com/SpennymoorBLP/.

The CLP also have 2 Facebook accounts, one which is public facing www.facebook.com/Bishop-Auckland- Constituency-Labour-Party-1802336480091849/ and one which is a closed group for BA CLP members and supporters www.facebook.com/groups/Bishop4Labour/.

The CLP website can be found at http://bishopaucklandlabour.org.uk/site/ .

Constituency Labour Party (CLP) The Labour Party has a CLP for each constituency, and you are now a member of Bishop Auckland CLP. The constituency has its south-western end high in the Pennines and the former colliery village of Tudhoe, just 4 miles south of Durham City at its north-eastern end. Most of its population lives in the vicinity of Bishop Auckland, Spennymoor and Shildon, but most of its area is rural, predominantly in the upper Tees valley with historic as its centre. We are represented in parliament by our MP Helen Goodman and our CLP Secretary is Dawn McArdle 07973 869889 or [email protected].

Your elected officers from the AGM on 11 September 2018 are:

Chair Frank Roche Vice Chair Policy Ros Evans Vice Chair Membership Samantha Townsend Secretary Dawn McArdle Treasurer Ian McArdle Campaign Coordinator Harley Bower-Howieson Youth Officer Martha Airey Community Liaison Officer Vacant Women’s Officer Emma Rowell Fundraising Officer Lynn Gibson Political Education Officer Frank Roche 3 New Members Booklet September 2018

Business Liaison John Conroy Trade Union Liaison Officer (TULO) Chris Blenkin IT & Social Media Officer Martin Harmer Press Officer Martin Harmer Disability Officer Gerald Ward LGBT+ & BAME Officer Darren Newton-Woods Auditors Tanya Tucker Agneta Pallinder

All Member Meetings Bishop Auckland Labour Party makes its big decisions and debates policy at All Member Meetings (AMM). These are what they are called; meetings open to all members who live within the constituency. At the moment we have an All Member Meeting every two months, normally on the second Saturday of January, March, May, July (third Saturday), September and November at different venues round the constituency. All members are encouraged to attend and the meetings run from 10.00 am to 12 noon. We use this time for discussion and debate; there is sometimes a speaker and Helen Goodman MP gives a Parliamentary Report and takes questions. We may well also debate a policy issue and other events going on in the Labour Party or the wider political world. Other times we may decide who to nominate for positions like the National Executive Committee or who we are going to send to Annual and Regional Conference.

You can raise any issues you like at an All Member Meeting. It helps to plan the meeting if you let the Secretary know a couple of weeks in advance, but that’s not always possible so you can raise a matter under Any Other Business or submit an Emergency Motion in writing to the Chair ahead of the meeting.

If you have a more formal piece of business where you want the party to express its views to another body or to another section of the Labour Party you can move a “Resolution” or “Motion”.

Resolutions/Motions Any member can submit a resolution/motion to the All Member Meeting. It should be sent to the secretary 14 days in advance it can be circulated to all members so they can study it before the meeting. In some circumstances it’s possible to debate something which has not been circulated in advance. You may wish to move the motion first through your branch however to gauge support for the motion.

A resolution/motion is read out at the meeting and must be moved and seconded before it is thrown open for discussion and a vote. If passed by a majority of those present it is forwarded to the relevant bodies. Anyone can move an amendment to a resolution/motion during the debate.

Business Committee (or BC) The Business Committee deals with issues of running the constituency, like money and fundraising, organising campaigning, sorting out procedures for electing people, etc, and also with other issues that crop up between All Member Meetings.

It consists of the officers elected each year at the Annual General Meeting, plus an observer elected by our local branches (currently Lynn Gibson, branch secretary for the Spennymoor & District branch). Those with voting rights in meetings are the Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary, Vice-Chair Membership, Women’s Officer and Treasurer.

GETTING INVOLVED

There are plenty of opportunities to get involved at this local level.

The two big tasks people always link to politics (particularly at elections) are:

Leafleting... with an electorate of over 70,000 people, the more volunteers the better! You can agree to do a round in pairs ( normally 100 houses) , or go out in a larger team say for a couple of hours on a Saturday morning...

4 New Members Booklet September 2018 whichever suits you best. In Spennymoor we aim to get involved in campaigning as a branch at least once per month.

Canvassing (talking to people on the market or knocking on doors, or calling people on the phone) helps us find out how we are doing at elections, identifies Labour voters so we can build up a relationship with them, and helps us persuade people to vote for us. You don’t need to be an expert on Labour Party policy, most of the time a happy smile and a joke do more good than knowing the manifesto. We would never ask you to go off on your own without training and without you feeling comfortable... we try to go out in a nice size team and make sure any newcomers are paired up with an old hand.

We also need people to stand for the Councils during local elections. The next elections are in 2021, but we are always on the lookout for potential candidates, especially if a by-election happens. If you want to know more please just ask about what is involved at any local Labour meeting.

Much of what we take for granted, from schools and social services to leisure and arts and whether or not our bins get emptied, is down to local government.

Being a councillor is demanding, time-consuming and arduous, but it’s a great way to help local people and your community. Ask sitting or former councillors if you are unsure if this is right for you. A system of expenses and payment is in place for those who are elected.

Socials and Fundraising The CLP try to have a range of different socials over the year to suit different tastes. They also normally have a big fundraising dinner once a year with a guest speaker, usually a high profile Labour MP. It costs us about £6,000 a year and more during a General Election year to run our constituency so we do have to raise funds too.

Local Campaign Forum The CLP has two representatives on Local Campaign Forum (LCF) which is there to organise and co- ordinate campaigns on county wide issues like the county council and police commissioner. These are elected by the members at an AMM.

Regions BA CLP is part of Northern Region. There is an office in Newcastle with a small set of staff (including The Regional Secretary/Director) who help organise elections and the running of the party in the region.

There is a Regional Board which is elected every two years at our Regional Conference. That includes two representatives elected by Co Durham CLPs, together with members from other parts of the regions and representatives from trade unions and our elected representatives (MPs, MEPs, commissioners, councillors, etc).

There is a one day Northern Regional conference every two years. BA CLP selects delegates for this, policy and strategy is discussed and formulated. The last regional conference was in March 2018.

Annual Conference Delegates from CLPs, trade unions and other Party representatives meet annually to debate and make decisions on policy and other matters. Now, policy is delivered ready-made in documents drawn up by the Policy Commissions. More interesting are the policy seminars and fringe meetings where the discussion is much livelier, and where you have a better chance to speak yourself!

Apart from the chance to experience an exciting event and be part of the Party’s decision-making and policy-making, there are plenty of opportunities at conference to chat, discuss and meet with other Party members. Meeting other members makes you realize why you joined and makes it all worthwhile.

Even if you are not a delegate, you can still apply for a pass. Places are limited for reasons of space, and you won’t have voting rights, but you can still listen to debates and go to fringe events. 5 New Members Booklet September 2018

The number of members we have in BA CLP means we can send three people to the annual conference, one youth, one woman and one ordinary member. Delegates self-nominate and are chosen by members at an All Member Meeting normally early in the year. If CLP funds to not allow sending three delegates, then their vote can be used by the delegate(s) who is/are attending.

There are other conferences at various times, including Women’s Conference and Youth Conference.

THE NATIONAL PARTY

National Executive Committee (NEC) The NEC has overall responsibility for running the Party and developing strategy. It has divisions elected by different sections of the Party, including MPs and MEPs, CLPs, trade unions, societies and councillors. As a member every two years you can vote for six CLP representatives from a panel of candidates nominated by CLPs around the country. Statements and ballot papers are issued to each member – they can be returned by post, or you can vote online.

National Constitutional Committee (NCC) This is the Party’s disciplinary committee and is charged with enforcing the rules. Again, you have a vote at the same time as the NEC vote.

Conference Arrangements Committee (CAC) This sounds like a real barrel of laughs, but it is important. It decides how our annual conference is run and issues daily reports during conference, which delegates vote on. It is answerable to the party membership.

National Policy Forum (NPF) In the 1990s the Labour Party decided to try to regularise policy formation by setting up The National Policy Forum so that over each parliament we systematically review, update and develop our policies in a planned way.

All members in each region elect 5 representatives to the national policy forum by postal b/online ballot. There are also representatives from trade unions, elected representatives and the cabinet (shadow cabinet when in opposition).

Through Policy Commissions policy documents are drawn up by the forum. These are then available for every member to respond to and feed into. If you go to http://www.policyforum.labour.org.uk/ you can find out lots more and join in. You can also join in when we discuss policy forum documents at branch meetings, at All Member Meetings, and at policy forum events in the region.

After a years’ debate within the party the documents are then put to conference for a deciding vote.

It’s important that the NPF, CAC, NCC and NEC reflect our opinions- so it’s important that you take part in elections for these committees/ forums.

Equality for Women within the Party To ensure a balance between men and women, quotas are in place for most elected positions at local and at national level. A constituency may be selected for an all-women shortlist for its parliamentary candidate, and most of our council wards we now expect to stand at least an equal number of women and men. Most members accept that while not ideal it is the best solution and that the party is much better off because we are moving towards equality. We know that we have more to do to ensure equal representation for all other minorities.

Some Labour Groups and Websites of Interest This is only a short and by no means exhaustive list and there are many other affiliated groups. Labour Rules forbid any internal group organizing as a political party, and members of the Labour Party must not be members of any other political party except for the Co-operative Party (www.party.coop.org.uk). Labour has an historic connection with the Cooperative Party. Some MPs sit as Labour/Co-operative MPs. 6 New Members Booklet September 2018

BAME Labour www.bamelabour.org.uk Campaign for Labour Party Democracy (CLPD) www.clpd.org.uk Christians on the left (formerly Christian Socialist Movement) http://www.christiansontheleft.org.uk/ Disability Labour http://www.labour.org.uk/pages/disability-labour The Fabian Society www.fabians.org Grassroots Labour www.grassrootslabour.net GMB www.gmb.org.uk Labour CND www.labourcnd.org.uk Labour List www.labourlist.org Labour Women’s Network www.lwn.org.uk LGBT Labour www.lgbtlabour.org.uk Progress www.progressonline.org.uk Socialist Education Association https://socialisteducationalassociation.org/ Unison www.unison.org.uk Unite the Union www.unitetheunion.org

For a full list of groups affiliated to the Labour Party go to http://www.labour.org.uk/pages/affiliated-organisations

Local Contacts BA CLP Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/groups/Bishop4Labour/ BA CLP webpage http://bishopaucklandlabour.org.uk/site/ Helen Goodman’s website http://www.helengoodman.org.uk/ Helen on Twitter @HelenGoodmanMP Helen on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100014666703594 Jude Kirton-Darling and Paul Brannen our MEPs [email protected] Labour North http://www.labournorth.com/ Ron Hogg http://www.durham-pcc.gov.uk/Home.aspx

You can contact the Constituency Party through the secretary Dawn McArdle 07973 869889 or [email protected].

Glossary of Abbreviations AGM – Annual General Meeting NEC – National Executive Committee AMM –All Member Meeting OM – Ordinary Meeting CLP – Constituency Labour Party PLP – Parliamentary Labour Party EC – Executive Committee NCC – National Constitutional Committee LCF – Local Campaign Forum PUB – The good bit!

Just a few more words Debate is vital to the Labour Party, it would be impossible to have a democratic party where everybody always agreed. Don’t be afraid to speak up or to be controversial, or to ask questions. Nobody will have a go at you for asking to have something explained or because you want to say the opposite of what everybody else has just said.

Voting Sometime it is not easy to know who to vote for at meetings if you don’t know anything about the candidates. It is all right to abstain if you are unsure, but with opportunities to listen to candidates, hear their statements and learn about their track records and what they stand for, they don’t have to be names on a list. Getting to know other members means you can share views and experiences of people and in the end make up your own mind who to vote for. 7 New Members Booklet September 2018

Welcome again to the Spennymoor & District Branch and Bishop Auckland CLP

“We can create a new kind of politics; kinder, more respectful, but courageous too” Jeremy Corbyn

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