BRIGHTON, HOVE & DISTRICT LABOUR PARTY GENERA L MEETING JULY 2015 Every year, all Labour Party members receive a postal ballot pack to vote for places on national Party committees. This year, that mailing will be combined with the vote for Leader and Deputy Leader. The vote at the July Party meeting will be to decide which members we as local constituency members would like to see on the ballot. Each Constituency is entitled to nominate members to be on these ballots. Over the last 2 months or so, members from all over the South East or elsewhere have written to con stituency partie s asking for nominations. Detai ls of all of those req uests received by the Secretary are contained in the attached document, ordered according to the places they are looking to fill. There is no vote this year for constituency members of the National Executive Committee. Constituencies in the South East Region have four seats on the National Policy Forum, plus one Youth seat. Our own member Simeon Elliott is seeking nomination to one of the four places. Every candidate has to be nominat ed by their own con stituency to be included on the ballot, so there will be a specif ic vote for Kemptown members to decide whether he will be nominated. As well as Simeon, there are the following members seeking our nominations: Youth place: James Elliott, Helena Dollimore. Four constituency places: Duncan Enright, Vicky Grou lef , Naushabah Khan, Martin Phillips, Dylan Jeffrey, Tim Sta rk ey, Fiona Dent, Dan Sartin, Bev Clack, Joyce Still. Conference Arrangements Committee: we can nominate two members and we have details of the following: Glor ia Del Piero, Michael Cashman, Katy Clark, Jon Lansman, National Constitutional Committee : we can nominate one member and we have details of the following: Gary Heather. Statements from all the ab ove candidates are found in this pack. Simeon Elliott 28A Sutherland Road Brighton East Sussex BN2 0EQ 01273 600553 [email protected] A200661 Brighton Kemptown CLP Dear Colleagues Seeking nomination for the National Policy Forum representing the South East I write to ask for your constituency’s nomination for the National Policy Forum. While we are now all busy campaigning for Labour victories in the general and local elections, I ask that your CLP members consider nominating me before nominations close on Wednesday 10 June. I am a socialist, trades unionist, community campaigner and active member of Brighton Kemptown CLP, where I am part of the team that has been working for the election of Nancy Platts for over eighteen months. I think Nancy will be a superb Labour MP and am doing everything I can to get her elected. I am also an active member of Labour CND, committed to scrapping Trident and investing the money saved in jobs, our NHS, schools and environment. As a part-time teacher for pre-school children with special educational needs I see first-hand how poverty undermines the education and health of our children. Having worked as a teacher in the public sector for thirty years, and now also as a part-time volunteer advocate for people with learning disabilities, I am a dedicated campaigner against austerity and the privatisation or outsourcing of our public services, and support a fair deal for all public sector workers. My work with people with learning disabilities and mental health difficulties has made me acutely aware of the necessity to protect all our public services from the fabricated notion of austerity. After failing the 11+ I experienced the discriminatory effects of selective education. As a secondary modern student I struggled to get into university, and could only attend because I received a full maintenance grant. My own experiences have resulted in my life-long commitment to comprehensive, free, state education, managed by local authorities, and to reducing child poverty. I am a member of the NUT and I am also a member of Unite Community as I wanted to be part of a Labour-affiliated union. I believe that Labour’s policies must reflect the views of the majority of our members. I want to increase the direct participation of Labour members in free debate and democratic decision- making. We need strong bonds between the Labour Party, trades unions, other affiliated organisations and community campaigns. Labour must promote social and economic justice, with policies that redistribute wealth and lift up our most needy and vulnerable fellow citizens. If elected to the National Policy Forum, I shall listen to and represent all members’ views on the NPF. I shall regularly report to CLPs to keep members informed about the NPF’s work. I live with my civil partner of 28 years and our two cats. I am happy to visit CLPs to meet members; so, if you would like any further information about me, please get in touch. Hopefully we shall meet after a Labour victory! Best wishes for your local campaign. Simeon Elliott James Elliott 1 Crown Street Oxford Oxfordshire OX4 1QG Mobile: 07919425137 Email: [email protected] Oxford East CLP Membership Number L0135249 February 2015 To: CLP Secretaries: National Policy Forum (NPF) Youth Representative Elections 2015 Dear Secretary, I am writing to your constituency to ask whether your CLP would give me the privilege of nominating me for the position of National Policy Forum Youth Representative, representing the South East region. The closing date for nominations has been extended to Friday 31st July, and the election is by one-member-one-vote. The ballot papers will go to all members in August along with the ballots for Leader and Deputy Leader. I have been a Labour Party member since May 11th, 2010 - the day the Liberal Democrats went into coalition with the Tories. I have since been an active member of Oxford University Labour Club, serving on the executive committee as the Club’s LGBT Officer. I have also been an active member of the Labour Young Trade Union Network, campaigning in key marginal seats for our Parliamentary Candidates. I have always believed the Labour Party’s policy must reflect the values which its members champion - social justice, equality, trade unionism, and democracy. As a trade unionist in Unite’s community membership scheme, I am firmly committed to strengthening workers’ rights and representation, and the values of the labour movement. I believe that unions are an integral part of both our internal democracy - and society as a whole. I believe that Labour has to advocate an alternative to the Tory government’s austerity and cuts, with a statutory living wage, more affordable and social housing, and greater funding for public services such as health and education - the latter of which I spend much time campaigning for with my students’ union and other organisations. I am also a strong advocate of disabled people’s rights, campaigning with Unite and with the National Union of Students, where I represent disabled students on the national executive, against current welfare reforms. I believe a Labour party has to halt such failed welfare reforms of the Tories and champion the right to social security for all - especially for disabled people. Finally, I want to improve the democracy of our youth structures. It is a great shame that in the last NPF elections, eight of the eleven youth positions were uncontested. We need to be including more of our membership in the policy-making process, ensuring democracy thrives within the party. If elected, I pledge to visit CLPs and discuss policy issues with young members. Please let me know if you need any further information. Yours in comradeship, James Elliott Party Number: L0135249 (Oxford East CLP) NATIONAL POLICY FORUM ELECTIONS Please support Helena Dollimore, Duncan Enright, Victoria Groulef, Naushabah Khan and Martin Phillips Dear Colleagues, After the election result, it is clear that Labour needs to do much better in our region and the whole South of England to have any chance of winning the next general election. So we need strong and experienced voices representing the SE in party policy making. We are a strong team of active campaigners and after the conversations we've had with voters over the past two years, we know what people want from the Labour Party. We hope that your CLP will nominate us for election to the National Policy Forum to represent SE members. We want to work as a team to be a strong voice for the region, with regular reports back to you. Nominations close at the end of July, and then the election itself will be held by postal ballot during the summer. Your CLP can nominate four candidates plus one youth candidate. Please nominate us all. Thank you for your consideration. YOUTH REP CANDIDATE – HELENA DOLLIMORE Membership no. L0118732 I joined the Labour Party five years ago, because it stands for the values that I believe in: freedom of opportunity whatever your background, gender, race or sexuality - not a life determined by how much money or how many connections your family have. A society based on fairness, equality and opportunity. As the current NPF Youth Rep for the South East, I have worked to increase transparency and the voices of CLPs in the party’s policy platform . If re- elected, I would continue this; the role of an NPF rep is to take forward and represent the issues raised by CLPs rather than my own personal platform. At the last NPF meeting in 2014, I proposed South East CLP’s amendments on these 6 policy matters and negotiated with Shadow Cabinet members to secure all of them in the final Labour policy document: 1.