Wirral Momentum statement on forthcoming Wallasey CLP AGM

The following statement has been issued by Wirral Momentum

Wallasey CLP – Stand For Corbyn

If you are a Corbyn supporter in Wallasey CLP who has not received this by email, and who wants to support this campaign, email us at wallaseymomentum@btinternet.com so we can keep you informed.

The importance of the Wallasey Labour Party AGM

Corbyn supporters in Wallasey welcome the decision to lift the suspension of the Party, and to hold Branch AGMs and a CLP AGM. The outcome will be of interest in the Party nationally – and will be covered in the media if we lose. In Brighton and Hove, the Labour Party NEC annulled the results of the District Party AGM after Corbyn supporters won. They expelled and suspended some activists, and split the District into the three Constituencies. All three AGMs have now taken place and Corbyn supporters swept the board in all three of them. You won’t have seen this on the national news. [It was covered in The Clarion: see here.] If the results had gone the other way, it would have been covered extensively.

The media continue to repeat the lies about Wallasey CLP, even now that it has been established that there was no homophobia or intimidation at the AGM on 24 June 2016. There is a standard format for these lies, including reference to the “brick” incident. We don’t know what actually happened. But the whole story is widely disbelieved in Wallasey, amongst people not interested in politics as well as Labour Party members. The ludicrous claim that it was local supporters of Jeremy Corbyn who threw the brick is even more held in ridicule.

But we can expect more lies, and more media attention, during this campaign.

Why we are standing

• We are mainstream Labour Party members who support the elected Party leader Jeremy Corbyn and the 10 pledges on which he was elected.
• We were opposed to the attempt by the Labour Right wing to oust him, fronted first by Angela Eagle and then by Owen Smith.
• We are opposed to those like Peter Mandelson who openly boast that they try to do something to undermine the Labour leader every day.
• We want an open and democratic Labour Party, with policies decided by its Conference, and a much greater number of NEC members elected by the membership of the Party in the One Member One Vote NEC elections.
• We back the Centre Left Grassroots Alliance candidates for the NEC and for the elections at the Party Conference.
• We are opposed to unjust suspensions and expulsions from the party, including in our own CLP.
• Candidates who want to Stand for Corbyn with us should agree to this programme. They should also undertake to support each other in this election process, by nominating the agreed candidates in their Branch AGMs and voting for them at the CLP AGM.

Branch AGMs and the CLP AGM – our processes

Our opponents will be organising for the Branch AGMs and the CLP AGM, meeting to pick their candidates at Branch and CLP level, and trying to turn the vote out. They are entitled to do that and so are we. They will probably do it in secret. We want to involve as many people as possible, and that means we must do it openly.

Corbyn supporters in each Branch should meet to discuss and agree who should stand for which post in the Branch, so there is one left wing candidate. That doesn’t mean the left should stand for every post in the Branches. Corbyn supporters may want to support people who are not Corbyn supporters where they are doing a good job and want to continue in post.

Those meetings should also put forward people to be our candidates for the elections to be held at the CLP AGM. Where there is more than one candidate for a post, we will hold a hustings and a vote at a meeting of Labour Party members who support the “Stand for Corbyn” programme.

We will contact our supporters in the Constituency by email and phone asking them to attend their branch meetings and vote for our candidates.

After the AGM

Corbyn supporters have demonstrated that we are willing to work with others in the Constituency Labour Party. We have supported the public campaign events called by Labour during the suspension, and in most cases we have been the majority of people attending. At every event more people have made contact with us expressing their support for Jeremy and wanting to get more involved. We will continue to work with others in the Party whatever the outcome of the Branch and Constituency AGM elections. Our democratic and open processes will build the left in Wallasey CLP for the future.