The following motion was passed at Streatham Hill ward to go to Streatham CLP, Chuka Umunna’s former constituency party.
After Umunna
We call on the former Labour MPs, including Chuka Umunna, who have quit the party to resign their seats so their constituents can elect the Labour representatives they want and deserve.
We believe the selection of the next Labour candidate for Streatham should be a locally led process, not one imposed by the NEC.
The fact the ‘Independent Group’ has been joined by three Tory MPs makes it even more clear they are neo-liberal spokespeople of the rich and powerful, deeply hostile to socialist ideas and working-class political representation.
There is pressure, outside and inside the party, for our leadership to be less radical. In fact it needs to be more radical. We need to build a stronger movement around, but also deepen and develop, the policies contained in the 2017 manifesto so that, at a minimum, we can win and sustain – in the words of conference 2018 – “a radical government: taxing the rich to fund public services, expanding common ownership, abolishing the anti-union laws and engaging in massive public investment”.
We need a democratic, independent-minded party and movement supporting the leadership but also exerting pressure on it. That is the necessary counterweight to the huge pressure it will continue to receive to weaken its policies and commitments, pressure which will only grow when the party gets into government.
If we are serious antiracists, we must take antisemitism extremely seriously and step up political organising and education to make our party and movement an uninhabitable environment for it in all its forms. This must not be counterposed to, but combined with, due process and a culture of debate.
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