Labour CND and Arise, A Festival of Labour’s Left Ideas jointly organised a Foreign Policy Q&A webinar with Grassroots Voice candidates for Labour’s National Executive Committee. Ann Henderson reviewed Scottish Labour’s position on Trident.
Visit Labour CND’s YouTube channel to hear what all #GV6 candidates had to say on Froeign Policy – Gemma Bolton, Yasmine Dar, Nadia Jama, Laura Pidcock, and Mish Rahman
Register here for #GrassrootsVoice #GV6 Rally with Jeremy Corbyn and others on 15 October
CND’s annual conference takes place in two parts this year. Real security, lessons from the pandemic, on Sunday 18 October 14.00 to 16.30, with Jeremy Corbyn MP, is open to everyone.
Cllr Rokhsana Fiaz, Mayor of Newham, and Tom Unterrainer of the Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation, join international security specialist Professor Paul Rogers of Bradford University Peace Studies Department and others for a discussion on real security in the post-pandemic world.
There are workshops on Visions of a green world, Security for the many, and Creative campaigning, plus Crane making and an online exhibition Time, Memory and Nuclear Weapons, curated by Hannah Kemp-Welch.
The conference is open to everyone, but please register in advance
Our members-only 2020 annual general meeting and policy conference, Campaigning in the post-virus world, is held a week earlier on Saturday October 10, details here.
Nominations for the Constituency Labour Party places on Labour’s National Executive Committee have closed. All six Grassroots Voice candidates are on the ballot, and the battle for votes is on. Labour CND Co-Chair CAROL TURNER reports.
A total of 454 local Labour Parties made nominations, which LabourList claims is the highest number in any NEC election, Of the 66 candidates who sought nomination for the 9 CLP places, 42 have won the 5 nominations needed to make it onto the ballot paper.
Labour CND urges support for ‘the #GV six candidates. We did so because they are the one group of candidates standing on an internationalist manifesto, explicitly committed to peace and nuclear disarmament.
Momentum, Campaign for Labour Party Democracy, and Labour Representation Committee are among the 13 Centre Left Grassroots Alliance organisations backing #GV candidates. A CLPD spokesperson welcomed the good results for the six, saying that nominations showed ‘there is mainstream support amongst Labour members for defending a socialist policy agenda and democratic rights for members’.
The campaign to win support is far from over. The first time use of an STV voting system, as opposed to first past the post, makes it much harder for candidates to cross the finish line. A divided vote for the NEC by-elections in February saw progressive candidates lose places that could otherwise have been won. Watch this space for information about STV, and tips on how to rank your favourite candidates.
The results of a recent LabourList survey confirm that the overwhelming majority of party members want to scrap Trident. In a poll of 7,197 readers, 80.9% of whom were party members, only 12.3% supported Trident renewal.
Paticipants in LabourList’s survey were asked which of a list of policies in Labour’s 2019 general election manifesto the party should continue to support. The results are below. Only two policies failed to achieve majority backing. With 49.6% fast and free broadband fell just short of a majority, but renewing Trident was decisively rejected .
Policies with majority support were:
* Cut the substantial majority of carbon emissions by 2030 (82%)
* Create one million green jobs (74%)
* Close tax loopholes enjoyed by private schools (73%)
* Increase income tax for those earning over £80,000 (71%)
* Nationalise mail, rail, energy and water (67%)
* Repeal anti-trade union legislation (64%)
* Scrap tuition fees (61%)
* Extend full voting rights to all UK residents (61%)
* Set up a publicly owned generic drug company (60.5%)
* Compensate the WASPI women (57%)
* Maximum pay ratios of 20:1 in the public sector (56%)
* Aim for 32-hour working week within a decade (51%)
The LabourList result confirms a YouGov poll for The Times on the eve of Labour’s 2019 annual conference, which showed 70% of the 1,185 Labour Party members sampled wanted to scrap Britain’s nuclear weapons system.
Read LabourList‘s survey results here
THURSDAY 17 SEPTEMBER at 19:00
Join Gemma Bolton, Yasmine Dar, Ann Henderson, Nadia Jama, Laura Pidcock, and Mish Rahman, for a discussion about Labour’s foreign policy.
Centre Left Grassroots Alliance candidates for Labour’s National Executive Committee have all signed up to an ethical foreign policy agenda. They want a Labour Party that’s independent and internationalist, with peace, conflict-resolution, and nuclear disarmament at the heart of international policy.
The six #GrassrootsVoice candidates will pitch for Labour to support people struggling against oppression across the globe, rather than participate in illegal foreign wars. This is your chance to question them further and get involved with their campaign.
Register to attend here
Retweet here and help spread the word
Share and invite on Facebook here
Jeremy Corbyn was quick to tweet his support for the Centre Left Grassroots Alliance candidates for Labour’s NEC elections which take place over the summer. The Socialist Campaign Group of Labour MPs has also backed them, saying: ‘As the left grouping within the Parliamentary Labour Party, the Socialist Campaign Group of Labour MPs formally endorses the @CLGALabour slate for the National Executive Committee Elections.’
All six left candidates standing for election as CLP representatives in Labour’s NEC election 2020 are committee to nuclear disarmament and an ethical foreign policy.
The Labour left’s commitment to equalities and and diversity – in practice as well as theory – is clear. Take a look at the photos, 5 of the 6 candidates are women, 4 are people of colour.
The Centre Left Grassroots Alliance (CLGA) slate includes two sitting candidates, Ann Henderson and Yasmin Dar. Ann chairs the NEC’s equalities committee; Yasmin chairs the disputes panel. A third candidate, Laura Pidcock was MP for North West Durham and a member of the Socialist Campaign Group of Labour MPs.
In alphabetical order the candidates are:
Ann Henderson @AnnDHenderson
Gemma Bolton @gembolton
Laura Pidcock @LauraPidcock
Mish Rahman @mish_rahman
Nadia Jama @MizJama
Yasmine Dar @Yasmine_Dar
Read about each of them here
Labour CND is pleased to support the Centre Left Grassroots Alliance (CLGA) slate of candidates who are standing for election as CLP reps in the forthcoming NEC elections. All six candidates make clear their commitment to nuclear disarmament in a joint statement:
An ethical foreign policy – Labour should have an independent, internationalist foreign policy the core objectives of which should be peace, conflict-resolution, and nuclear disarmament. Rather than participating in illegal foreign wars, we should support people struggling against oppression across the globe.
Candidates are standing for a transformative Labour government, socialist policies and party democracy. The campaign statement, Campaigning for a Labour Victory also includes commitments to:
– defend people’s lives and jobs as the priority in the coronavirus pandemic
– a socialist Labour government as the best vehicle for transforming society in the interests of the majority
– an economy for the many, rejecting the Tories austerity agenda
– a socialist green new deal, investing in renewable energy and sustainable infrastructure and building support for a rapid and just transition to a zero-carbon economy
– stand with the Black Lives Matter movement to achieve lasting structural change, and campaign against all forms of racism, discrimination and prejudice, and
– party democracy – to build an inclusive party which represents the interests of the majority in society.
This united left slate is supported by Momentum, Campaign for Labour Party Democracy, Labour Assembly Against Austerity, Labour Representation Committee, Campaign for Socialism Scotland, Wales Labour Grassroots…. and many more.
In response to pressure from members and local parties, the Labour National Executive Committee has decided to extend the consultation to Monday 20 July. Still time to make a submission on international policy, and vote to support Labour CND’s five responses. Check out the details in the post below.
Respond to Labour’s International Policy Review
Labour CND has responded to the Labour Party policy consultation with 5 submissions in answer to each of the questions posed in International Policy Commission document, Championing internationalism in the post-coronavirus world. The IPC consultation covers foreign, development and defence policies, as well as broader issues such as Labour values and concepts of internationalism. LabCND urges you to access our submissions, sign in or register, and support them with a brief comment and a vote, and please consider making a submission of your own too.
You can read a summary of our submissions, posted by our secretary Ruth Brown, on the Labour Policy Forum website below. Then click on the question numbers to go straight to the website and add your own comments and vote to support them.
Q1: Labour’s internationalist values should include a war powers act
There’s great stress on Labour values without specifying what they are – a feel-good approach that fails to acknowledge differences. The most basic human right is the right to life. Labour’s 2019 manifesto promised a war powers act ‘so that no prime minister can bypass parliament’. Keir Starmer reaffirmed this promise. Putting flesh on the bones of Labour’s post-Covid internationalism, starts with reaffirming our commitment to the primacy of peace and justice, and the introduction of a war powers act.
Q2: UK defence policy: realism vs illusion
Real security is human security. The UK National Security Risk Assessment has highlighted their chief risks facing the UK, including health pandemics and ecological disasters as well as terrorism and cyber-attacks. Trident does not protect Britain from the actual threats we face. The participation of defence contractors in the Ventilator Challenge Consortium shows the practicality of a just transition from nuclear weapon production to socially useful, sustainable alternatives. Let’s have a Shadow Defence Diversification Agency now in line with TUC policy.
Q3: International development values and strategy
Labour should re-assert the international development values expressed in our 2019 manifesto. Announcing his decision to merge the Department for International Development with the Foreign an Commonwealth Office, Boris Johnson said DiFD’s goals ‘will be wholly integrated with UK foreign policy and described the merger as ‘an opportunity to get value for the huge investments we make in overseas spending’. Labour should make the case for the retention of DFID with a standalone aid budget of at least 0.7% of gross national income, and commit an incoming Labour government to re-establishing an independent aid-giving department.
Q4: International priorities and global leadership
Global leadership takes many forms. Remembering Britain’s colonial legacy, we must be cautious about assuming that British leadership is what’s needed. The UK’s positive contributions to emergency and international aid, and to diplomacy are recognised by the UN and others. Labour should support the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and push for progress on the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. It’s time to break with bipartisanship and strive for an independent, non-aligned foreign policy based on the primacy of peace.
Q5: Weaknesses in national security
Real security is that which makes our citizens safe. As criticisms of the Tories handling of the Covid19 crisis demonstrate, state security back up by military force does not always coincide with human security.Real security is not about national status that Trident supporters believe comes from Britain possessing nuclear weapons. Labour should commit to scrapping Trident replacement at the earliest opportunity and be prepared to dismantle the existing system when in government, starting with an end to at-sea patrols.
ACCESS MATERIALS HERE
To download a copy of Labour IPC document, the LabourCND submissions, or our quick guide to the IPC site, click on the links below:
Championing internationalism in the post-coronavirus world here
Labour’s internationalist values should include a war powers act here
UK defence policy: realism vs illusion here
International development values and strategy here
International priorities and global leadership here
Weaknesses in national security here
NPF: the basics here
