Successive National Security Risk Assessments commissioned by the UK government have identified pandemics one of the top threats to Britain’s safety. Then why wasn’t the government prepared for Covid 19? And why are we spending £205 billion on replacing Trident when the NHS is struggling to survive? Read CND’s blogg and let your MP know just what you think government priorities should be.
Labour’s 2019 manifesto promised that ‘international peace and security will be a primary objective of a Labour government’s foreign policy’. Under Jeremy Corbyn a new post of Shadow Minister for Peace and Disarmament was established, with a brief to pursue these issues across policy areas.
Labour CND urges everyone who supports nuclear disarmament to help ensure this post is retained by the new Labour leader. Please contact Keir Starmer and ask him to retain this post, and write to your local Labour MP if you have one to let them know that this is important to you.
It only takes a minute to participate in our online lobby. Here’s how
Our2020 annual conference and AGM is postponed for now. We’ll be setting a new date once the present crisis is over. Meanwhile, we’ll be exploring online ways of meeting and campaigning, investigating the possibility of a virtual AGM, and keeping contact with our supporters via regular LabCND E-News.
| If you live in London, we’d love to see you at our report back meeting in Parliament, Monday 29 October, details below, and hear your assessment of how it went and where we go next. An informal meeting, with plenty of time for you to hear what others made of their time in Brighton, and air your own views. All welcome. Reserve a place via Eventbrite or just turn up on the night. Please arrive early to allow time for any queues at Portcullis House. https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/77107208737 |
Concern is growing that no date or timetable for Women’s Conference in 2020 has been announced, despite requests from our elected representatives. The conference plays a vital role in helping Labour develop policies that are importance to women.
Ask your CLP secretary to write to the General Secretary – before the next NEC meeting on 23 July if you can – requesting a date to be set and a timetable published. That’s
Jennie Formby, Labour Party General Secretary
Southside, 105 Victoria Street, London, SW1E 6QT
Any correspondence could be copied to
Dawn Butler MP, Shadow Cabinet Women & Equalities Spokesperson at dawn.butler.mp@parliament
Ann Henderson, Chair of the National Executive Committee Equalities sub-committee at ahendersonlab@gmail.com
Yasmine Dar, convenor of the NEC Women’s Sub-committee at yasminedar@gmail.com, and
Teresa Clark, Acting Chair of the Women’s Conference Arrangements Committee at teresamaryclark@live.co.uk
The rules have changed a bit this year. The restrictive criterion that motions had to be ‘contemporary’ has been relaxed and more motions will be debated. Labour’s 2019 conference will debate 20 motions in all, 10 selected by CLP delegates in a ballot at conference, and 10 chosen by affiliates. It’s still the case that CLPs can submit either a policy motion or a rule change, though the deadline for the latter has now passed.
Guidelines and Deadlines
Contemporary motions on policy must: address one issue, not be longer than 250 words, and not propose a rule change.
Policy motions can be submitted now, up to the deadline of noon on Thursday 12 September. Emergency motions deadline is a week later, Thursday 19 September. If your motion is ruled out of order you can appeal to the Conference Arrangements Committee which will consider appeals on Wednesday 18 September.
Labour CND’s suggested motions are here:
With Korea back in the news again, London CND offers a unique opportunity to hear a first hand account from a Korean perspective. Francis Daehoon Lee is touring the UK as part of CND’s Nuclear Dangers initiative. Check out the Scottish and Yorkshire CND websites for details of other public meetings.
Tickets to our upcoming conference are available here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/peace-policies-for-labour-tickets-55153559782
So far 69 states have signed the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, and 19 ratified it. The Church of England General Synod has welcomed the Treaty and asked the UK government to publish a plan for the elimination of its nuclear arsenal.
Shadow Defence Secretary Nia Griffith, on the other hand, recently said Trident replacement ‘is not a decision we are going back on’. Here’s a resolution for local Labour Parties, suggested by a supporter in London who successfully steered it through her branch.
