Interim update on CLGA NEC Slate

Last week Momentum’s negotiators, National Coordinating Group members Andrew Scattergood and Sonali Bhattacharyya, attended ten hours of negotiations with other groups affiliated to the Centre Left Grassroots Alliance (CLGA), in order to select a united Left slate for the upcoming Labour Party National Executive Committee (NEC) elections.

The strict timeline imposed on us by the right wing of the Labour Party meant that the new NCG were not able to run a primary as many had hoped. Instead, in our first full meeting of the NCG we put out a call for applications for candidates seeking backing from Momentum. Interviews and shortlisting took place immediately after. The nine strongest candidates were put to a vote of the full NCG last Monday, where five were agreed on to take forward to the CLGA negotiations on Tuesday.

The sudden change to the voting system for NEC elections – from First Past The Post (FPTP) to a Single Transferable Vote (STV) – has undermined the ability of any wing of the Party to elect nine candidates to the NEC. It was agreed by the CLGA that standing six candidates offered the best possible chance to win seats in the election.

The candidates that Momentum brought to negotiations all have very strong roots in grassroots activism and campaigning as well as a sound understanding of Labour Party structures. Every one of them would be an asset to the NEC and would prioritise the representation of members. These candidates were diverse, with four who are BAME and four women. In the end, two of these five candidates were supported by a number of organisations and were agreed on by the CLGA. Momentum’s approach to the negotiations was to seek consensus rather than seek to dominate discussions as the largest mass membership organisation.

Our negotiators raised the issue of trans rights early on in the negotiations and sought assurances that a statement of principles with a commitment to supporting trans rights would be signed up to by all candidates. Momentum members have since raised this issue with the NCG and we want to make clear that conversations on this issue are currently ongoing, and further discussions are planned over the next few days. We are pushing for steps to be taken in relation to these assurances, and we will provide a more detailed update on this shortly.

Momentum NCG

13 July 2020