Young Labour and Labour Students candidates

In a country where the needs of young people are so often ignored, the role of Young Labour and Labour Students is all the more vital. Our Party needs a strident youth wing that stands up for the interests of younger generations and demands action on housing, low-pay, the climate crisis and education.

Following two years of fantastic work by the current Young Labour National Committee, Momentum is holding primaries to give members the decisive say on the candidates we support for the upcoming elections to the Young Labour and the Labour Students National Committees. Here are the candidates that have been shortlisted for our primaries. Ballots will drop on Thursday 17th February, so keep an eye on your inbox! 

 

Young Labour Chair

Nabeela Mowlana

“The impact of austerity on the working-class estate I grew up in was severe. Our youth club turned into a foodbank, generations were denied work and housing was left to deteriorate. This is the story of millions of young people. The pandemic and now a Tory-manufactured cost of living crisis have only made things worse.

But from climate strikes, to rent strikes and the Black Lives Matter movement, young people are learning to fight back through collective action.

I’m standing to be Chair of Young Labour to build an empowered campaigning youth wing which supports these struggles and helps organise young people in their workplaces, communities, and town halls.

As a national spokesperson for ACORN and during my time as co-chair of Sheffield Young Labour, I’ve helped win key seats and campaigns, delivered training to young trade unionists and mobilised eviction resistance. While on Young Labour’s National Committee I’ve run organising schools across the country, won a democratic student wing and have been proud to work on the historic Palestine motion passed at conference.

These are the skills I will use to build a Young Labour which defends socialist policy, stands up for marginalised young members and works with the trade union movement to raise our living standards. As Chair, I will fight for a commitment that young members’ subs go to Young Labour to be invested in activist development, the events we are entitled to, and a young workers conference.”

Joshua Harcup

“Young Labour needs to be a force for socialism, in good times and in difficult times. I am in this fight because we need a socialist future for our country and because we need an inclusive Young Labour. We need to keep standing and fighting alongside the trade unions.

I always fight for what’s right. When Christian Wakeford defected to Labour from the Tories, I fought for a full selection process to defend our party democracy and called for a by-election to defend Bury South’s democracy. When my high school was being forced to become an academy, I launched a campaign to stop it.

I was a 2nd Deputy Member of Youth Parliament in Bury, a Labour Branch Secretary and I was the Youth Officer in my Labour branch. I am currently the Youth Officer of Bury South CLP, the Youth Officer in Greater Manchester Unite Community Branch, and I am the Youth Officer of the Socialist Education Association (Both at National and branch level). I’m currently running for the Central Council of the Socialist Health Association on the OurSHA slate.

If elected, I would fight for:

• The democratisation of the Labour Party
• Dual CLP membership, allowing students who study at University to be members in their study constituency and their home constituency
• The reintroduction of the Young Labour conference
• A Youth Manifesto in the Labour Party General Election campaign
• Equality, standing in solidarity with the BLM movement and our Trans comrades”

 

Rsaal Firoz

People join the Labour Party because they dare to dream of a better society. For five years, the Labour leadership inspired young people up and down the country to become politically active, espousing transformative policies which would benefit future generations.

In the face of a leadership hostile to those very ideals we hold dear, we must ensure that Young Labour remains a fighting force for socialist change and a demonstration of what the Labour Party could and should be. Under Jess Barnard and the previous Young Labour National Committee, Young Labour became an organisation dedicated to socialist ideals and policies and stood up for the marginalised in Britain and abroad—even when the leadership had other ideas.

However, the fight is only just beginning. The vital task of maintaining Young Labour as one of the largest socialist organisations for young people in the U.K. is an ongoing one, and there is no indication that the right-wing of the party will give us an easy run for it! Therefore, it is imperative that we elect members to the National Committee who are committed socialists willing to stand up to opposition to our ideals, whether from inside the Labour Party or outside.

I know many of my comrades standing for this position are decent and thoroughly capable individuals, but I believe I have what it takes to represent young members, stand up to reactionary forces across the country, and fight for a socialist vision for the Labour Party. Solidarity.

 

Vice Chair of Labour Students

Fabiha Askari

“I’m standing to be the Vice Chair of National Labour Students to build a student wing that fights for a free, decolonised and accessible education.

The pandemic has exposed the cracks in our education system; students are exploited for rent, forced into precarious work, plunged into debt, and left with little support from the institutions that are meant to care for them.

My time as co-chair of Lancaster Labour Club and a councillor in a student ward taught me the power of collective organising across the labour and student movements. We supported student rent strikes, joined our lecturers on the UCU picket lines, organised teach-outs, and built solidarity on and off campus.

I’m standing for a Labour Students which builds solidarity on the picket line, organises students in their workplaces and fights against marketisation for a free democratic education system.

As a founding member of the Lancaster Black History group I’ve worked to recover education from the distortion and violence of colonialism and racism. I spearheaded the campaign on decolonisation of the University, creating and sharing educational resources.

As Labour Students Vice Chair I’ll help develop the political education resources Clubs need to become spaces of transformative political education.

I’m standing for a Labour Students which supports clubs with the organising skills and resources to win power on their campuses, in their communities and at the ballot box.”

Ben Williams

We need change.

A decade of Tory rule leaves us in a position where jobs, housing and opportunities are all scarcities. A global pandemic has affected young people disproportionately, causing many to pay rent for student accommodation, even when we couldn’t live there. We need change, in these areas and a variety of others.

One particular area where change is needed is safety. I have campaigned against sexual assault for years, but it was only in November, when I saw the fear that many experience in nightclubs, that I understood how dangerous the situation is. Nobody deserves to feel unsafe on a night out. As Vice-Chair I would partner Labour Students with groups devoted to the prevention of sexual assault, so that together we can spread awareness and create change.

I am a nationally recognised debater and public speaker, a trade unionist, and a believer in radical policies that benefit us all. As Vice-Chair, I will facilitate debate between our members, so we can spread new ideas, and I will work closely alongside Young Labour to make sure that our interests are always known to the Labour Party.

To make these changes, we need a strong voice, not an echo.

I believe I can be that voice, and, if elected, I will work tirelessly to advance Momentum’s beliefs of equality, progress, and fair opportunities for all.

Change is on the ballot, but we have to vote for it.

 

 

Young Labour under 18 rep

Oliver Probert-Hill

I first got into politics thanks to an ex-MP whose constituency neighboured mine, Laura Smith a true socialist.

I believe ‘that by the strength of our common endeavour we achieve more than we achieve alone, so as to create for each of us the means to realise our true potential and for all of us, a community in which power, wealth and opportunity are in the hands of the many, not the few, where the rights we enjoy reflect the duties we owe, and where we live together, freely, in a spirit of solidarity, tolerance, and respect’, as it says on the back of our Labour Party Membership Card.

Also that everyone within the Party should uphold and respect socialist values. It’s been a terrible two years for the left-wing of the Labour Party as the Party’s leadership has changed dramatically, but I believe that things can get better for us by campaigning for socialist role models like Zarah Sultana or Rebecca Long-Bailey.

If I’m elected as Momentum’s candidate for the Young Labour National Committee – Under 18s Officer, then I will stand up for the voices of the young socialists in the party and do my best to represent them.

Samuel Cohen

I’m Samuel, I’m 17, and I’m standing to be Young Labour’s under-18’s representative, for a radical Young Labour that supports under-18s and all those let down by the Party.

The last few years in Labour have been difficult and divisive. As the political wing of the trade unionist movement, we must stand firmly with our unions, cooperate to organise young people in their workplaces, and deliver a young workers’ conference. We need to build an empowered youth wing defending the socialist policy passed at conference, from the £15 minimum wage to Palestinian liberation. And we need to fight the disgraceful rise in transphobia in the party, which has made Labour unbearable for LGBTQ+ comrades.

I will help harness the energy of our under-18s through regular communication, helping any members who reach out, making sure under-18s’ interests are represented nationally, and supporting Young Labour groups with the organising skills to win power in their communities. I will push to have the Young Labour conference, staff support and events we’re entitled to. I will ensure as many as possible of these events are under-18-inclusive, such as political education – ideal for preparing a new generation of activists and socialists.

If elected, I will be unwavering in my advocacy and solidarity with you. I will be a representative who listens to the voices of hardworking members, stands for an explicitly socialist Young Labour, and builds a network of under-18s ready to fight for our future.