Labour Left prepares for leadership contest

WHO WILL the Labour left support in the contest to become the new Leader and Deputy Leader of the Labour Party? Two organisations met this weekend to make their decisions.

Campaign for Labour Party Democracy (CLPD)
CLPD is one of the longest standing organisations on the Labour Left, having been formed in 1973. It campaigns for members’ rights: party democracy, accountability of elected representatives, etc. Its Executive met on Saturday and agreed to support Rebecca Long-Bailey MP for Leader and Richard Burgon MP for Deputy Leader. Both candidates have supported CLPD and its campaigns over recent years and the Executive selected a shortlist of political and democratic issues which it hopes the candidates will support, with CLPD, during the campaign. The hope is that members will be able to judge candidates on the basis of their politics and practice – despite pressure from the mainstream media to turn the campaign into a personality contest.

The Executive also recognised that the fight to win the next General Election starts now – not in four years’ time. There are other elections to win on the way – and services to defend. The new Leader and Deputy must be people who can explain policies on the doorstep and inspire members and voters alike – without delay.

Momentum (Mo)
Mo is a much newer organisation, having been formed in response to Jeremy Corbyn’s election as Leader of the Labour Party. It is now focussing on transforming Britain from top to bottom and on creating a society run in the interests of the many, not the few.

Its National Co-ordinating Group (NCG) also met on Saturday. The NCG recommended that party members support Rebecca Long-Bailey to be elected Leader, singling her out as the only viable candidate for Leader who can build on the Party’s current socialist agenda, deepen party democracy and unite Labour’s heartlands when the next election comes.

The NCG then recommend support for Angela Rayner in the Deputy Leader contest on the basis that the Labour Party needs a Leader and Deputy Leader who can trust each other, work well together and unity the Labour Party in opposition to the Tories.

The two names will be put to Mo members in an email ballot over the next couple of days. The NCG recommendations will be the only names on the ballot paper, with members having the choice of endorsing the NCG recommendation or not.

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