Starmer’s NEC Motion

For completeness we give below the full text of Starmer’s NEC motion to block Corbyn being a Labour Party candidate and how the NEC voted on the motion:

This meeting of the NEC notes:

1. the Labour Party’s purpose is to organise and maintain in parliament and in the country a political Labour Party;
2. the NEC’s primary purpose, pursuant to Chapter 1, Clause VIII.2 of the Labour Party rule book, to provide a strategic direction for the Labour Party as a whole to secure the Labour Party’s objectives, and the NEC’s key function to win elections and maintain the support of voters, pursuant to Chapter 1, Clause VIII.2.B of the Labour Party rule book;
3. the NEC’s responsibility to act in the best interests of the Labour Party as a whole to further, as best as it can, the Labour Party’s best political interests and its political position in the country;
4. that the Labour Party has not secured a parliamentary majority in the House of Commons since 2005;
5. that, in the 2019 general election, led by Rt Hon Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour Party returned 202 MPs to parliament, being the lowest number of Labour Party MPs returned since the 1935 general election; and
6. Mr Corbyn is currently a member of the Labour Party and an Independent MP for Islington North; and
7. that the Labour Party’s standing with the electorate in the country, and its electoral prospects in seats it is required to win in order to secure a parliamentary majority and/or win the next general election, are both significantly diminished should Mr Corbyn be endorsed by the Labour Party as one of its candidates for the next general election.

This meeting of the NEC considers and agrees that:

1. in order to effect the NEC’s primary purpose to maximise the Labour Party’s prospects of winning the next general election, and to avoid any detrimental impact on the Labour Party’s standing with the electorate in the country as a whole;
2. the Labour Party’s interests, and its political interests at the next general election, are not well served by Mr Corbyn running as a Labour Party candidate; and
3. it is not in the best interests of the Labour Party for it to endorse Mr Corbyn as a Labour Party candidate at the next general election.

Accordingly, this meeting resolves that:

1. Mr Corbyn will not be endorsed by the NEC as a candidate on behalf of the Labour Party at the next general election;
2. the general secretary write to Mr Corbyn immediately after this meeting to advise him of the above; and
3. Mr Corbyn remains a member of the Labour Party and, save as set out above, his rights to attend Labour Party meetings and voting rights afforded under the Labour Party rule book remain unchanged.

Proposer: Keir Starmer
Seconded: Shabana Mahmood

The motion was passed by 22 votes to 12.  The 12 are:

Andy Kerr (CWU)
Mick Whelan (ASLEF)
Ian Murray (FBU)
Nicola Jukes (TSSA)
Jayne Taylor (UNITE)
Tony Woodhouse (UNITE)
Mish Rahman (CLPs)
Gemma Bolton (CLPs)
Jess Barnard (CLPs)
Yasmine Dar (CLPs)
Ann Black (CLPs)
Ellen Morrison (Disabled Members)

Skwawkbox understands that deputy leader Angela Rayner stayed away from the meeting, avoiding the vote. Her union – and Corbyn’s – Unison abstained, to the fury of that union’s elected members who have long been fighting the right-wing Unison management and its contempt for democracy.

GMB, USDAW and the Musicians Union voted for Starmer’s motion. Shame on them. Those of their members who are able to join other unions should do so immediately.