Labour suspensions spread

Submitted by AWL on 1 December, 2020 - 8:30 Author: Zaak Muddle
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Following the suspension of multiple members of Bristol West Constituency Labour Party (CLP) Executive (EC) from the Labour Party for allowing a motion to be discussed, the regional office has postponed the CLP’s Annual General Meeting with two days’ notice, because of alleged “problems” with communication about it happening. It has been postponed until February, and our CLP meetings banned during the same time period.

It’s not clear to me that there were any major “problems”. The meeting was set to attract hundreds, and the left to maintain control. The unelected officials’ motivation is clear.

An emergency Momentum meeting in response drew over 200 (some from outside the CLP). No clear plans were formulated, and some seemed nervous of suspension for speaking out.

Meanwhile, Hampstead and Kilburn CLP has had two EC members suspended after an allegedly chaotic meeting in which they allowed a motion to be heard calling for Corbyn to be reinstated to the Parliamentary Labour Party. Nottingham East’s chair has been suspended for allowing a similar motion to be heard (plus a motion to hear said motion).

The solution to antisemitism in Labour and on the left is a bold educational drive, which requires free debate. Not the leadership covering their backs with authoritarian silencing, treating the issue primarily as a problem of a few — or a few thousand — “bad apples”.

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