Please consider submitting or getting your CLP or other organisation to submit this proposal to Phase 2 of Labour’s Democracy Review, or using it as the basis for your submission. It was submitted to Momentum’s online vote on what to submit to Phase 2 and came second out of 120 proposals, despite only being submitted a day before the deadline.
More information/help: stopthelabourpurge@gmail.com
***
Reverse and prevent unjust expulsions and suspensions – for a transparent, accountable disciplinary system and a pluralist political culture
The vast majority of the many expulsions and suspensions since 2015 have been politically unjustified/unjust and violated natural justice. They have prevented and discouraged new members with valuable skills and talents from getting involved, created a culture of intimidation in parts of the party, and wasted valuable resources on such persecution – all weakening our ability to take on the Tories and campaign to change society.
Therefore we propose
• The Chakrabarti report’s recommendations should be implemented.
• The first part of rule 2.I.4(b), auto-exclusion for any member who “joins and/or supports a political organisation other than an official Labour group or other unit of the Party” should be scrapped – as per the rule change already going to conference this year (see here). All Labour-supporters should be welcome in Labour: membership of particular Labour-supporting organisations or previous left-wing activity should be irrelevant.
• The practice of auto-exclusion should be abolished. Everyone should be regarded as innocent until proven guilty and get a proper procedure including advance notice of charges, the right to evidence submitted against them and the identity of the accuser/s, consultation with their CLP and branch, a full hearing, and the right to an appeal. Membership rights should not be removed until procedures are completed. This should apply retroactively to those denied these rights.
• Responsibility for these issues should be transferred from the “Governance and Legal Unit” (previously Compliance Unit) to elected bodies and officials.
Stop The Labour Purge 