Monday, May 22, 2023
Are Labour handing local councils back to the Tories?
The Guardian reports that the Labour Party faces accusations of overcentralised meddling after the party’s national executive vetoed planned coalitions with the Liberal Democrats or Greens in a series of formerly Conservative-held local authorities.
They say that while it is longstanding Labour policy that local parties need a green light from the national executive committee (NEC) before forming coalitions, some activists say attempts to block deals risk allowing Conservatives to regain control instead:
In one council, Hertsmere, just north of London, where the Tories lost power for the first time since 1999 in this month’s elections, Labour councillors are threatening to sit as independents if the NEC continues to veto a deal with the Lib Dems.
“This has been a Tory area for the last 24 years, and we’ve worked so hard to change that,” one local Labour source in the Hertfordshire district said. “It’s quite insulting now to be told we can’t get the benefits.”
A similar stalemate at Cherwell council in Oxfordshire, where the NEC is refusing to allow the Labour group to govern with the Lib Dems and Greens, has prompted speculation it could end up returning to Tory control.
There have been similar vetoes at two other formerly Conservative-run local authorities that are now in no overall control, Lewes in East Sussex and Canterbury in Kent.
Several local Labour sources told the Guardian they believed the party was being overly rigid and interventionist. It comes after the NEC announced it would appoint the next leader of Birmingham council, following an internal report that said the Labour group was riven by factions.
Labour's control freakery is in dangwer of undoing the outcome of this month's local elections in some areas and actually put the Tories back in charge.
They say that while it is longstanding Labour policy that local parties need a green light from the national executive committee (NEC) before forming coalitions, some activists say attempts to block deals risk allowing Conservatives to regain control instead:
In one council, Hertsmere, just north of London, where the Tories lost power for the first time since 1999 in this month’s elections, Labour councillors are threatening to sit as independents if the NEC continues to veto a deal with the Lib Dems.
“This has been a Tory area for the last 24 years, and we’ve worked so hard to change that,” one local Labour source in the Hertfordshire district said. “It’s quite insulting now to be told we can’t get the benefits.”
A similar stalemate at Cherwell council in Oxfordshire, where the NEC is refusing to allow the Labour group to govern with the Lib Dems and Greens, has prompted speculation it could end up returning to Tory control.
There have been similar vetoes at two other formerly Conservative-run local authorities that are now in no overall control, Lewes in East Sussex and Canterbury in Kent.
Several local Labour sources told the Guardian they believed the party was being overly rigid and interventionist. It comes after the NEC announced it would appoint the next leader of Birmingham council, following an internal report that said the Labour group was riven by factions.
Labour's control freakery is in dangwer of undoing the outcome of this month's local elections in some areas and actually put the Tories back in charge.
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1) An opportunity to persuade the more sensible and pragmatic in the Labour Party to join the Lid Dems, so perhaps keeping the Tories out if the numbers stack up? Rather than letting a centralised party (Lab) dictate to its members and so keep the Tories in power.
2) An update from Party HQ asand when we manage to form a coalition to run councils would be helpful.
2) An update from Party HQ asand when we manage to form a coalition to run councils would be helpful.
Is it not high time that Labour shook off the memory of 1931? https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/cabinetpapers/alevelstudies/national-government-1931.htm
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