Scottish and Welsh Labour leaders angry at delay of NEC vote at conference
Jeremy Corbyn’s fight to prevent the appointment of delegates from Wales and Scotland to Labour’s NEC has failed after efforts by his supporters to delay a key vote.
At its meeting last week the National Executive Committee agreed that the Scottish and Welsh leaders should be able to appoint a member each to the ruling body.
Those around Corbyn sought, at this morning’s meeting of the NEC in Liverpool, to halt a vote at conference on the proposal, arguing that the representatives should be elected. The fear in the Corbyn camp is that without election it would tilt the balance of the NEC away from supporting him.
The NEC however agreed to proceed with a vote on the plans by delegates tomorrow.
It comes amid reports on the PoliticsHome website of extraordinary exchanges between the Scottish and Welsh Leaders and Jeremy Corbyn.
Speaking during a meeting of the NEC on Saturday evening, Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale attacked Jeremy Corbyn’s efforts to delay a vote on the plans just hours after his own re-election. She is quoted as having declared:
‘How dare you preach unity and then try to undermine me as Scottish leader.’
PoliticsHome has also reported one Labour source as having said of Labour’s leader in Wales, following this morning’s meeting of the NEC, that ‘Carwyn Jones spoke out and told Jeremy in no uncertain terms that the vote must happen tomorrow.’
The Welsh First Minister told PoliticsHome afterwards that
‘we have devolution in Wales and Scotland. We’ve waited years for these changes. They need to go through this week.’
The meeting came just hours after Carwyn Jones yesterday delivered his speech to the party conference. In a sobering segment, he reminded delegates that Labour was only able to publish a programme for government last week because it had won power.
He went on to provide what in hindsight is an obvious but also critical point for Jeremy Corbyn’s supporters to remember:
‘Conference we need to constantly remind ourselves what Labour being in government actually means.
That is our historic mission – that is the journey that Hardie started and every Labour leader since must try and advance.
How was it that Bevan finished his great quote, ‘the language of priorities is the religion of socialism’?
It was with these words: ‘only by the possession of power can you get the priorities correct.’
Ed Jacobs is a contributing editor to Left Foot Forward
See: John McDonnell promises £10 living wage and ‘interventionist’ Labour government
11 Responses to “Kezia Dugdale and Carwyn Jones clash with Jeremy Corbyn over NEC”
Just Cann
It is said that the Scottish and welsh representatives will change the balance of NEC that will affect the rest of labour members in England. So the West Lothian Question now applies to labour NEC. Relative To the size of the population England should also get additional Representatives on the NEC.
MARGARET SPECTOR
Labour members should stop trying to go against an elected leader with such a majority. The NEC should be behind their elected leader not trying stop him
MARGARET SPECTOR
Moderation seems to be for those who support Jeremy Corbyn
Dave Stewart
Presumably this means that Corbyn will get to appoint at least one extra member to NEC for England then? In fact it would be better for representation for him to be able to appoint a proportional number of members to the NEC based on either the English population (in comparison to Scottish and Welsh) or the number of English members (in comparison to Scottish or Welsh).
If this is not the case the argument about representation is clearly a fabrication being used to as shield to change the balance of the NEC back to being anti-Corbyn after the recent NEC elections which shifted the balance in support of Corbyn. The anti-democratic attitudes on display is really quite shocking.
les
Kezia Dugdale How dare you preach unity and then try to undermine me as Scottish leader.’
part of the shambles that was a thriving scotish labour party kicked out by the electorate for not opposing austerity in order to get back into power
lol lol lol
——
Not even the apparently enlightened principle of the ‘greatest good for the greatest number’ can excuse indifference to individual suffering. There is no test for progress other than its impact on the individual.
Aneurin Bevan
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