The Campaign for Labour Party Democracy has asked CLPs to consider submitting proposals for rule changes to reduce the minimum of MP nominations required for Leader nominees, and to return longlisting power for Parliamentary selections from the NEC to CLPs.

CLPs can submit a rule change or a motion to conference. The deadline for rule changes is 26 June 2026 (same as deadline for delegates, and for nominations for NEC, Labour Women’s Committee, etc.). Conference is 27-30 September in Liverpool, with Women’s Conference on 26 September. The deadline for motions will be much later, in mid-September.

There’s not been much push on rule-changes recently, because they won’t pass without unions backing them; rule changes from CLPs (rather than NEC) are delayed a year before getting to conference (so rule changes submitted in 2026 come up for debate in 2027); and there is, in effect, a ban on re-raising rule changes for at least four years after they’ve been defeated (so recent rule changes from CLPs have been withdrawn when they finally get to conference, to avoid that ban). But maybe with Restore Labour Democracy unions will be minded to back these rule changes. We’ll see.

Suggested Constitutional Amendments to the Labour Party Rule Book

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Improving the democratic choice in Labour Leadership elections

The Labour Party Rule Book 2026 Chapter 4 Elections of national officers of the Party and national committees, Clause II Procedural rules for elections for national officers of the Party, Section 2 Election of leader and deputy leader, Subsection B Nominations, (Page 28) reads as follows:

(i) In the case of a vacancy for leader or deputy leader, each nomination must be supported by 20 per cent of the Commons members of the PLP and either:
a. 5 per cent of CLPs;
or b. At least three affiliates (at least two of which shall be trade union affiliates) compromising 5 per cent of affiliated membership.
Nominations not attaining the thresholds under either a. or b. above shall be null and void.

(ii) Where there is no vacancy, nominations may be sought by potential challengers. In this case any nomination must be supported by 20 per cent of the Commons members of the PLP. Nominations not attaining this threshold shall be null and void. The sitting Leader or Deputy Leader shall not be required to seek nominations in the event of a challenge under this rule.

Amendment

Delete: ‘20 per cent of the Commons members’ in 4.II.2.B.i. and 4.II.2.B.ii.
Replace with: ’10 per cent of the Commons members’ in 4.II.2.B.i. and 4.II.2.B.ii.

Supporting argument

It’s increasingly clear that a narrow, factional agenda is being imposed upon the Party and that this is increasingly unpopular with the public. This approach is wrong in principle and damaging in practice. When the Labour Party sidelines its members, it weakens Labour’s roots in our communities, alienates voters, and undermines Labour’s ability to win both people’s trust and elections.

The rules of electing the Party Leader and Deputy Leader were changed in 2021 by doubling the threshold level of nominations from Members of Parliament needed by candidates to get onto the ballot. It was raised from 10% to 20%. This change was made deliberately in order to reduce the political options available to Party Members and Affiliated Supporters when electing these positions, by allowing MPs disproportionate influence over who gets onto the ballot paper.

This rule change that CLPD is supporting would reduce the threshold for MP nominations back down to 10%, the figure it was prior to 2021, thus allowing a wider range of opinions and political currents to be represented in any contest for Leadership and Deputy Leadership.

Restore the rights of local Labour Parties to longlist in Parliamentary Candidate selections

The Labour Party Rule Book 2026 Chapter 5 Selections, rights and responsibilities of candidates for elected public office, Clause IV, Sub-clause 6 (pg 40) reads as follows:

6. In all circumstances (i.e. where there is no MP, where the MP has announced s/he is retiring or where the MP is putting themselves forward for re-selection but has failed to win the trigger ballot) the CLP Shortlisting Committee shall draw up a shortlist of interested candidates to present to all members of the CLP who are eligible to vote in accordance with Clause I.1.A above.

Amendment
After ‘the CLP Shortlisting Committee shall draw up’ replace the remainder of the sentence with the following:
‘a longlist of interested candidates in accordance with Clause I.1.A above. Any person who has been nominated by the Co-operative Party or an affiliated organisation must be longlisted. After further consideration the CLP Selection Committee shall draw up a shortlist to present to all members of the CLP who are eligible to vote.’
After amendment it would read:
6. In all circumstances (i.e. where there is no MP, where the MP has announced s/he is retiring or where the MP is putting themselves forward for re-selection but has failed to win the trigger ballot) the CLP Selection Committee shall draw up a longlist of interested candidates in accordance with Clause I.1.A above. Any person who has been nominated by the Co-operative Party or an affiliated organisation must be longlisted. After further consideration the CLP Selection Committee shall draw up a shortlist to present to all members of the CLP who are eligible to vote.

Supporting argument
The rulebook does not currently specify which unit of the Labour Party is responsible for longlisting. In the past, up till the current Leadership took office, longlisting was always done by local CLPs. In 2022, the NEC withdrew this democratic right.
A dishonest, elitist argument was put forward to justify this change – it being falsely claimed that centralised control leads to higher quality candidates being selected. The real purpose of taking these decisions out of local hands was to factionally build up a group of candidates who would support the very right-wing agenda of the leadership and Labour Together.
Scores of progressive, trade unionist and independent-minded candidates were blocked from standing to be Parliamentary candidates at the longlisting stage, reducing the political diversity of MPs and number of independent-minded ones elected in 2024.
This rule change seeks to rectify the situation by confirming that it is the CLP selection committee which undertakes longlisting in selections for Parliamentary candidates.