New deadlines:
for CLP delegates (to women’s and general conf) and NEC etc. nominations noon, 31 July
for women’s conference motions, 21 August
for general conference motions, Wednesday 12 Sep.
Women’s conference is 21 Sep, general conference 22-25 Sep, in Liverpool.
See below for suggested texts from LLI which you can adapt and a text from the Labour Campaign for Free Movement.
This year the rules once again require that motions be “contemporary” (meaning about things after 5 July).
Originally CLPs were also told that motions could not cover things already “considered” in NPF (or NEC) reports.
That restriction has been lifted. But even the remaining “contemporary” requirement is slippery. In the Ed Miliband era it was used to rule out hundreds of motions; in the early Corbyn years, less so. We have to try at least to give our texts a chance of getting through the net.
As usual, rules also require that motions be no more than 250 words “only on one subject” (that’s a slippery requirement, too), and not on “organisational matters”.
Those constraints, and an estimate that they are likely to be imposed more sharply this year than in the past, shape the wordings suggested below. Both texts are less than 250 words, to give you some leeway. We will update the texts as and when more “contemporary” events allow.
Abortion rights
Conference notes:
- The report on 17 July in Marie-Claire magazine that “Katie”, a woman who took abortion pills not knowing how far advanced her pregnancy was, faces trial this year.
- The joint letter to the Home Secretary on 19 July from RCOG, BPAS, FRSH, and MSI Reproductive Choices, calling for urgent introduction in England of safe access zones round abortion clinics in line with March 2023 legislation
- Our National Policy Forum stated that “Labour believes that abortion is an essential part of health care which is highly regulated and should not be subjected to custodial sanctions. Labour will provide parliamentary time for free votes on modernising abortion law to ensure women do not go to jail for getting an abortion at a vulnerable time”, but left for further consideration how that modernisation would be done.
- Current law, from 1861, still allows for women to be jailed for getting late abortions
- Diana Johnson MP’s amendment to remove such criminal sanctions fell with the calling of the General Election on 22 May and the consequent abandonment of the Criminal Justice Bill
- France’s vote in March 2024 to write the right to abortion into its constitution
- The Scottish Parliament’s vote, with Labour support, in June 2024 to introduce safe access zones around abortion clinics.
Conference therefore calls for speedy action to decriminalise abortion; to ensure that abortion provision is readily available to those who need it as other health care is; and to implement safe zones around abortion clinics.
246 words
Raising taxes to fund the NHS
Conference notes:
• On 17 July, NHS Greater Manchester formally accepted “enforcement undertakings” from NHS England.
• On 11 July the Doctors’ Association UK wrote to the Darzi review demanding “a commitment from NHSE and the government to significantly uplift core funding and continue to do so in line with inflation”.
• On 22 July a Labour official told the FT that the condition of public finances inherited from the Tories is “much, much worse that we thought it was going to be”.
• On 9 July HMRC reported “continued evidence of a recovery in numbers of non-domiciled taxpayers since the height of the Covid-19 pandemic”.
• On 7 June Tax Justice UK identified ten tax reforms, outside raising the main income tax, VAT, etc. rates, which would raise £60 billion a year for public services.
• Our National Policy Forum report stated that Labour will “tax fairly”, but left for further consideration the detail of how to do that, in an era of rising inequality
• Increased public investment is an essential lever for growth such as will bring tax revenues, but it requires funds upfront.
• Taxes on wealth and capital gains would affect few ordinary-income households, and make the tax system fairer.
Conference therefore calls for such tax rises focused on the wealthy to fund restoring the NHS and other public services.
(215 words)
Labour Campaign for Free Movement template motion
For a fair and humane immigration policy
Conference notes the government’s commitment, outlined in the King’s Speech on 17th July, to introduce a Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill; a Migration Advisory Committee report on 16th July which highlighted exploitation of Seasonal Workers; and reports on 15th July of protests by refugees living on the Bibby Stockholm.
The Tories gave the UK an inhumane, regressive border regime, seeking to scapegoat migrants for the misery caused by austerity and deregulation. Restricting migrant rights makes people more precarious, undermining all workers’ power to push back against exploitation.
The 2023 NPF report commits Labour to conduct “a full review of the “hostile environment”. In reviewing the Hostile Environment, Labour must begin by reversing the legacy of Tory cruelty. This means going further than the King’s Speech.
Before conference 2025, Labour will:
- repeal the Safety of Rwanda Act 2024, Illegal Migration Act 2023, Nationality and Borders Act 2022, and Immigration Acts 2014 and 2016
- guarantee safe and legal routes for asylum seekers
- give asylum seekers day-one rights to work, education, social security and family reunion
- abolish “no recourse to public funds” and NHS charges
Before the next general election, Labour will:
- level up domestic workers’ rights
- grant all UK residents equal voting rights
- end immigration raids, detention and deportations
- introduce a simple process for all residents to gain permanent residency
- end “double sentencing”
- pursue agreements with other countries giving rights to travel, live, work and study without a visa
Labour Left Internationalists 