Template motion from Workers Against the CCP

Motion: Free the Hong Kong 45!

This branch notes:

1. On 19 November, 45 defendants in the trial of the Hong Kong 47 democratic activists were sentenced to years in prison. Among them: 6 years 9 months for socialist former opposition lawmaker Leung Kwok-hung, and nurse and former trade union leader Winnie Yu; and 4 years 5 months for aviation worker and trade union leader Carol Ng.
2. They were convicted under the tyrannical “National Security Law” simply for organising to stand for election as pro-democracy candidates and oppose their authoritarian government.
3. Other political prisoners in Hong Kong include former General Secretary of the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (HKCTU) Lee Cheuk-yan, imprisoned for “unauthorised protests” and also awaiting trial for “subversion”.
4. More than 200 trade unions, including those previously led by Lee, Yu and Ng, have been forced to disband under government pressure since the implementation of National Security Law. Independent trade unions are illegal in mainland China: only the government-controlled ACFTU is allowed.
5. 13 overseas Hong Kong democracy and labour activists were issued arrest warrants with bounties by the Hong Kong National Security Police. Six of them live in the UK in exile, including HKCTU’s former chief executive Christopher Mung.
6. A trade unionists’ protest was organised by Hong Kong Labour Rights Monitor and Workers Against the CCP at the Chinese Embassy on 30 November, demanding freedom for the Hong Kong 47 and other political prisoners.

This branch resolves:

1. To call for:

   1. Free Carol Ng, Winnie Yu, Leung Kwok-hung and all the HK45 – quash their convictions.

   2. Free Lee Cheuk-yan, Chow Hang-tung and all Hongkongers repressed for pro-worker and pro-democracy activity.

   3. Free political prisoners in mainland China including feminist Huang Xueqin, workers’ rights activist Wang Jianbing, civil rights activist Xu Zhiyong and Uyghur intellectuals Rahile Dawut, Ilham Tohti and Perhat Tursun.

   4. Freedom to organise independent trade unions and political opposition in Hong Kong & China.

   5. Stop all forms of transnational repression.

2. To write to the Embassy of China and the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in London with these demands.

3. To contact Hong Kong Labour Rights Monitor and Workers Against the CCP in order to keep in touch and support future solidarity protests for these political prisoners in future.

4. To send this motion to our union’s regional council.

Conference notes the government’s commitment, outlined in the King’s Speech on 17 July, to introduce a Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill; a Migration Advisory Committee report on 16 July which highlighted exploitation of Seasonal Workers; and reports on 15 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

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The motion above was submitted to Labour conference 2024 but ruled out of order under the notoriously slippery rule that motions must not be on more than one topic. Very similar motions have reached the agenda in many years previously.

A right-wing motion on asylum and migration was put on the agenda, but withdrawn on conference floor, because it had become almost certain that it would be voted down.

CLPs and unions passing motions now can send the government an explicit message about the demands of the labour movement which conference was unable to send.

If your CLP or union branch prefers shorter text, you may find this abridgement used in Islington South CLP useful.

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We note with dismay Keir Starmer’s praise for the new asylum policy of the far-right Italian government.

The 2023 National Policy Forum 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.

We call for the Labour government to:

• repeal the Safety of Rwanda Act 2024, Illegal Migration Act 2023, Nationality and Borders Act 2022, and Immigration Acts 2014 and 2016
• create 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
• end immigration raids, detention and deportations
• pursue agreements with other countries giving rights to travel, live, work and study without a visa

An end to the arbitrary multiplication of topics; information adequately in advance; details given when motions ruled out of order

We note that at the last two Labour Party conferences:

• Obvious subject areas have been divided into “topics” grouping pro-leadership motions and others grouping more critical ones. In 2023, the CAC excluded calls to renationalise the NHS by dividing “health” into two topics, while allowing calls for private funding to be debated. In 2024, “health” was divided into four topics, and “local government” into two.

Also in 2024, a separate topic was created on Border Security Command, while a motion calling for dignity and a welcome for refugees and migrants was excluded as “on more than one topic”.

In 2024 116 motions accepted onto the agenda were divided into 40 topics, many with very few motions. A more rational grouping would have more motions per topic and allow more debate.

• We also note that one of the delegates from the SHA, the proposers of the excluded NHS motion in 2023 had their credentials in the middle of conference with no due process, and delegates from the SEA and a CLP suffered similarly in 2024.

We note the unnecessary physical roughness of the removal of the protestor who interrupted Rachel Reeves’s speech.

The interpretation of Rule C1.VII.1.C.ii which says the GS can assume delegated powers from the NEC and pass them on. means that delegates are being removed, allegedly under the powers of the General Secretary or Head of Legal, with no due process. This is in conflict with human rights law and natural justice.

We call for:

• An end to the arbitrary multiplication of topics

• The CAC and NEC to publish motions accepted onto the agenda, and business coming to conference from the NEC, at least a week before conference

• The CAC to augment its list of motions ruled out of order to include the text of the motions and the reasons for ruling them out of order

• The CAC to publish an official record of decisions from day 4 (the Wednesday) of Labour Party conference 2024 as it published the decisions of the three previous days

• Delegates not to be expelled from conference except on written charges and after due process

• The seven MPs suspended from the Labour Whip for their vote on the two-child benefit cap to be reinstated.

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Note: this text, it stands, is long for a motion. A comrade is working on a shorter version, but in the meantime, adapt and abbreviate as you wish?

A personal view…

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Continue reading “Budget: no to cuts, yes to taxing the rich!” →

The Conference Arrangements Committee (CAC) reports which list the motions tabled, those ruled out, the priorities ballot results, composites, rule changes, and voting outcomes.

Continue reading “Labour Party conference 2024: documents” →

The right-wing “Border Security” composite was withdrawn in the debate at Labour conference today, 24 Sep.

Continue reading “A victory at Labour conference” →

Delegates have been arbitrarily evicted from Labour conference 2024.

Continue reading “Beat back control-freakery” →

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