The national committee of the revived Labour Students organisation, and a slew of uni Labour Clubs, have called on the Labour leadership to stand by existing Labour policy to end uni tuition fees.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe-8eveEq5IbgxB3zn0JXhq4a-jTd5SraICO40K6LhjsY4vCg/viewform

CLPs may wish to pass motions on the following lines:

This CLP supports the call by the National Labour Students Committee and many uni Labour clubs for the Labour leadership to stand by existing Labour policy to end uni tuition fees.

Now more than ever we need to challenge the marketised system and fight for free education. A failure to oppose tuition fees is neither progressive nor popular, and Labour will not be thanked for sidestepping the issue.

https://labourleftint.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/72851-labour-rule-book-2023-final_web_v3-1.pdf

1. The international controversy surrounding the BBC documentary “India: The Modi Question”. India’s BJP government has used emergency powers to ban even clips from circulating there, and there is a major right-wing Hindu nationalist agitation against the BBC.
2. That central to the documentary is the 2002 pogrom of thousands of Muslims in the Indian state of Gujarat, of which now prime minister Narendra Modi was then chief minister.
3. That the documentary quotes a report commissioned by the then UK Labour government, which described the Gujarat events as ethnic cleansing and held Modi as directly responsible for it. It also interviews former Labour Home Secretary Jack Straw, who backs this up.

This CLP believes

1. That this documentary and the Indian government’s authoritarian reaction to it reinforces how much our sisters and brothers in India – the labour movement, oppressed communities and castes, the left – need international solidarity.
2. That we must stand in solidarity with groups facing oppression and violence under the right-wing regime in India, and with the Indian labour movement as it fights the assault on workers’ rights the Indian government is also pushing forward. This is particularly important as the Tories – strongly linked to the Modi government – push for a free trade agreement with India.
3. That we must help keep memory of the Gujarat events alive.

This CLP resolves

1. To circulate information about this controversy and about labour movement and social justice struggles in India to our members.
2. To invite a speaker from India Labour Solidarity (https://bit.ly/inlabsol), set up last year to organise solidarity with the labour movement, oppressed communities and castes and the left in India.

This CLP notes:

1. The wave of industrial action taking place at the moment, as rail workers, nurses, paramedics, teachers, firefighters, posties, bus drivers strike to defend their jobs, pay & conditions in a cost-of-living crisis;
2. That locally [XYZ] are currently/ about to embark upon strike action
3. That the Conservative Government has refused to support inflation-proof pay rises for workers, sabotaged rail negotiations and attacked key workers;
4. That the Labour Party was founded by trade unions to give a political voice to workers;
5. That Conference 2022 unanimously backed the UNISON-GMB motion, which committed the Party to supporting “pay increases at least in line with inflation”;
6. That Conference also backed a CWU-Unite motion offering “unequivocal support to all UK workers taking strike action for higher pay & in defence of their jobs, terms & conditions;
7. That Labour’s leadership has not yet backed an inflation-proof pay rise for workers, instead restating its support for the supposedly independent pay review process;
8. That these pay bodies have been criticised by unions and others as not being independent
9. That research from Unite shows that profit margins for the UK’s biggest companies are 73% higher than pre-pandemic levels and runaway profits are responsible for 59% of inflation in the last year.
10. That polling shows public support for every sector of workers striking, with 60% backing nurses.
11. That the Tories are currently attempting to restrict the right to strike for public sector workers.

This CLP believes:

1. That the Tories have failed the working class of Britain, and that their treatment of workers is deplorable;
2. That workers should not pay the price for a Tory cost-of-living crisis;
3. That Labour should stand with workers in their hour of need, including by attending picket lines and backing an inflation-proof pay rise for workers;
4. That Labour is right to oppose the Tories attempts to criminalise key workers for taking strike action;
5. That a unified labour movement can win these battles
6. That wealth taxes would be more than sufficient to fund public-sector pay rises (7).

This CLP resolves:

1. To write to the NEC stating the CLP’s wish for the Party to abide by the aforementioned motions passed at Conference;
2. To restate its solidarity with striking workers and an inflation-proof pay rise, to be paid for by new wealth taxes;
3. To lobby the NEC in favour of repealing new and existing anti-trade union laws;
4. To organise delegations of Labour members to attend picket lines locally, asking all councillors and elected office holders locally to join.

Lewisham Deptford CLP recently passed the motion below in its debate over submissions to London Labour Party conference, but decided to send a different motion.
Other CLPs may like to consider adopting the core content embedded in the “London-specific” wording (in the “believes” section, italicised below), and may even want to add an explicit call for a perspective of rejoining the EU.

London, Brexit and the Free Trade Agreement

Conference notes
1. that the Port of London is the UK’s largest port in competition with Rotterdam and Antwerp
2. that Horizon Europe funded €1.3bn to London research
3. that London is the world’s premiere University city; its pre-eminence jeopardised by exclusion from Erasmus+ & Horizon Europe
4. many thousands of financial services jobs have moved from the City to the EU
5. that the Tory ‘Hard Brexit’ has led to reduced foreign inward investment, a worsening balance of trade, reduced employment, a labour shortage in many industries, particularly agriculture, hospitality and the NHS, and sterling has lost value against both the dollar and the euro.
6. that the labour shortages are compounded by xenophobia and the Tories’ morally disgraceful “hostile environment”
7. that there are over 1.1m EU citizen’s living in London many of whom will have come to be restricted by the measures of the hostile environment
Conference believes
1. That in order to reverse the damage done by Brexit, we must advocate re-joining the European Single Market and Customs Union.
2. That restoring free movement between the UK and EU would be a benefit, socially and economically, not a cost.
Conference calls on the PLP and the Mayor,
1. to call for a new relationship with the EU involving the adoption of the single market and customs union
2. to campaign in opposition and in Government to rejoin Horizon Europe and Erasmus+
3. to call for the repeal of the cruel hostile environment.

Glasgow Shettleston CLP passed this motion on 19/1/23

Shettleston CLP condemns the Tories’ decision to block the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill. This is an attack on democracy, and an attack on the rights of transgender people.

We agree to write to the leader of the Scottish Labour Party and to the leader of the national Labour Party calling on them to publicly condemn the Tories’ decision and to campaign against it.

We agree to submit the following motion as an emergency motion to Scottish Labour Party conference:

“Conference condemns the Tories’ decision to block the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill. This is an attack on democracy, and an attack on the rights of transgender people. The Scottish Labour Party will campaign against that decision and calls on the Party at a national level to do likewise.

Recently-elected Labour Party National Executive Committee (NEC) member Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi has been expelled from the party. This is yet another attack on party democracy, which Labour and union activists must oppose.

We say this despite our serious differences with Wimborne-Idrissi over the disputed question of antisemitism. She is part of the wing of the left that consistently downplays this serious issue.

She has tweeted details about her expulsion here.

Wimborne-Idrissi’s public activity and publicly expressed views have been consistent over years. Yet she was suspended in September, within weeks of being elected to the NEC. Labour’s HQ allowed her to stand and get elected, then pulled the complaint out of their pockets to deny the left an elected NEC place (and deny the democratic rights of members, again). If the cause merited exclusion, it could and should have been raised before the NEC election. Mish Rahman (whom we would have preferred to see on the NEC anyway) has now gained the NEC seat as next runner-up, but for three months the seat has been vacant.

In addition, Wimborne-Idrissi was expelled on charges of association with proscribed organisations that have not been proved; and the proscriptions themselves, blanket bans on association with organisations in place of specific charges, are unreasonable.

It’s all yet more evidence that Keir Starmer’s leadership and the machine that serves it are less interested in tackling antisemitism (or any political principle), and more in purging opponents and suppressing party democracy.

While Labour democracy is slashed back on every front, large numbers of members have been expelled for being associated with left-wing groups. This includes Workers’ Liberty, part of Labour Left Internationalists, which has for decades been a strong critic of antisemitism in the labour movement and left.

The following text is a draft for the new Solidarity Committee. We’re making it available as a suggestion, and will pass on revised versions approved by the Committee.

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This [branch/committee/other body] notes the ongoing uprising in Iran, sparked by protests against the death of Mahsa Amini, foregrounding issues of women’s rights and opposition to compulsory hijab, but also raising general issues of social freedom and economic inequality.

This [body] further notes that several strikes have taken place during the uprising, including at the Abedan oil refinery, the Haft Tappeh sugar cane factory, and many other workplaces. Despite decades of repression, Iran’s workers have maintained underground organisation and traditions of militant action.

Tihs [body] further notes the recent establishment of the Solidarity with the Iranian Workers’ Movement Committee, chaired by John McDonnell MP.

This [body] believes international solidarity with all working-class and democratic struggles for freedom is a core labour movement principle, and supports the struggles of Iran’s workers, women, and youth against the Islamic Republic.

This [body] therefore resolves:

– To support the work of the Solidarity with the Iranian Workers’ Movement Committee, circulate its materials to members, and invite a speaker from the committee to a future meeting
– To promote local mobilisations in support of the uprising in Iran to members, and organise a distinct, visible trade union presence on such mobilisations
– To submit this motion to [relevant higher/national body within union] to mobilise support at [regional/national] level
– To specifically support workers’ struggles in our sector in Iran, and aim to make direct links with the workers involved if possible
– To request that the national union audits whether we organise workers at companies or in supply chains that have economic interests in Iran or ties to the Islamic Republic, to establish whether action by our members could directly aid workers’ struggles in Iran