The text as passed as Heeley CLP is below, and a shortened version (short enough to be within the 250-word limit for Labour conference and women’s conference motions) is below

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This CLP notes: 

1. On 12^th June a 44-year-old woman was sentenced to over two years in prison for procuring pills to induce an abortion outside the legal time limit. 
2. According to Abortion Rights UK there has been an increase in women in England being prosecuted in relation to pregnancy terminations. 
3. These prosecutions are possible because the 1967 Abortion Act did not decriminalise abortion, but rather made it permissible on certain conditions.  The Offences against the Person Act 1861 which made abortion a criminal offence is still on the statute book.
4. Since this case there have been calls for legislative change, meaning that abortion rights may be an issue in parliament in the coming period.

This CLP believes:

1. Dealing with abortion within criminal law restricts and stigmatises both those who request an abortion and the healthcare professionals who provide that care.
2. In addition, policy barriers to safe abortion include underfunded services, the requirement in legislation that approval must be given by other people or institutions, limits on when during pregnancy an abortion can take place.  
3. Social reasons for women delaying seeking services include lack of recognition of pregnancy, family or relationship breakdown, domestic violence, sexual assault or rape, or denial of pregnancy due to social fears.  Later abortion disproportionately involves teenage or vulnerable women.
4. Such barriers can lead to critical delays in accessing treatment and increase risk of unsafe abortion, stigmatisation, and health complications.

This CLP further believes.

1. Nobody should face prison for a decision about their own body and health care.
2. Abortion should be considered as a healthcare procedure.
3. Medical and legal frameworks should trust women to make responsible decisions.
4. Abortion should be available on demand as early as possible and as late as necessary.

It is vital that Labour collectively support progressive legislative change, including decriminalisation as pledged in our 2019 manifesto, and reform to allow women and pregnant people to control their own bodies. 

This CLP agrees to:

• Campaign for decriminalisation of abortion provision;
• Publicise the protest on Saturday 24/06 at 12noon in Barkers Pool, Sheffield to members;
• Invite a speaker from Abortion Rights UK to a future CLP meeting;
• Send this motion to the NEC;
• Urge our MP to take up these issues in Parliament.

(The passage in italics above about the 2019 manifesto is an addition to the Heeley draft)

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248-words version

We note:

On 12 June a woman was sentenced to over two years in prison for procuring pills to induce an abortion outside the legal time limit.

Such prosecutions are possible because the 1967 Abortion Act did not decriminalise abortion, but rather made it permissible on certain conditions.  The Offences against the Person Act 1861 which made abortion a criminal offence is still on the statute book.

We believe:

Dealing with abortion within criminal law restricts and stigmatises both those who request an abortion and the healthcare professionals who provide that care.

• In addition, policy barriers to safe abortion include underfunded services, the requirement in legislation that approval must be given by other people or institutions, limits on when during pregnancy an abortion can take place.

• Social reasons for women delaying seeking services include lack of recognition of pregnancy, family or relationship breakdown, domestic violence, sexual assault or rape, or denial of pregnancy due to social fears. Later abortion disproportionately involves teenage or vulnerable women.

• Such barriers can lead to critical delays in accessing treatment and increase risk of unsafe abortion, stigmatisation, and health complications.

We further believe:

• Nobody should face prison for a decision about their own body and health care.

• Abortion should be considered as a healthcare procedure.

• Abortion should be available on demand as early as possible and as late as necessary.

We call on Labour to commit to:

Decriminalisation of abortion provision, as pledged in our 2019 manifesto.

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Note: The Guardian reported https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/17/case-uk-woman-jailed-late-abortion-difficult-both-sides that “sources said that Starmer told Labour MPs during a closed-doors meeting this week that he had never backed decriminalisation of abortion”. He certainly voted for it in Northern Ireland on 9 July 2019 (and the amendment won), but… Many Labour right-wingers like Stella Creasy are still vocal for decriminalisation, so it should be possible to win wide support on this.

Thanks to the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy for the information below.

Annual Conference and Annual Women’s Conference:
The deadline for the election of delegates, nominations for internal elections and submission of rule changes is noon on Friday 23 June.

So now is the time to ensure your CLP makes the appropriate preparations for this year’s conferences. Information from the party can be found here about the Annual Conference and here about the Annual Women’s Conference.

Priority issues for supporters of party democracy are:

1. Nominations
2. Election of delegates
3. Rule Changes
4. Motions

1) Nominate grassroots centre-left candidates for internal elections

CLPD and other groups in the Centre-Left Grassroots Alliance (CLGA) are supporting the candidates below. The deadline for CLPs to submit their nominations for the three committees below is noon on Friday 23 June.

Conference Arrangements Committee (CAC)

Candidate	CLP	Membership Number
Jean Crocker	Gateshead	L1306356
Chris Saltmarsh	Sheffield Central	L1180242

National Constitutional Committee (NCC)

Candidate	CLP	Membership Number
Jabran Hussain	Bradford West	L0058388
Dave Levy	Lewisham Deptford	A006829
Marion Roberts	Camberwell and Peckham	A009691
Harry Stratton	Bethnal Green and Bow	L1764378

National Women’s Committee (NWC)

Candidate CLP Membership No. Zoe Allan Brecon & Radnorshire L1393044 Claudia Boes Cardiff West L1318806 Chloe Hopkins North Tyneside L1492882 Juliet Miller South West Hertfordshire L1636941 Helen Smith Tynemouth L1164590 Cecile Wright Derby North A481880

To assist with making nominations at CLP meetings, the statements of all the above candidates can be downloaded as a PDF here and as a MS Word document here.

Please note that NWC nominations should be made by Women’s Branches where such branches exist, otherwise they can be made by the CLP.

The elections for the CAC and NCC will take place at the Party’s Annual Conference (8 – 11 October) and the elections for the NWC will take place at the Party’s National Women’s Conference (7 October).

2) Elect delegates who support party democracy

The Annual Conferences provide opportunities to contest the current offensive taking place against party democracy. A number of important votes will be taking place at the Annual and Women’s Conferences.
As many CLPs as possible need to send delegates who will vote in support of party democracy.
Please note that delegates for the Women’s Conference should be elected by Women’s Branches where such branches exist, otherwise they are elected by the CLP.
The deadline for the election of delegates is noon on Friday 23 June.

3) Rule changes

CLPs are encouraged to consider submitting a rule change proposal to this year’s Annual Conference. The deadline for CLPs to submit a rule change is 12 noon Friday 23 June.

CLPD’s recommended rule changes for consideration can be downloaded as a PDF here and as a MS Word document here.

Sign the draft open letter:
bit.ly/repealpoa
and circulate to your contacts on social media.

Labour’s draft National Policy Forum document has been published

https://labour.org.uk/document/npf-final-year-docs/
and the deadline for CLPs to submit consultative comments (each CLP can send 600 words of comment) is 29 May 2023.

Click here to view NPF document

and click here to view notes on it which you can use when working on drafts for your CLP’s comments. (Thanks to Sacha Ismail for drafting these notes).

These notes are deliberately limited to piecemeal comment on areas where there is strong Labour Party or labour movement policy flouted or blurred to nothingness by the NPF document, as such comment is more likely to gain traction in necessarily brief CLP discussions to a tight deadline.

There are, of course, more fundamental problems with the NPF draft, all formulated within a framework which defines itself as “pro-business” and rejects even increased taxes on the rich, let alone socialistic measures. A few extra notes on those: click here.

Click here for LabourList’s useful summary of the document.

The Migrant and Refugee Rights text included here has been passed by Southampton Test CLP.
The text is identical with the template motion circulated by Labour Campaign for Free Movement and suggested by LCFM to Momentum, except that the last line of the LCFM version, asserting free movement in general, has been omitted. LCFM is anxious to find CLPs which will put the full version, and so have a chance to get that last line into the composite (if the subject wins through in the Priorities Ballot at Labour Party conference).

https://www.labourfreemovement.org/lab23-motion-help-win/

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Click here to download pdf

Free School Meals
Universal Free School Meals for primary school children
Social care
Publicly owned and controlled NCS
£15 min wage for care workers
Free social care to all who need it.
Public Power
Democratic public ownership of the whole energy system
National Energy Agency to set standards and targets; own industries of national importance (e.g., oil and gas, offshore wind, nuclear)
Capitalising GBE to completely supplant the private energy sector
4 Day Week
Reduce working week from 48 to 32 hrs
Workers right to request 4 day week with no loss of pay
£100m fund to support transition for companies
Addressing the Crisis in Education
Increase state education spending from 3.9% of GDP to 6% over a lifetime of a Labour government, returning pay to 2010 levels
Replace OFSTED with a peer review process and local authority safeguarding checks
Close down Institute of Teaching, handing back teacher education to universities
Appoint a panel of educationists, including education unions, to devise a national curriculum and examination framework which restores the arts, leaves room for local plus school-based initiatives and replaces GCSE, vocational qualifications and A level with a baccalaureate style qualification.
Restore the EMA.
Pensions
Triple lock on pensions for the whole of the next Parliament
Explore options for earlier retirement
Protect defined benefit pensions in the public sector
Oppose increase in retirement age
Right to Food
Right to Food Law
FSM for primary and secondary
A Sure Start for All Children
Conditional direct funding – for early years settings
Expansion of Sure Start
Take over any chains that collapse
End 2 child cap to UC
Increase child benefit
Social Security
Commit to the replacement of Universal Credit with a more humane system;
Increase the basic level of Universal Credit payments to at least 80% of the national living wage;
Examine options for further reducing the taper rate to
ensure work pays;
End degrading benefits sanctions and in-work
conditionalities;
Ending other punitive features of Universal Credit including
the 5 week wait to receive payments and the 2 child limit.
West Papua
Support UN Resolution protecting the rights of West Papuans.
Climate Change
Ensure climate investment goes to public companies
Labour Campaign for Council Housing Model motion
Fund 150,000 social rent homes a year, including at least
100,000 Housing Revenue Account (HRA) council homes
with secure tenancies;
End “affordable rent” and fixed term tenancies;
Fund the retrofitting of all council housing;
Invest in Direct Labour Organisations to create well paid,
unionised jobs and apprenticeships to deliver this;
Abolish right to buy;
Review council housing debt to address the
under-funding of HRAs;
Reintroduce rent controls;
Compulsory registration and regulation of private rental
homes, with high energy efficiency and quality standards;
License landlords and agents, and increase funding for
councils to regulate the sector;
Empower councils to restrict, license and tax holiday
Properly regulate temporary and supported
accommodation.
The Tory National Health Service Crisis
Re-nationalise the NHS
Increase public investment in NHS
Protect minority groups disproportionately harmed by funding cuts (e.g. trans people, ethnic minorities)
Equitable Decriminalisation of Cannabis
Decriminalisation of cannabis
Expunging criminal records for cannabis production, retail
or possession
Tax revenues to go to reparative work in communities
affected by prohibition
Support Migrants’ and Refugees’ rights
close all detention centres; end all immigration raids,
detention, and deportations, including racist “double
sentencing
repeal the Nationality and Borders Act, Illegal Migration Bill
and all anti-migrant legislation;
guarantee safe, legal routes for asylum seekers, day-one
rights to work, education and social security, and expand
family reunion rights;
New Deal for Working People
New Deal for Working People in 100 days
£15 min wage
Public sector pay increases in line with inflation
Repeal all anti union and anti-strike laws
Reduce Inequality:
Tax Wealth
Progressive and redistributive wealth tax policy
International Development
Restore 0.7% aid commitment and DFID
Aid support for public services, not private profit
Cancel Global South debt
Higher Education
Abolish tuition fees
Restore EMAs
Violence Against Women and Girls
Protect LGBT RSHE
Increase funding for refuges for survivors
Trans-inclusive refuges
Requiring the Crown Prosecution Service and courts to
enforce restraining orders
Trans Rights
Ensure labour movement is a trans-inclusive space
Amend the Gender Recognition Act in Government to
introduce self declaration
Improve access for trans people to NHS transition-related
care
Water
Public ownership of water
Democratic rights
Combat the Tory Cost of Living Crisis
Rent controls
Freeze on travel costs
Abolish the monarchy
Conference resolves to abolish monarchy
Make Royal Family subject to taxation, Royal Prerogative
responsive to Parliament.

The following motion was passed by Islington South CLP on 11 January 2023:

We resolve to campaign for, and call on the Labour Party leadership to campaign for, the replacement of the monarchy by a democratic republic, with any post of president limited to ceremonial and formal functions.

Activists may like to add a further sentence when putting it now in other CLPs:

We condemn the arrests of republican organisers, and confiscations of placards and megaphones, around the coronation ceremony on 6 May 2023, and the spending of £250 million of public money on that ceremony.

This branch notes the forthcoming coronation of Charles III, which will cost the British taxpayer 250 million pounds, at a time when front line workers are being told there is no money for a RPI matching payrise.

This branch agrees with the quote by Irish Irish socialist James Connolly, who was right when he said, “Neither in science, nor in art, nor in literature, nor in exploration, nor in mechanical invention, nor in humanising of laws, nor in any sphere of human activity has a representative of British royalty helped forward the moral, intellectual or material improvement of mankind. 

“A people mentally poisoned by the adulation of royalty can never attain to that spirit of self-reliant democracy necessary for the attainment of social freedom. The mind accustomed to political kings can easily be reconciled to social kings—capitalist kings of the workshop, the mill, the railway, the ships and the docks.”

This branch also notes the comments this week by Princess Anne about the function of the royal family

In an interview with CBC News in Canada this week, the king’s sister, admitted one of its key functions. She said,
“I would just underline that the monarchy provides—with the constitution—a degree of long-term stability that is actually quite hard to come by any other way.”
She was saying that amid the tumult of class struggle, the monarchy acts as a glue to hold society together in the interests of those who have power and wealth. Monarchy says inequality is unavoidable and basic to society.

This branch believes that the monarchy upholds class structures that keep the working class down, that it is way past its sell by date, has no room in a modern society and can only be got rid of, in a similar way to the working class got rid of the Russian royal family in 1917, and a similar way to how the French removed Louis XVI in 1793.

This branch requests that the regional organiser asks LU how much money was spent on badges, signage, and other resources, linked to the coronation, at a time they are making job losses and attacking our terms, because they say there is not enough money.

Down with the royalty.
All power to the working class.

From the Labour Campaign for Council Housing

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Britain’s housing crisis denies millions of people their right to a decent home. Labour in government must resolve this with a new generation of council housing, liberating those living in the poor quality and expensive private rental sector. Abolishing Right to Buy, as in Wales and Scotland, will stop the loss of desperately needed homes, and rent revenue for councils. It has the added advantage of being a cost-free policy.

The shocking death of Awaab Ishak and the growing numbers living in unsafe homes highlights the urgency of improving quality, standards and enforcement across tenures. Retrofitting all existing homes, including non-carbon heating, is necessary for improving living conditions as well as tackling climate change.

This conference determines that Labour commits to:

+ Fund 150,000 social rent homes a year, including at least 100,000 Housing Revenue Account (HRA) council homes with secure tenancies;

+ End “affordable rent” and fixed term tenancies;

+ Fund the retrofitting of all council housing;

+ Invest in Direct Labour Organisations to create well paid, unionised jobs and apprenticeships to deliver this;

+ Abolish right to buy;

+ Review council housing debt to address the under-funding of HRAs;

* Reintroduce rent controls;

+ Compulsory registration and regulation of private rental homes, with high energy efficiency and quality standards;

+ License landlords and agents, and increase funding for councils to regulate the sector;

+ Empower councils to restrict, license and tax holiday homes and AirBnBs;

+ Properly regulate temporary and supported accommodation.

(244 words)