"Sir Robin Wales calls for contested mayoral ‘trigger ballot’ outcome to be cancelled"

Hat tip Dave Hill's On London blog 

"Sir Robin Wales has asked the Labour Party to cancel the outcome of the internal selection process that saw him endorsed to seek a fifth term as Mayor of Newham following a campaign by local members for an investigation into its conduct.

An affirmative nomination or “trigger ballot” held in the autumn of 2016, saw Sir Robin prevail by 20 votes to 17, and Labour’s governing National Executive Committee (NEC) has resisted calls by party members in Newham, including ten councillors, to look into what they described as “many failures of process/propriety and procedural irregularities”.

But now Sir Robin has told the Newham Recorder that although the trigger ballot outcome was confirmed by the NEC, legal action against it by some of the complainants had prompted him ask for it to be quashed because “the costs of a court case would be significant and Labour Party members’ money should not be used in this way”.

Sir Robin’s initiative came after those pursuing the legal action secured the funds they required to move to the “statement of claim” stage, setting out the grounds for their case that their party has “behaved improperly” over the trigger ballot, both locally and nationally.

A letter to the NEC sent in January signed by 47 Labour members, including 10 councillors, argued that seven of the votes cast in favour of Sir Robin going forward automatically as Labour candidate for next year’s mayoral election rather than facing potential challenges from other hopefuls had been dubious and that there had been inconsistencies in the way unions affiliated to the party locally had been enfranchised.

Each of Newham’s 20 ward branches had a single vote in an electoral college, which also included 11 affiliates, seven of which were trade unions. The branches voted by 11 to nine against Sir Robin progressing without a further contest, but the balance of affiliates’ votes gave the incumbent the majority he needed.

A review by the Fabian Society of the approach taken by its Newham branch to deciding which way to vote found that it had “breached the society’s rules” in coming to its decision to back Sir Robin’s automatic candidacy.

It has been established by On London that the headquarters of Bectu, one of the unions with a local affiliated branch at the time of the ballot, cannot confirm that an affiliation fee was paid for the relevant year. (For unrelated reasons, Bectu is no longer affiliated to Labour).

On London has also learned that the ballot paper for an affiliated branch of the TSSA union was conveyed directly to an officer of that branch by a councillor who is a member of Sir Robin’s mayoral team rather than being sent initially to a more senior figure in the organisation, as appears to have been the case with other unions. The TSSA vote was eventually cast in favour of Sir Robin.

One key point of the dispute has been whether Labour party rules entitle each affiliated union branch to vote separately in mayoral trigger ballots or whether just a single vote per union should be accepted, regardless of how many different branches are affiliated locally.

Not all the unions involved interpreted the rules in the same way, resulting in Unison casting just one vote – against Sir Robin going forward automatically – despite having six branches affiliated, whereas the GMB – which supported Sir Robin – cast four votes, the CWU cast three and Unite cast two.

It is understood that an audio recording, heard by On London, which those who have been seeking an investigation believe reveal an ally of Sir Robin disclosing questionable conduct concerning the trigger ballot process, has been sent to a senior Labour Party official.

In his comments to the Newham Recorder Sir Robin says he is “supporting a new process to be undertaken under the auspices of the national or regional Labour Party”. The complainants have criticised the involvement of at least one member of Sir Robin’s mayoral team in the running of the process.

Any decision by the party to instigate a fresh trigger ballot or to hold an open selection contest will entail settling on a “freeze date” in advance of which members and affiliates will have to had have had their documentation in order to be eligible to vote.

Since the completion of the original ballot, the GMB has affiliated 26 branches to West Ham constituency Labour Party in Newham, each of which would have a separate vote if a freeze date subsequent to their affiliation were set and multiple votes per union again accepted.

Read all of On London’s coverage of the Newham mayor trigger ballot dispute via here.

Newham mayor ‘trigger ballot’: union confirms that affiliation fee not paid

Check out Guardian Journalist, Dave Hill's blog.

A second organisation whose vote helped Newham mayor Sir Robin Wales go forward unopposed as Labour candidate for next year’s mayoral election in the borough has effectively substantiated a complaint by local party members about an aspect of the candidate selection process.

Inquiries by national officers of Bectu, the media and entertainment union, have concluded that a branch affiliated to Labour locally had not paid the required fee for 2016, the year the vote took place. In a letter to Labour’s governing National Executive Committee (NEC) sent in January, 47 Newham members had argued that the Bectu vote be declared void partly on those grounds.

Last month the national Fabian Society informed its Newham branch, which also voted “yes” to Sir Robin automatically becoming the candidate for 2018, had breached the society’s own rules for determining how votes in Labour affirmative nomination or “trigger ballots” should be cast.

Sir Robin won the trigger ballot by 20 votes to 17 in a process held in the latter months of last year, in which ward branches of Newham’s two constituency Labour parties (CLPs) and local branches of national organisations affiliated to Labour participated. Bectu, which says its head office had no involvement with the Newham ballot, has since become a sector of another union, Prospect, and disaffiliated from Labour. The union has informed On London that no local affiliation fee was paid by the Newham branch delegate and that it was not invoiced for it.

The Bectu and Fabian trigger ballot votes were among seven of the 20 “yes” votes cast which the 47 Newham party members, who include ten Labour councillors, asked the NEC to either hold in abeyance or declare void. Their 13-page letter further claimed that there were “many failures of process/propriety and procedural irregularities” in the trigger ballot process as a whole and that these had made “a material difference to the result”.

At a meeting held last month the NEC did not take up the 47 members’ request that it hold in inquiry into the overall process. Labour general secretary Iain McNicol told one Newham member in an email that the issue had been “raised very briefly” but that there was “no discussion about pausing or changing the result” and that two NEC members had agreed to visit Newham and speak to party members there about what lessons could be learned for the future.

A date for the visit is understood to have been set for 21 February, but no meeting has taken place, apparently due to a difference of view over whether party members who were satisfied with the process and its outcome should be present along with those who are unhappy about them. Labour’s London region has previously stated that “the process in Newham was carried out in line with established rules and procedures”. Signatories of the letter to the NEC are considering their options for further action.

Newham is exceptional in that all 60 of its borough councillors are Labour. Sir Robin is now set to seek a fifth consecutive term as mayor, having won the inaugural mayoral context in 2002. Some councillors and other members believe his incumbency has been too long and that his command of the Town Hall’s workings make it difficult to scrutinise or place appropriate checks and balances on him. However, the signatories to the NEC letter said they would support him his candidacy for 2018 if they regarded it as obtained “as a result of an open and fair re-selection process”.

Contact On London via davehillonlondon@gmail.com.

Private Eye's view of Newham Labour Mayoral Process

This is not going away and is making Newham and the local Labour Party look ridiculous. 

West Ham TULO: Living wage update; Royal Mail, Bangladesh Accord, Equalities & Save NHS

On Tuesday we had had our 2nd meeting of West Ham Labour Party TULO. Chaired by our TULO officer, Kim Silver. Kim is also an UNISON London NEC member and Convenor in Newham Local Government branch.

Royal Mail CWU activist (and Labour Party Councillor candidate 2014) Idris Ibrahim gave us an update on the dispute in Royal Mail following privatisation. The strike has been postponed pending talks (which are still ongoing this weekend).

Idris thanked us for our offer of support if there is a dispute (Solidarity actions on strike days, stalls, petitions and leafleting). 

Kim gave an update on our campaign for Fair Pay for all in Newham. Our motion from West Ham CLP has been sent to Newham Local Campaign Committee for support. If it is passed at the LCF then it will be sent for consideration to Newham Council Labour Group.

I raised the issue of the TUC backed campaign in support of UK retailers who source clothing from Bangladesh to sign the international Accord on Fire and Building Safety. This Accord is trying to stop the slaughter of textile workers that we have seen in the Tazreen factory fire and the Rana Plaza collapse. There will be independent funded professional safety inspections, training of Union safety reps with the right to stop work if there is an imminent danger without loss of pay.

Only a few British based Companies are refusing to sign the Accord. The TUC are organising a protest on Saturday 23rd November and are calling on supporters to download and deliver a letter of protest to all Edinburgh Woollen Mills stores (EWM - Parent company of Peacocks, the high street retail chain).

We agreed to  send a West Ham TULO delegation to deliver the letter of protest to the Newham Green Street and Stratford Mall Peacocks stores on Saturday.This will coincide with local Labour Canvassing campaigns.

Next BECTU member (and Labour Party candidate 2014) Sue Masters briefed us on the Save Our NHS campaign in Newham. There is a heavy Labour Party presence on this campaign which is led by patient representatives and independent clinicians. It is a non party political organisation and all West Ham TULO activists are encouraged to support.

Winston Vaughan (local Cllr and retired CWU activist) is also the West Ham CLP Equalities officer and he raised with us how Union activists feel he could promote the issue of equalities in the CLP.

Reminder that at next West Ham General Committee  Phil Wilson MP will be the Guest speaker and that we will be discussing the trade union link with the Labour Party. All CLP members can attend the GC as visitors. There is also a motion from West Ham Ward on retaining the link. The special Labour Party Spring conference on the link will take place at Newham Excel on Saturday 1 March 2014.

Under AOB we agreed to add the important issue of the public ownership of the railways to our  objectives.

Next meeting will be 7.30pm on Tuesday 21 January 2014 at West Ham Labour HQ, 306 High Street, E15.

UPDATE: success - EWM have signed the Bangladesh Accord!!! the action on 23rd has been called off (for now)