Standing as a Labour and Co-operative Candidate in May 2022

Hat tip to Neil Wilson our Newham secretary, Co-op Party from London Region.

Standing as a Labour & Co-operative candidate

We are really keen to ensure we maintain a large number of Labour & Co-operative councillors following the local elections next year. We are working with our new regional organiser, John Cook, to help make this happen. Here are some things we're asking branches to do:

- Encourage any sitting Labour & Co-operative Councillors who are re-standing to get in touch with the National Party if they wish to re-stand as Labour & Co-operative. This is not an automatic process - candidates need to seek endorsement of the Co-operative Party even if they were elected on the joint ticket last time around. They can do this by signing up to the Candidate Development Programme.

 

Be a Labour and Co-op Councillor (Need to Join Co-op Party by Tuesday 31 October)

This is a little complicated but if you are a Labour Party member, who believes in the Co-operative movement and have been selected to stand for Labour at next year's May 2018 local elections....

bear with me...

and if you also want to stand as a Labour and Cooperative Candidate (the Labour and Co-operative Party have a pact between them) then you should :-

...be a member of the CO-OP PARTY (obviously) before the 31 October 2017.

and you will also have to persuade, if you are standing in a "multi member ward" next year, that all your fellow Labour candidates in that ward, want to be a Labour and Co-op candidate and are members of the Co-op (both parties by 31.10.17).

You also have to be a member of an actual Co-op to be a member of the Co-operative Party such as a retail or saving co-op and then get the formal endorsement of the Party. You are also strongly advised to attend Co-op party training events.

Job done. Then get yourself actually elected at the next elections.

Newham Labour Councillor Candidacy 2018

All Labour Party members in Newham, East London should have received a letter last week from the Labour Party encouraging those eligible to apply to stand as a candidate.

Quite rightly "Women, Black and Minority Ethnic members, Carers, people with disabilities, Council and social housing tenants and members 26 and under" are "particularly welcome".

To be a candidate you:-

Must live in Newham and be on the electoral register at the address where you hold your membership

Member of Labour Party before 1 January 2016 

Must be up-to-date with your member subscription

Cannot be legally disqualified e.g employee of Newham Council or be politically restricted

Must accept the standing orders of the Labour Group and the code of conduct

Will need to demonstrate a track record of campaigning for the Labour Party. 

To seek selection you need to fill out a form and then undergo an interview. If you pass that then you would have to selected by local Party members in a relevant ward. Sitting Councillors, such as myself, have to go through a similar process.

If you are interested and meet the eligibility then email the regional Labour Party on Newham2018@labour.org.uk and ask for an application pack. This will need to be sent back by Monday 7 August. 

(UPDATE - DUE TO PRINTING ERRORS ON LETTERS TO MEMBERS & CLLRS NOW "SEND BACK" DATE IS MONDAY 14 AUGUST FOR ALL)

Candidates who do not meet the track record of campaigning for the Labour Party will in my view have a real problem now with meeting this requirement.

I would strongly urge candidates who have never applied before to take advice from others on filling out the form and preparing for interviews. I and other existing Councillors will be more than happy to offer advice and support.

Finally, in the letters sent out about the process there has been some sort of an IT error and members told wrongly that they are in arrears or otherwise ineligible. Please check your eligibility and challenge if a mistake has been made.

Good luck!