Nesil and Tudor for Labour Party NEC

 

Last week I finally got around to voting on line in the Labour Party elections for Councillor representatives on our National Executive Council (NEC). 

More than happy to vote for and endorse Nesil (Long standing London UNISON member) and Tudor. 

Check out their website here  https://www.nesilandtudorfornec.com/

"Dear John,

The main ballot for this year's Labour Party internal elections has now concluded. However, members of the Association of Labour Councillors, directly elected mayors, and Police & Crime Commissioners are eligible to elect a further two representatives to the National Executive Committee (NEC).

Please click here to vote. Once you've logged in you will be able to read the candidates' statements so you can see who they are, what they stand for, and what their ideas for the future are. Voting is easy - just a few clicks.

The NEC is the governing body of the Labour Party. It sets strategic objectives on an annual basis and meets regularly to review the work of the party alongside Keir and Angela.

Voting closes at noon on Thursday 22 September. You will not be able to cast your ballot after this time.

I would like to thank every candidate who has put themselves forward. Our Party is enriched by people stepping up, and it's been great to see such a good-natured campaign so far so
please do have a look at the candidates who have worked so hard in this election.

Yours sincerely

David Evans
General Secretary

UPDATE: BOTH ELECTED!

UNISON Labour Link £100 donation form for Councillor Candidates May 5th 2022

 

This is the form for Labour Councillor candidates in London who are UNISON members (and pay the Labour Link levy) to claim £100 each for their CLP to fund their campaign. If you work in London but live outside you can still claim. If your CLP is suspended or in special measures and you have no treasurer just let the regional political officer know and they will find a way to donate. 

Outside Greater London contact your  your regional Labour Link team. 

After every election I come across UNISON members who have took part in Council elections who were not aware of this and did not claim. Also, UNISON Councillor candidates who are members but pay into the General Political fund and not the Labour Link. So please check. 

Tenants told don't be rude about Councillors or face eviction!

 

I must admit that this article from "Nearly Legal" made me smile. Not that abuse and harassment isn't a serious issue in housing but having a tenancy condition saying you cannot be "derogatory" (showing a critical attitude and lack of respect for somebody towards Councillors is just daft and legally unenforceable. 

"They're making a list, they're checking it twice*

Author: Giles Peaker

 

Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council are proposing to amend their tenants’ secure tenancy agreements. Unfortunately, in their wisdom, they have decided to include a new tenancy condition as follows: “You, people living with you and any visitors to your property must not use social media or any other form of communication to make false statements, abuse, threaten, harass or be derogatory towards Council employees, contractors, agents or councillors” The explanatory document confirms the purpose of this condition, it is about: “Being clear that the Council will take action where social media is used to threaten, harass, abuse or make false statements towards Council employees, contractors, agents or councillors”. Oh. Oh dear. Let’s start with the infelicitous drafting, which would appear to make it fine to make derogatory or ‘false’ statements about council employees or councillors, so long as the statements are not directed at (‘towards’) them. And then, ‘false statements’? How is that to be established? Would the Council have to establish that the tenant/householder member/visitor made the statement knowing it was false (or at least being reckless as to whether it was false)? That is quite the evidential burden… But there is the broader problem with the clause, which is its scope. Just to be clear – in case that was needed –  no council employee, contractor, agent or indeed councillor should be threatened, harassed or abused. If that happens while they are doing a housing management role, there is already a perfectly good ground of possession – Housing Act 1985 Schedule 2, Ground 2(aa) The tenant or a person residing in or visiting the dwelling-house— (…) (aa) has been guilty of conduct causing or likely to cause a nuisance or annoyance to the landlord of the dwelling-house, or a person employed (whether or not by the landlord) in connection with the exercise of the landlord’s housing management functions, and that is directly or indirectly related to or affects those functions, (…) But Sandwell’s clause is not limited to conduct in relation to the council’s housing management function. It seeks to make a tenant liable – as a condition of tenancy – for, as an example, a visitor to their home making a ‘false statement’ about a councillor. (Quite how a social media statement by a visitor could be tied to the tenant’s tenancy is another evidential question, but hey ho).  This, I think, very clearly extends beyond anything specifically tenancy related. Those of us who’ve been doing this a few years have seen this before – attempts to use tenancy conditions to regulate behaviour unconnected with the property or the tenancy. There was, in particular, Wandsworth LBC’s tenancy condition attempting to make a tenant liable for any anti social behaviour committed by the tenant, their household or their visitors anywhere in the borough. That came to grief, quite rightly, the first time Wandsworth attempted to use it by bringing a claim for breach of tenancy conditions under ground 1 Housing Act 1985. The condition was ‘not an obligation of the tenancy’. Aside from Sandwell’s dreadful drafting, there is this broader point – tenancy conditions should relate to the tenancy, the property and the locality. Imposing a general obligation not to be rude to councillors (on social media or otherwise) is not a tenancy related condition. I would fully expect it to be unenforceable by possession proceedings as being a personal obligation, not an obligation of the tenancy. There are various other remedies available where council officers or councillors are being abused, threatened or harassed outside of the context of a housing management function. These should be used where necessary. Just don’t make the ineffective gesture of putting it in a tenancy agreement. That is not the place for policing behaviour in general. *Too soon?

"Why we need you to stand as a Labour Councillor"

 

Why I would hope that candidates to be Councillors will also be "Labour and Co-operative" I am pleased that the Party is organising this training next week for members interested in standing in the local elections due to held in May 2021.  

As Chair of London Labour Link I must also chase for a date for our training offer for UNISON members who are interested in becoming a Councillor. There will be a number of by elections in 2021 as well. 

Check out the Labour Party event https://events.labour.org.uk/event/324240

Online event

in 6 days

With over 5000 Council seats up for grabs in May 2021 we need to ensure that we have candidates in place to fight every one of these seats and give people the opportunity across the country to vote for a Labour candidate. Join us for this sessions that we hope will encourage you to put yourself forward.

 Monday 11th January 5:00pm - 6:00pm

 Online event

RSVP

Full Name

Full Name

Full Name

Phone Number

A tale of Bob in Barnet

A modern day Morality tale about the fate of wicked and evil Privateer Councillors (with a very catchy tune). Hat tip Barnet UNISON. 

Newham Carnival and Mayor Show 2013

Picture Collage from the Newham Carnival and Mayor Show yesterday.

The weather was glorious and the Show was packed out with families from all over Newham enjoying themselves.

Local Councillors were at the Community Hub tent where we took part in possibly the most important task of the weekend.

Handing out free Newham helium filled balloons to endless queues of awestruck young children!

Have you ever thought of becoming a Councillor?

"In 2014 London will be electing its Councillors for the next 4 years. This training session is designed to help you understand what it means to be a Labour Councillor.  

What do Councillors do? What would you expect to find being a Councillor?  

Labour Councillors are Community leaders and are at the forefront of working in their local areas. This training session is about leadership, Community working and working in a team. 

The event is taking place on 8th September 10.30am at the Labour Party Head office in central London. Log onto http://members.labour.org.uk/event/20951/ to register for the event"

Hat tip Tower Hamlets Labour Party e-newsletter. Picture of new (ham) Councillors elected for the first time in May 2010.

London Councils Summit: Setting the Agenda – Chair’s Intro and "City" View

On Saturday I went to a “Summit” organised by London Councils in Westminster.  The Chair of London Councils, Hackney Executive Mayor, Jules Pipe (picture) gave an introductory speech to the 200 odd (some very) Councillors from all over London.  Jules' job as Chair is pretty difficult.  On the one hand he is obviously a Labour Party Politician (and is only Chair since the Labour Party controls a majority of Councils in London) but he must also appear to be above politics as Chair.  A difficult balancing act.

He recognised that not everything will be sweetness and light over “money”.  Especially £1.6 billion in cuts.  His message to the Guest Speaker, the Secretary of State, RH Eric Pickles (aka “the evil one”) was that London is a net contributor to rest of the economy.   There should be further consideration of the level of front loading.  Better over 4 years as previously announced.  London is different to the rest of the country due to the cost of housing which is disproportionately high in London.  People will have to move if cuts take place.  Receiving authorities will have problems.  Councillors are not technocrats sent to simply deliver cuts by backroom deals.  People voted for Councillors to act as advocates.  We may fall out but we want  a vigorous debate by the 3 political parties about London’s future.  One side stresses “localism” - the other side the cuts that they think will be devastating to London.  The forum for debate is politics. 

Stuart Fraser, the influential Chair of Policy and Resources Committee, City of London spoke next. 

He thought that there had been changes in politics.  “Localism” and “Big Society”?  How will this come about? Is it about scrutiny, facilitation or funding?  What will be happening to the business rate?  Will control return to Councils?  The City of London business rate funding is 18%.  If they were to get all the money back then they really could line the streets with Gold.  £50 per resident - but he is not holding his breath.  The problem is simple - Money. Other parts of the UK economy are more dependent on public services than London.  We have had good infrastructure settlements.  We need to fight our corner very hard.  London is resilient.  Problem of patchwork London.  Communities that experience severe deprivation alongside others which are quite wealthy.  London is the home of innovation in our country.  Must be positive and move ahead.  London UK economy is worth £20 billion.  The private sector is not just financials.  All industry need good facilities.   He has worked in the city for 45 years and on Council for 20 years.  Newly elected Cllrs may be thinking by now with all these meetings and committees “what have I let myself into”.  What this is - is that you are there to serve a fantastic city. (more posts on rest of day next)

Diary of a new Councillor

Last night we had our third induction training workshop for new Councillors in Newham Dockside building opposite City Airport. I will try during the next few months to make a few observations about my experiences as newly elected Labour Party Councillor.

Last week I posted on the initial induction here. On Tuesday we had “Political Decision Making and the Democratic Process”. I had thought previously that trade unions had the most complicated structures, rules and procedures.

However, Council standing orders and arrangements would test the most dedicated of union rule book anoraks. I was introduced to a new world of the “Yellow Book” (Council meeting agenda); the different types of deputations and petitions; “original” and “procedural” motions (“provide personal explanation”); “Chair Raising” and “Qualified Privilege”.

While last night’s training was a lively session around Member's casework and housing issues. Housing is an absolutely key topic for all Councillors in Newham (and elsewhere of course). We looked at making members enquires, Housing needs, options, allocations and lettings, Newham Homes, Housing Associations, Private renting, shared ownership, temporary accommodation and homelessness. There was much discussion about how to deal with the housing problems that we had come across while out canvassing during the election. We have 35000 people on our waiting list and last year under 800 empty properties available to re-house them.

Do the maths.

So you want to be a Newham Councillor?

Today I went along to a “taster event for people wanting to stand for Council”. All Labour Party members in Newham have been sent application forms to fill out if they want to be considered and an invite to today’s event.

I posted last November that I had put my name forward to a somewhat mixed blogging response but on the whole it was somewhat supportive.

The event today was held in the Didsbury Centre in East Ham. There were about 25 members present which is not bad for a Bank Holiday Saturday. I had to skive off the West Ham CLP street stall in Forest Gate in order to attend.

The first speaker was the directly elected Newham Mayor, Sir Robin Wales. Robin laid out the Newham Labour vision of making our borough a better place that people choose to live and work inside. Robin argues that in Newham this aspiration is the key test about anything the Council does. The chief barrier to this is worklessness. The deprivation map of London 150 years ago is the same today. Paid employment is the key to change. Practically everything else we want for our wider community depends upon our people being in work and earning money.

Councillor Unmesh Desai spoke next about the highs and lows of being a Councillor. He described how sometimes it is so frustrating since residents would come to him with unrealistic expectations about what he could achieve as a Councillor. He cannot help everyone to be properly housed; he cannot interfere in Planning decisions or School appeals. However, he can make a difference. He can make personal representations over housing repairs and environmental services. He sometimes has to remind Council officers who pays their wages. He went through the code of conduct and standards committee.

The Q&A afterwards brought up a range of issues. Can we improve our communications with voters and Party members? I asked how many hours per week do you have to commit? Others asked what is their best experience as a Councillor and their worse.

Afterwards we went out (photo) and did some door knocking in the local ward as training and I assume sending a message out that if people want to be Councillors they need to “press the flesh”. I went out with a team of 4 and despite all the problems the Party have at the moment, our team struck gold and we had a load of positive responses and two separate people asking about becoming Labour Party members.

If you don’t ask you don’t get.