A long movement? latest updates from the Labour Party in Northern Ireland
By Sam R Gibson
It is good to see that LPNI is back in operation following a lengthy period of “special measures” which severely restricted the party’s ability to function at a time when it should have been forging ahead on the back of Labour’s excellent performance in the 2017 General Election.
The new Executive Committee has committed itself to the Corbyn-led ‘For The Many Not The Few’ policies platform. The incoming EC has also pledged to engage as fully as possible with the wider membership.
LPNI should soon know the outcome of the current NEC Review of Labour’s electoral ban on standing Labour candidates in Northern Ireland. Against a backdrop of its long-standing and utterly undemocratic “arms-length” policy , it is very likely that Labour NEC will confirm the continuation of its electoral ban on NI. At that point, it will be up to the membership of LPNI to decide how LPNI wishes to proceed. (currently, there is next to no indication that legal action against Labour by individual members has progressed. It appears that practical hurdles such as problems with accessing legal aid are impeding such initiatives).
Everything that could have been done in terms of lobbying for the Right To Stand will have been done. To continue that lobbying into the indeterminate future will hardly seem credible to a great many party members in NI. The campaign to end the electoral ban started 40 years ago, and one is left wondering whether only legal action now carries the potential for success. That action is long overdue, given that it was the threat of such action that won party membership and CLP organisation in 2003 and 2008 respectively.
For all we know there might be a General or even Assembly election within the next six months. But it is certain there will be local government elections in Northern Ireland in 2019, and if LPNI is serious about developing as a credible political force, then it surely cannot stand aside from those. Nor will merely endorsing a few Independent candidates be good enough .
If the new EC advises the membership that it is content to plod on, lobbying for Right To Stand and not engaging electorally in any meaningful shape or form, then it will be signalling that it is happy for LPNI to remain a mere pseudo-party, exiling itself to the outermost fringes of NI politics- into perpetuity.
About the author:
Sam R. Gibson is a senior member of the Campaign for Labour Representation in Northern Ireland [CLRNI], and the outgoing Chairperson of the Northern Down Branch of the Labour Party in Northern Ireland (LPNI). Sam has long been a strong advocate of cross-community and inclusive politics. A lecturer by training, Sam has worked in Northern Ireland and internationally. In June 2018, Sam was elected to the Executive Committee of the LPNI. Sam is also a singer, song writer and music composer. His latest album, ‘hold up the sky’, has just been released, and is available for sale at http://www.samrgibson.co.uk.
NB: Sam is writing in a personal capacity, and his views do not represent those of any political party or group.
