2016-07-25 16:14:01 +0100
To: Labour Party NEC
Overturn the Labour Party boycott of Northern Ireland elections.
Our demand is simple, we want the Labour Party to end its boycott of the Northern Ireland electoral processes and enable its 2000 members to select their own parliamentary, council and assembly candidates under the banner of the official Labour Party.
Why is this important?
LABOUR’S ELECTORAL BAN IN NORTHERN IRELAND
In 2003 the Labour Party ended its undemocratic ban on residents of Northern Ireland joining the party. As a result, LPNI is now the largest political party in the region. However The NEC of the Labour Party continues to ban Labour candidates from standing in NI .Yes, you heard that right. Labour actually bans its fully paid-up members in Northern Ireland from standing as, or voting for, Labour candidates in local , regional and general elections. This policy is soon to come an under annual review by the NEC. A number of reasons are usually cited by way of spurious justification.
One explanation is the so-called “sister party” relationship with the SDLP. The SDLP is a social democratic and nationalist party that largely attracts middle class Catholic voters. It only organises in Northern Ireland and of course does not aspire to govern the UK. The “Labour” part of the party’s title was only added at the insistence of Gerry Fitt (from the minority socialist wing of the party) and in reality the party has no organisational links with the trade union movement. Leading SDLP members have campaigned in recent times for the party to merge with Fianna Fail -the Irish centre-right conservative party.
The SDLP has played an honourable role in opposing political violence in NI and in helping to broker the Good Friday peace deal. However the SDLP is simply not a suitable home for Labour people in NI. It has had every opportunity since the 1970’s to develop on a wider cross-community basis but has failed to do so. In addition, as a recent New Statesman article put it: “The SDLP are vehemently anti-abortion, in stark contrast to Labour’s pro-choice policy. The Belfast High Court last week ruled that Northern Ireland’s abortion ban is a breach of human rights legislation, meaning that in asking its supporters to vote for the SDLP, Labour is asking people to vote for a party which is seen as actively working to breach human rights law. Similarly, the SDLP’s support of Northern Ireland’s segregated education system which sees Protestant and Catholic children educated in different schools is viewed uncomfortably by Northern Irish Labour members who say the system is sectarian and divisive”. New Statesman 10/12/15
Northern Ireland is now the only region of the UK where abortion and same-sex marriage are illegal. In the last NI Assembly vote on same-sex marriage the motion in favour was defeated after three SDLP MLA’s abstained. Those with longer memories will also recall that it was the abstention of the SDLP’s then-leader Gerry Fitt in the 1979 House of Commons no-confidence vote that helped bring down the Callaghan Labour government and usher in Thatcherism.
So whatever its merits, the SDLP is simply no substitute for the Labour Party in NI and the “sister-party” reason for the electoral ban should be laid to rest.
Then, there are those in the Labour Party who are pro-United Ireland and argue that somehow, standing Labour candidates in NI would run counter to that aspiration. It is the official policy of the Labour Party (and the over-whelming majority of parties in Britain and Ireland) to support the provision of the Good Friday Agreement on the constitutional position of NI. The GFA sates that a United Ireland will only come about when a majority of people in Northern Ireland vote for it in a border poll. Who can say when that will happen? But in the meantime the UK Labour Party aspires to govern all of the UK and should live up to its democratic credentials by seeking a mandate for its policies in the region. If Labour wins the next General Election, the party will send a Secretary of State to NI whose party does not command a single vote in the region! That is a colonialist position that shames Labour.
Some argue that there are no seats to be won by Labour in NI. Granted, it would take time to build electoral momentum but NI has a proud Labour history and there are undoubtedly seats to be won .But even were that not so, that would not be a sufficient reason for boycotting the region. There are substantial parts of England, Scotland and Wales, where Labour does not win seats but yet does not withdraw from elections and abandon its members and supporters to other parties. In addition the electoral presence of Labour in NI would offer hope to the large numbers of socially progressive people in the region who feel disenfranchised by having no viable alternative to conservative and sectarian parties. N I is one of the most deprived regions of the UK and has been hit hard by failed Tory austerity policies. People in N I deserve the opportunity to play a direct role in helping to remove the Tories from power. The presence of Labour would also contribute immeasurably to moving Northern Ireland forward towards a shared future and away from the sectarian divisions that have so destructively blighted its past.
Lastly, some express concern that standing candidates in NI would mean losing the party’s “honest broker” status i.e. as a kind of colonialist referee between the native “warring tribes”. Firstly, Labour cannot be a disinterested party in NI affairs if it aligns itself to the SDLP. Furthermore, the Good Friday peace deal has been in place since 1998 and the violent conflict in Northern Ireland is over apart from the activities of a small minority of dissidents. The people of Northern Ireland are crying out for a re-alignment of politics away from communal sectarianism towards left v right cross-community politics. Labour should abandon its negative policy of electoral boycott and play its rightful part in assisting in the peace-building process by proudly standing candidates in the region.
The Friends of the Labour Party In Northern Ireland calls upon the NEC of the party to end its utterly undemocratic and unsustainable electoral ban.
#timetostand
In 2003 the Labour Party ended its undemocratic ban on residents of Northern Ireland joining the party. As a result, LPNI is now the largest political party in the region. However The NEC of the Labour Party continues to ban Labour candidates from standing in NI .Yes, you heard that right. Labour actually bans its fully paid-up members in Northern Ireland from standing as, or voting for, Labour candidates in local , regional and general elections. This policy is soon to come an under annual review by the NEC. A number of reasons are usually cited by way of spurious justification.
One explanation is the so-called “sister party” relationship with the SDLP. The SDLP is a social democratic and nationalist party that largely attracts middle class Catholic voters. It only organises in Northern Ireland and of course does not aspire to govern the UK. The “Labour” part of the party’s title was only added at the insistence of Gerry Fitt (from the minority socialist wing of the party) and in reality the party has no organisational links with the trade union movement. Leading SDLP members have campaigned in recent times for the party to merge with Fianna Fail -the Irish centre-right conservative party.
The SDLP has played an honourable role in opposing political violence in NI and in helping to broker the Good Friday peace deal. However the SDLP is simply not a suitable home for Labour people in NI. It has had every opportunity since the 1970’s to develop on a wider cross-community basis but has failed to do so. In addition, as a recent New Statesman article put it: “The SDLP are vehemently anti-abortion, in stark contrast to Labour’s pro-choice policy. The Belfast High Court last week ruled that Northern Ireland’s abortion ban is a breach of human rights legislation, meaning that in asking its supporters to vote for the SDLP, Labour is asking people to vote for a party which is seen as actively working to breach human rights law. Similarly, the SDLP’s support of Northern Ireland’s segregated education system which sees Protestant and Catholic children educated in different schools is viewed uncomfortably by Northern Irish Labour members who say the system is sectarian and divisive”. New Statesman 10/12/15
Northern Ireland is now the only region of the UK where abortion and same-sex marriage are illegal. In the last NI Assembly vote on same-sex marriage the motion in favour was defeated after three SDLP MLA’s abstained. Those with longer memories will also recall that it was the abstention of the SDLP’s then-leader Gerry Fitt in the 1979 House of Commons no-confidence vote that helped bring down the Callaghan Labour government and usher in Thatcherism.
So whatever its merits, the SDLP is simply no substitute for the Labour Party in NI and the “sister-party” reason for the electoral ban should be laid to rest.
Then, there are those in the Labour Party who are pro-United Ireland and argue that somehow, standing Labour candidates in NI would run counter to that aspiration. It is the official policy of the Labour Party (and the over-whelming majority of parties in Britain and Ireland) to support the provision of the Good Friday Agreement on the constitutional position of NI. The GFA sates that a United Ireland will only come about when a majority of people in Northern Ireland vote for it in a border poll. Who can say when that will happen? But in the meantime the UK Labour Party aspires to govern all of the UK and should live up to its democratic credentials by seeking a mandate for its policies in the region. If Labour wins the next General Election, the party will send a Secretary of State to NI whose party does not command a single vote in the region! That is a colonialist position that shames Labour.
Some argue that there are no seats to be won by Labour in NI. Granted, it would take time to build electoral momentum but NI has a proud Labour history and there are undoubtedly seats to be won .But even were that not so, that would not be a sufficient reason for boycotting the region. There are substantial parts of England, Scotland and Wales, where Labour does not win seats but yet does not withdraw from elections and abandon its members and supporters to other parties. In addition the electoral presence of Labour in NI would offer hope to the large numbers of socially progressive people in the region who feel disenfranchised by having no viable alternative to conservative and sectarian parties. N I is one of the most deprived regions of the UK and has been hit hard by failed Tory austerity policies. People in N I deserve the opportunity to play a direct role in helping to remove the Tories from power. The presence of Labour would also contribute immeasurably to moving Northern Ireland forward towards a shared future and away from the sectarian divisions that have so destructively blighted its past.
Lastly, some express concern that standing candidates in NI would mean losing the party’s “honest broker” status i.e. as a kind of colonialist referee between the native “warring tribes”. Firstly, Labour cannot be a disinterested party in NI affairs if it aligns itself to the SDLP. Furthermore, the Good Friday peace deal has been in place since 1998 and the violent conflict in Northern Ireland is over apart from the activities of a small minority of dissidents. The people of Northern Ireland are crying out for a re-alignment of politics away from communal sectarianism towards left v right cross-community politics. Labour should abandon its negative policy of electoral boycott and play its rightful part in assisting in the peace-building process by proudly standing candidates in the region.
The Friends of the Labour Party In Northern Ireland calls upon the NEC of the party to end its utterly undemocratic and unsustainable electoral ban.
#timetostand
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