| Save the Labour Party |
| NEWS RELEASE 09/04
Members demand right to challenge Labour leadership at Conference London – 23 August Pressure is mounting on the Labour Party leadership to answer member concerns at this year’s Annual Conference. The campaigning group Save the Labour Party (STLP) is challenging the party’s top brass to organise a conventional Annual General Meeting in private before the Conference proper starts in Brighton next month. Unlike any voluntary association, or company in Britain, the Labour Party leadership does not open itself up to direct scrutiny by its own members. The Annual Report and Accounts is traditionally presented as part of the ordinary conference proceedings. In a letter to the Conference Arrangements Committee, STLP chair Peter Kenyon said, “We now know that [Labour Party] membership in 2004 has fallen to a 70-year low and in many parts continues to fall despite efforts to encourage new recruits and lapsed members to rejoin. These issues cannot continue to be brushed aside.” The capacity of the Party in electoral wards and parliamentary constituencies to hold quorate meetings and organise election campaigns is now severely stretched in many parts of the country. A simple guide has been issued to enable members and local party officials to join the call for an AGM. STLP is campaigning to win elections with more, active members and challenging the Leadership to work with it ahead of the next general election. Since it was set up a year ago, STLP has attracted support from most sections of the Labour Party, not just its left-wing. It has members in nearly 100 parliamentary constituencies and close links with other campaigning organisations in the labour movement in England, Scotland and Wales. Media enquiries: Peter Kenyon Mobile 07802 216 591 eMail: peter.g.kenyon@btinternet.com Notes to Editors 1. Save the Labour Party is a voluntary association, open to all Labour Party members and affiliates and includes members from the left, right and centre of the Labour Party committed to democratic socialism. 2. Details of its activities – past present and future can be seen at: www.savethelabourparty.org |