Labour International Left Alliance (LILA) members have agreed to recommend the following NEC candidates for CLP nominations.
Ekua Bayunu
Yasmin Dar
Ann Henderson
Chaudhry Qamer Iqbal
Laura Pidcock
Alec Price
Mish Rahman,
Roger Silverman
Carol Taylor Spedding
Treasurer: Dave Bradney
Disabled Members Rep: Ellen Morrison
Candidates listed alphabetically for convenience. All candidate names will appear in individually randomised order on the ballot papers.
Candidate statements
Ekua Bayunu
Membership Number
L1514209
Statement
I have the skills, experience, passion and sustained commitment to socialist values built up over 40 years working with disadvantaged communities across the UK as a Community Arts activist. In London, the East Midlands, the Northwest and Edinburgh.
I am Arts & Culture Officer for Manchester Central CLP, Secretary of Manchester Labour Women’s Forum, representing women from across the 5 Manchester CLPs and a CLP delegate to our LCF and was delegate to Conference in 2019. I am the councillor candidate for Hulme, anticipating that I will become the councillor in 2021.
I am a committed Trades Unionist, a local rep for Artist Union England and a member of Unite Community.
I have a very strong organisational track record built through working at a senior level in the voluntary sector managing the needs of multiple stakeholders each with different priorities, agendas, reporting mechanisms and even end of year dates!
On the NEC, we need to move forward the democratisation of the Party ensuring structures agreed such as the Women and BAME Branches, are rolled out, properly resourced across the country.
Ensuring our complaints and disciplinary processes are fair, offering training and political education alongside punitive measures.
Working to retain/rebuild membership
Contact Channels
@Ekua4Hulme
Yasmine Dar
Membership Number
L1173052
Statement
I’m standing for re-election to the NEC so I can continue to be a strong voice for grassroots members. In the past 2.5 years I have:
● Pushed for implementation of the Democracy Review, including creation of equalities structures and NEC seats that will allow the voices of BAME, disabled, LGBT and women members to be genuinely heard.
● Been a strong supporter of Jeremy Corbyn’s internationalist foreign policy for peace, justice and human rights throughout the world.
● As elected Chair of the Disputes Committee been committed to a transparent, fair disciplinary process based on natural justice.
● Supported more say for grassroots members, for example through open selections.
My experiences as a BAME woman, a social worker, co-founder of a Children’s Charity, anti-racist activist and a Councillor have shaped my socialism and fuelled my determination to fight for a transformative Labour government for the many not the few. We must defend and advance the progressive policies of 2017 and 2019, taking action to support campaigns such as Black Lives Matter and on the Green New Deal.
I am proud to be supported by the Centre Left Grassroots Alliance. Please also support Ann Henderson, Laura Pidcock, Nadia Jama, Gemma Bolton and Mish Rahman.
Contact Channels
yasminedar.labour@gmail.com
@Yasmine_Dar
Ann Henderson
Membership Number
A279236
Statement
I am standing for re-election to the NEC, committed to representing the views of the grassroots membership and improving support for CLPs across the whole country.
I joined the NEC in September 2018, and was elected Chair of the NEC Equalities Committee in January 2019.
We face the most significant global public health and economic crisis of our lifetime, and must prioritise building on policies developed for our 2017 and 2019 manifestos to win anti-austerity, internationalist Labour governments.
As a Party and trade union activist since the early 1980s, I have extensive experience across the movement at every level, including the Scottish and National Policy Forums, and as a member of Labour’s Scottish Executive Committee. Building a Party which understands devolution is important for us all.
On the NEC and in Scotland I have been centrally involved in re-establishing a Labour women’s organisation, with delegate-based, policy-making Labour Women’s Conferences. The experience of the COVID19 pandemic has highlighted the need for women’s experiences and voices to be at the heart of our response.
I am supported by the Centre-Left Grassroots Alliance. Please also support Yasmine Dar, Laura Pidcock, Gemma Bolton, Mish Rahman, and Nadia Jama.
Contact Channels
ahendersonlab@gmail.com
@AnnDHenderson
Chaudhry Qamer Iqbal
Membership Number
L0106766
Statement
A Labour party member for the last 12 years serving as
· A Chair of BLP/CLP Secretary of Ealing Southall CLP
I am a proud Unite activist, socialist with strong campaigning background as I have been campaigning since 2007. After being elected as CLP secretary in 2018 I transformed my CLP into fully active and functioning CLP.
I will
· Work closely with Party leadership, NEC and CLPs to fully implement the recommendations of the Democracy Review including OPEN SELECTION
· Make it my TOP PRORITY to fight for the rights of every GRASSROOTS member to make sure a fair & transparent disciplinary process is in place
· Seek NEC members to be more accountable to members/CLPs ,work to achieve good governance
· Improve the communication and report back to the members
· Be supporting our leadership to win back the trust of communities we lost in the last election and to bring a Labour Govt in next election
· Promote and fully support socialists’ policies to make Labour electable
· Work to make our members more empowered have a greater say on policies by making Conference a sovereign body
· Work to increase representation of underrepresented communities within party
Contact Channels
https://www.facebook.com/qamer.iqbal.7
@chqamerlab
Laura Pidcock
Membership Number
L0086386
Statement
The scale and intensity of the challenges facing working class people here in the UK and across the world needs to be treated with the seriousness and urgency it deserves. We are facing a prolonged workers’ rights crisis, a global environmental emergency, a global health pandemic and a huge political crisis. It is up to us to change the course of history. The current economic system offers no hope or security to working class people.
I am from a political tradition that wants bring about a different system, one which eradicates in-work poverty, supports a sustainable and thriving planet and an end to war and oppression. There are no individual solutions to our problems, only collective ones. I want to be your representative on the NEC to uphold socialist principles, to defend and push beyond the 2019 manifesto in order to achieve a Labour government, and to strongly defend democracy in our party. The membership is the Labour Party.
I am supported by the Centre-Left Grassroots Alliance. I am fighting for a socialist Labour Government that will deliver the radical change we need. Please also support Nadia Jama, Ann Henderson, Yasmine Dar, Mish Rahman & Gemma Bolton.
Contact Channels
laurapidcock4nec@gmail.com
@LauraPidcock
Alec Price
Membership Number
L1426037
Statement
As a child, I watched New Labour attack firefighters, like my dad, striking for fair pay, whilst Iraq burned for oil. Tony Benn introduced me to socialism. The banks crashing the economy taught my generation that capitalism had failed.
Corbyn showed an alternative to war, racism, austerity and environmental destruction was possible, inspiring millions. We’d have a socialist Labour government now if we weren’t held back by some in our own party and other sections of the ruling class.
As a frontline NHS worker, I know its working people, not political careerists, who have the real power to change society. Labour needs to stand for working class democratic control of the key sectors of the economy, so we can run society for human need, not billionaire greed.
We must show active support for workers campaigns, democratising union affiliations. Open selections of MPs are essential and candidates should pledge to take a workers wage, donating the surplus to solidarity causes.
All aspects of party life must be under membership & affiliate control, through democratic national conferences and local District Labour Parties where we collectively decide selections, polices and campaigning priorities.
We have a world to win; our chains to lose.
Contact Channels
alec4nec@gmail.com
alec4nec.wordpress.com
Mish Rahman
Membership Number
L0137964
Statement
As one of the first graduates of Labour’s Bernie Grant Leadership programme to empower more BAME people to stand for elected positions, I decided to stand for election to the NEC to ensure:
A strong voice for Party members on the NEC, and greater oversight over the governance of our Party.
Political education and development for members.
That the NEC reflects the diversity of our Party and stands in solidarity with Black Lives Matter.
Strengthened organisations representing equalities groups.
Support for policies to deliver the future we need, which are overwhelmingly popular with the public: a Green New Deal, public ownership, a just welfare system, rolling back privatisation of the NHS, repealing anti-trade union laws, advancing migrants’ rights, and international solidarity.
As a working class man of Bangladeshi heritage, whose father campaigned with the Anti-Nazi League in the 1980s against the National Front, I have always been a committed anti-racist activist. I’m CLP Chair in Aldridge-Brownhills and I’m an experienced Labour campaigner in the West Mids.
I am proud to be standing on a platform backed by the Centre Left Grassroots Alliance, including Momentum and CLPD. Please also support Yasmine Dar, Ann Henderson, Laura Pidcock, Nadia Jama, and Gemma Bolton.
Contact Channels
mish4nec@yahoo.com
07882169720
@misba70
Roger Silverman
Membership Number
L1416560
Statement
As an NEC member, I would campaign vigorously to restore the supremacy of party conference, uphold the democratic right of open selection of candidates for office, end arbitrary suspensions, and put forward radical socialist policies along the lines of the 2019 election manifesto.
I was born into a Labour family and have been a lifelong party activist. My father was a left Labour MP for 33 years and an elected member of the NEC. I am a branch delegate to the GC of my local party and was its main delegate to the 2019 annual conference.
Labour’s defeat in the December general election was a crushing setback, but despite media distortions it was not “the worst result since 1931”. Labour actually won more votes in 2019 than in 2015, 2010 or even 2005 (when Labour won). We are still the biggest political party in Europe.
We are currently living through a “perfect storm”: a deadly pandemic, the prospect of a devastating slump, the threat of environmental catastrophe. The Johnson government is already widely discredited. We must seize the opportunity to harness the energies of our half a million members to build a Britain for the many not the few.
Contact Channel
silverman4nec@gmail.com
silverman4nec.org
Facebook: Roger Silverman
Carol Taylor-Spedding
Membership Number
L1772844
Statement
As a teacher of 42 years experience, a union rep and a parent, I have seen the inequalities and failings of our education system. As a KONP activist I know how successive governments have sold off our NHS by stealth and have not excluded it from the trade deal negotiations.
I am passionate about our 2019 manifesto. This COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated how many of our policies are absolutely essential to the survival and quality of life of the majority in this country.
It is working people, not political careerists, who have the true power to change society. We must take back control of key sectors of the economy, so that we meets everyone’s needs, instead of feeding billionaires’ greed.
I fully support the abolition of the private school system, which entrenches privilege and entitlement in our country; making life-long education free; the development of a publicly owned, fully integrated, health and social care system; rebuilding our social housing stock to provide good, truly affordable, housing for all.
We must actively support grass roots campaigns and strengthen our trade unions. Open selection of MPs and dealing with systemic racism is essential to re-establish trust in our party.
Contact Channels
carolt17356@gmail.com
Ellen Morrison (Disability)
Membership Number
L1509954
Statement
I am standing as NEC representative of disabled members because I believe our Party can do so much more for disabled members, and that I have the commitment and experience to represent you on the NEC. I would bring the following experience:
– Organising trainings, events and campaigns as Chair of Unite the Union’s London and Eastern young members and Secretary of my local Unite Community branch
– Representing disabled members as Disability Officer in my CLP, Lewisham East
– Organising campaigns, events, protests and conferences with Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC)
– Active in the campaign to #StopAndScrapUniversalCredit
It would be my priority to listen to what disabled members want from their NEC rep. Campaigning with Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) and representing disabled trade unionists in Unite Community has given me the experience to advocate for our rights.
Getting basic access measures right, like remote participation, is the minimum. It’s time Labour empowers disabled members to take the decisions that affect us. From having our own structures to self organise within the party, to shaping the policies that affect us.
I’m proud to have the endorsement of DPAC and Disability Labour in standing for this role.
Contact Channels
ellenfornec@gmail.com
https://www.facebook.com/ellenfornec/
@ellenlmorrison
Dave Bradney (Treasurer)
L1410745
The party’s treasurer needs to combine vision with prudence. Vision so that the party can develop creatively; prudence so that disruptive “boom and bust” funding cycles are avoided.
To those qualities I want to add openness, responsiveness and approachability. The party’s internal processes, including finance, are labyrinthine and alienating. That is inappropriate in a membership organisation..
When I rejoined Labour in 2015, I became Ceredigion CLP’s treasurer, and over three years doing this I was scandalised to discover that CLPs are not permitted to participate at regional/national level unless they pay an annual “affiliation” fee. There is no provision for this in the party’s rules, and the mechanism that does exist for funding regional-level activities seems to be in disuse.
I had great difficulty obtaining Welsh Labour’s annual accounts, and was never permitted to have a discussion with the Wales Treasurer. All this is inappropriate and unacceptable. I would not be doing things like this.
I am 74, a retired journalist with some knowledge of financial issues and processes. I have a science degree, so I am numerate as well as literate. I am not a member of any internal party grouping, except for SERA.”
davebradney@headweb.co.uk