ERITH AND THAMESMEAD CANCELLED

I'm astounded to learn that the selection tomorrow in Erith and Thamesmead has been cancelled. Apparently, a ballot box has been tampered with.This raises fundamental questions about what on earth is going on with the selection processes for PPCs. Clearly, in Calder Valley, we have been right to raise issues and I'm expecting some serious answers from the Labour Party.


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6115915.ece

POSTAL VOTES - A VIEW FROM THE NEC

Six years ago I joined a group called Save The Labour Party which was set up to improve Party democracy and call for greater accountability to members. It would be nice to report that since 2003 we have made great inroads into the processes which, since Partnership Into Power was agreed in the early 1990's, have only closed down democracy and taken the decision-making processes further and further away from the grassroots.
The sad truth is that things are worse than ever. In 2006, the Party Conference was persuaded, thanks to a deal with the unions, to abolish contemporary motions. This year's Conference must, as a matter of urgency, restore the right to vote.
But all that frankly pales into insignificance with the current furore over the way in which postal votes are being used to outweigh democratic hustings at Parliamentary selections. One achievement STLP can be proud of is electing Peter Kenyon to the NEC. Peter is one of the most rigorous and fair-minded people I have met in my many years in the Party.
He wouldn't mind me saying that , though we differ on many issues, we have always shared a quest for fairness and accountability. His take on the postal votes issue is here:


http://petergkenyon.typepad.com/peterkenyon/2009/04/labour-ppc-selections-and-postal-voting.html#comment-6a00d8354c43ba69e201157025cfbe970b