Labour women members’ attempts to shape policy on thorny issues including the winter fuel allowance, sex and gender policy and the two-child benefit cap have been frustrated, after supporters of the party leadership lobbied delegates to women’s conference to pick less sensitive topics for debate, LabourList can reveal.
In the lead-up to the party’s annual women’s conference this Saturday in Liverpool, Constituency Labour Parties and affiliated unions and societies had submitted dozens of motions on issues particularly affecting women, which they hoped to see debated, and then sent on for a floor vote at the main conference.
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The process for women’s conference sees motions whittled down in advance however, first ruled in or out on procedural grounds, and then grouped into subjects. Delegates attending are then also balloted in advance on which subjects should be picked for debate, with three CLP choices and three union choices.
The campaign group Labour to Win, which played a key role in Keir Starmer’s campaign to become party leader, wrote to some delegates hours before the recent vote, urging them to pick three of the 18 subjects motions were filed on this year: women’s health, women in the economy, and education and girls.
An email seen by LabourList told delegates that picking these themes would ensure a “wide range of topics are discussed, while remaining committed to the Labour Party’s priorities, supporting Keir Starmer, Angela Raynor and the Cabinet to build the best possible Britain for women and girls”.
Further party correspondence seen by LabourList suggests delegates then did vote to approve these three subjects in the ballot, alongside three union-backed themes: violence against women and girls in the workplace, women in the workplace, and women as working parents and carers.
The decision means motions which fell into a string of other categories will not be voted on: antisocial behaviour, border security command, child poverty, domestic and sexual abuse, female genital mutilation, Great British Energy, social care, tackling hate, the Equality Act, trans rights, women and pensions, and women in Palestine.
Some of the motions would likely have sparked controversy, and the avoidance of votes is likely to come as a relief to senior figures as Labour prepares for one of its most high-profile, heavily scrutinised conferences in years with the party now in government. Some emergency motions on thornier topics could still emerge, however.
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One motion by members in Shrewsbury, calling on the party to either retain winter fuel payments as a universal benefit or significant increase the threshold for pension credit, will therefore not make the cut, as it fell into the rejected ‘Great British Energy’ category.
The motion had warned: “Means testing the winter fuel payment is a regressive move which will hit the most vulnerable hardest, and women in particular”, causing “severe hardship” to those who rely on their state pension.
Two-child cap not on the agenda
Four CLPs had filed motions on the two-child benefit cap, with Labour’s refusal to ditch it to date sparking ongoing controversy within the party.
But all fell into the rejected ‘child poverty’ category, which included motions backed by campaign groups Campaign for Labour Party Democracy and Labour Women’s Declaration, but which not enough delegates voted for it to make it to the conference floor.
Poole CLP had said in their motion: “Key to addressing the scandal of child poverty will be the removal of the iniquitous two child benefits cap and we call on the Labour government to make this change as a matter of urgency.”
Mid Bedfordshire, Halifax and Erith and Thamesmead CLPs had filed similar motions warning: “Labour cannot achieve its objective of reducing child poverty without scrapping the two-child limit…It’s immoral to treat some children as less deserving than others because of the circumstances of their birth.
“Women’s Conference calls upon the Labour government to abolish the two-child limit as soon as possible as an urgent priority.”
No motions on trans rights
Meanwhile one Equality Act motion that will not make the cut was a Glasgow Cathart submission which called for the party to “commit to a tightening of the definition of ‘women’ in the Equality Act to mean biological women only”, and to oppose any reform of gender recognition across the UK or Scotland.
Another unsuccessful motion from North Shropshire CLP had Labour to “acknowledge the principle of women’s sex-based rights and clarify ‘sex’ in law means ‘biological sex’.”
A further motion by Manchester Central CLP had urged the party to stick to a manifesto pledge on reforming gender recognition law, deliver a trans-inclusive ban on conversion therapy and make hate crime motivated by sexual orientation and transgender identity aggravated offences.
Palestine motion also doesn’t get through
The ‘women in Palestine’ category also failed to make the floor, though only one approved morion was filed under the header, and the motion did not appear to go far beyond current party policy.
Tamworth CLP had called for an immediate ceasefire, unimpeded aid into Gaza, the recognitino of Palestine as part of a renewed peace process, and Labour playing a “full diplomatic role” securing a deal and peace process.
Labour was not immediately available for comment.
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