West Ham CLP AGM 2011

I am just back from this year's West Ham Constituency Labour Party AGM.  Via of course "The Goose" in Stratford (unbranded Pilsner lager still at £1.49 per pint!).

This was the sixth Labour Movement AGM I have attended so far this year.  Hopefully the last!  The meeting tonight was well  attended, well run and pretty good humoured.

In the CLP Officers elections the Chair Conor McAuley was re-elected; Alan Griffiths re-elected unopposed as Secretary; John Saunders elected as Treasurer; Winston Vaughan elected as Ethnic Minorities Officer and Yetunde Muda as Womens's officer.   Due to proportionality rules we were not able to elect some of the posts.  We need more women to be nominated.  This will be send back to wards and affiliates.

In the Functional Officer elections I was re-elected unopposed as Campaign Co-ordinator and Agent; John Whitworth as Political officer; David Christie as IT officer; Gerry Carlisle as Disabilities Officer and Kim Silver as Trade Union Liaison Officer (Kim who is on the UNISON NEC was elected 38:1!); Terry Paul as Assistant Secretary; Mas Patel as Assistant Agent; John Saunders as Premises manager and Fund Raiser (the 100 club - the ever so mysterious local Labour Party monthly tote) and Clive Furness as Social Secretary.

There was a contested election for auditors! We elected 2 delegates to Party Conference, Yetundee and James Beckles (and will hopefully also get a young member to attend). 

The trade union delegates "had a huddle" and we elected delegates to EC (including myself) and Local Government Committee (LGC).  West Ham nominations to LGC will be sorted out at the next GC. 

At the end of the meeting we had an extraordinary meeting about Greater London Assembly election candidates 2012.  Branches and affiliates had voted overwhelmingly to support the renomination of John Biggs, Nicky Gavron and Murad Qureshi as our candidates.

London Labour Housing Group

I was reminded today that I haven't posted fully on the successful launch last month of the London branch of the Labour Housing Group (LHG). 

Steve at the LHG "Red Brick" blog has of course posted an excellent report.  Check out the comments at this post which gives an accurate flavour of this event.

It was (IMO of course) a pretty damn good Labour Movement Family event that drew together the best elements of our movement. Labour Party elected representatives, trade unions and grass roots Party campaigners and members working together and sharing ideas.

It was held at the Grand Committee Room in Westminster Hall and was packed to overflowing.  Standing room only. It was more like a rally than a meeting. 

It was Chaired by Nicky Gavron AM, guest speakers were Ken Livingstone, Karen Buck MP and London UNISON Regional Secretary, Linda Perks.   Labour Shadow Housing Minister, Alison Seabeck MP came in and opened the meeting.

I think that many people present were fairly shocked at how mean, destructive and sheer bloody minded nasty the Condems polices are on Housing. 

Afterward there was a reception sponsored by UNISON London Labour Link in St. Stephen's Tavern which also went down well.  You can see in the collage above Party members of UNISON Housing Association branch with London Assemby member, Murad Qureshi (who use to be a member of our branch). Double click collage to bring up detail.

I think we will all be looking forward to a future LLHG Policy and Campaigning day soon. 

Check out more photos of the event at Facebook here.

Save London's Housing!

Nationally, we are facing an unprecedented housing disaster thanks to this Government.  Ordinary Londoner's will suffer the most.

The Labour Housing Group is a national affiliated organisation within the Labour Party "dedicated to developing and promoting effective housing policy".

In London and elsewhere we need to campaign against Boris and his ConDems unnecessary, nasty and sheer vindictive policies designed to cleanse middle class Britain of anyone who is on a low income, unemployed or otherwise vulnerable.

Tomorrow is the Biannual London Labour Party Conference and we will be handing out this leaflet (double click to bring up details) about forming a London Branch of the Labour Housing Group.

LHG members Karen Buck MP and Nicky Gavron AM are driving this initiative with the support of the LHG Executive (see the AGM).  We hope to launch the branch at the House of Commons in January.  There will be a planning meeting beforehand.

If you are interested in taking part in a fightback against the Comdems flagship policies and winning the battle of housing ideas please email Nicky to join our mailing.

You can download a membership form for the LHG and find out more details here

Labour Housing Group AGM

On Saturday I went to the Labour Housing Group AGM at Camden Town Hall. I have only recently joined the LHG but I have been to their well attended fringe events at Labour Party conferences in the past.

The group is about “developing and promoting effective housing policy" and was formed in 1981. It is one of the Socialist Societies affiliated to the Labour Party. I think membership will give me another vote in the forthcoming leadership elections?

I had just missed the main speaker Karen Buck MP (Westminster North) due to my Council surgery which was a shame. Due to the very high rents vulnerable and unemployed tenants in her constituency will be amongst the first to be forced out or evicted if the CONDEM housing benefits restrictions are brought in as planned. London Assembly member Nicky Gavron was there, a number of Councillors and resident reps from up and down the country and also Rachael Maskell, national officer for housing in Unite.

Despite the recent general election defeat and the general doom and gloom in housing the LHG members seemed remarkable upbeat and positive. It was refreshing to be amongst people who are really, really interested in housing policy – theory and practice. The “round robin” workshop at the end of the meeting was excellent. It was supposed to be about ways of increasing the supply of housing but turned into a wide ranging discussion about housing in general. My pennyworth was about encouraging and supporting “like minded” people to join the boards of Housing Associations and how we should plan to campaign against the regressive CONDEM housing policies and make sure there is “clear red water” between them and us.

The LHG encourages local or regional branches to be set up. There was a number of us from London present and we had some interesting conversations about having a meeting after the summer to discuss possibly setting up a London branch. So watch this space.