 |
| Cllr Sarah Hacker of the RTUC with Labour Party leader, Jeremy Corbyn MP, at the recent Unite Conference |
On 25 July 2016, the Reading and
District Labour Party hosted the town’s two Constituency Labour Party leadership
endorsement meetings. Following the circulation of statements by both Labour
Party leadership candidates, Jeremy Corbyn MP and Owen Smith MP, supporters of
each candidate were given fifteen minutes each to make the case for their preference.
The Reading Trades Union Council
was well represented at the meeting, with James Parker, Billie Reynolds, Cllr Sarah
Hacker, John Partington, Antoinette Solera and Arron Jones present. In line
with the RTUC’s unanimous policy, John, as Communications Officer, spoke in
favour of Jeremy at the meeting. His endorsement ran as follows:
In its general
meeting of 12 July 2016, the Reading Trades Union Council unanimously voted to
endorse Jeremy Corbyn MP for Labour Party leader. Earlier, on 28 June, the
trades council’s Executive had done the same, organising a pro-Corbyn rally and
sending an open letter to Jeremy urging him on and calling on Angela Eagle MP
and Owen Smith MP to withdraw their challenges. The trades council salutes
Councillors Woodward, Williams, Pearce, McElligott, Maskell, Livingston, Jones,
Hacker and the two Absoloms for having the courage to sign a letter of support
for Jeremy this week.
I believe
Jeremy should be supported for his reintroduction of socialism into Labour
Party policy. I would ask all present to ask themselves which of the following
policies they reject:
-
rail nationalisation
-
nuclear disarmament
-
real public ownership of the NHS
-
council house building
-
an end to austerity budgets
-
the repeal of the Social Care Act
-
the repeal of anti-trade union laws
Jeremy’s
candidature last year and Labour Party leadership this year has brought
hundreds of thousands of members into the party. His dignity and sense of
principle attracts people who have for years distrusted politicians. And –
perhaps most importantly – Jeremy wins elections and increases majorities, whether
it be the mayoralties of London, Bristol and elsewhere, several by-elections in
the past year, the council seat in Southcote or increasing Labour’s share of
the vote in the May local elections as compared to last year – including in
Reading. On the basis of all this – I urge support for Jeremy Corbyn as Labour
Party leader.
Jeremy has
today won the endorsement of Disabled People Against Cuts and Sarah Champion
MP, who resigned from his Shadow Cabinet in June, has today withdrawn her
resignation. With characteristic good grace, Jeremy accepted her withdrawal and
has reinstated her within the Shadow Cabinet. And of course, Jeremy gave
powerful speeches to Unison and dozens of other organisations during the
referendum campaign concerning British membership of the European Union, endorsing
a reformed EU. On the basis of his policies, principles and proven track record
of winning elections, I move the endorsement of Jeremy Corbyn for Labour Party
leader.
It is a credit to Jeremy’s
supporters at the meeting that all those who endorsed him did so on the basis
of his policies and achievements. By contrast, the Owen Smith supporters focussed
on attacking Jeremy and – with one exception out of six – Smith’s supporters
did not mention any of his policies or political achievements.
As a result of the discussion for
the two candidates, votes were taken by Reading West Constituency Labour Party
members and by Reading East Constituency Labour Party members and the results
were a Reading West endorsement of Jeremy by 37 votes to 23 and a Reading East
endorsement of Smith by 51 votes to 42. The sum total of the result is that
Reading and District Labour Party voted 79 to 74 in favour of Jeremy Corbyn MP
for Labour Party leader!
The non-antagonistic spirit of
the discussion during the evening was a credit to the Labour Party and goes
some way towards correcting the media propaganda of Labour Party disharmony
throughout the country. This is clearly a media bogey.
