Dear All
Under human rights law a person is entitled to be part of a free
and fair election, this doesn’t just apply to candidates, it also applies to
voters.
One thing which you are aware of is that different people
have different ideas on what represents fair.
The Labour Party leadership contest isn’t what I would
describe as ‘comradely’, and I suspect many people would go much further.
Jeremy Corbyn wouldn’t resign so someone went to court in an
attempt to keep him off the ballot that fell through as I suspected it won’t.
Now, we have a new court case, this time round five new
Labour members have won High Court battle over leadership election vote after
they paid their dues and found out they weren’t getting a vote.
So what is a Labour Party membership?
In a nutshell it is a contract which is subject to Law.
And if you feel that the contract hasn’t been upheld you can
seek redress as the five Labour members have done!
The five accused the party's National Executive Committee
(NEC) of unlawfully "freezing" them and many others out of the
high-profile contest between Jeremy Corbyn and Owen Smith.
My view on the cut off should be the moment that the contest
was officially declared, other people will have different views.
It was wrong that the NEC decided that full members would not
be able to vote if they had not had at least six months' continuous membership
up to July 12 - the "freeze date".
And it was in my opinion wrong that to gain the right to
vote, members were given a window of opportunity, between July 18 and 20, to
become "registered supporters" on payment of an additional fee of
£25.
Free and fair elections are important not just for a
political party but for society, no one likes to feel that they have been
cheated out of a democratic right.
So at court Mr Justice Hickinbottom, sitting in London has
ruled that refusing the five the vote "would be unlawful as in breach of
contract".
Although the five have won their case, there is a knock on
effect; it could mean that almost 130,000 Labour supporters who are victims of
the freeze now have to get their voting rights return to them.
The judge said at the time each of the five joined the party
"it was the common understanding, as reflected in the rule book, that, if
they joined the party prior to the election process commencing, as new members
they would be entitled to vote in any leadership contest".
So, if you don’t know Law the rule is quite straight
forward, people had a right, and the right was withdrawn by the NEC which was unlawful.
The Labour Party was given permission to appeal to the Court
of Appeal however, given the ruling was in my opinion clear cut it would seem a
waste of cash to fight what is a loser of a case.
Kate Harrison, solicitor for the claimants, said in a
statement:
"This case was about the right to vote under the Labour
Party constitution, under which all members are equal and valued. This is a
good day for democracy, a good day for my clients who are proud to be members
of the party that stands for social justice, and a good day for the Labour
Party. It is particularly important for young Labour Party members that the
party constitution allows them to vote."
She added:
"This case is not about who the members might vote for.
It is about the equal right of all members to be heard in the leadership
election process. I am sure the Labour Party is proud to have members who fight
for the right to vote, and internal election processes that are thoroughly
democratic and have helped to attract a membership that now stands at
approximately 500,000."
A Labour spokesman said:
"It is right that the Labour Party seeks to defend vigorously
decisions of the National Executive Committee in this matter, and we will now
study this judgment carefully."
How much better would it be if the party had a case of being
wronged, in this case, I find it hard to see how defending people on the NEC
who got it wrong is desirable.
Someone better nip off to the printers and get another
130,000 voting papers run up!
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
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