• Holborn & St Pancras Labour Party voted decisively to reject plans to move to a system of All-Member Meetings (AMMs) to run our constituency party, (Labour members vote against removing delegate system, November 29).

I was surprised you reported that “several unions have publicly called for all-member meetings to be opposed”. New Journal readers might have assumed that there was a difference of opinion among the unions affiliated to our party.

This was not so. As required by Labour’s general secretary, Jenny Formby, we wrote to all our affiliates, asking them for their views on the subject. The replies were unanimously negative.

Twelve unions represented by Trade Unions Together (including Unite, Aslef, Unison and the NUM) replied saying that: “Trade unions support delegate-based structures for local CLPs, because they allow trade union branches that have affiliated to the CLP to be formally represented and take part in the CLP’s decision-making processes.

“All-member meetings do not allow affiliated trade unions to be represented in CLP decision-making, and this weakens the relationship between the party and the unions at a local level.”

A separate submission from the shop workers’ union, Usdaw, put it this way: “Our view is absolutely clear – we support delegate-based structures for local CLPs, as this structure allows union branches locally to be properly represented and therefore strengthen ties between CLPs and trade unions at a grassroots level.

“It shows local branches that if they are to affiliate and financially support a CLP that there is a place for their voice and that their input is valued. We believe the ties between the party and trade unions are of vital importance, in order to give Labour a foundation in workplaces and the lives of working people.”

Our sister party, the Co-operative Party’s general secretary, Claire McCarthy wrote to say that: “The move to an AMM is an inevitable diminution of our rights/position as a CLP affiliate which is to be regretted.”

Similar views were expressed by socialist societies affiliated to our party, from the Labour Campaign for International Development to the Jewish Labour Movement. Is it any wonder, given the weight of these submissions as well as the strength of the arguments, that we rejected this retrograde step?

Finally, let me say how delighted I am that Holborn & St Pancras Labour Party elected a 34-year-old, dynamic woman to lead us in the year ahead. Sagal Abdi-Wali was an excellent choice.  She is the first woman of Somali origin to chair a CLP.

MARTIN PLAUT
NW5