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The road to Holyrood 2021

SEC Report - November 2020 - Regional List Slection 

Hello,
Below are my notes from today's SEC meeting - get in touch if you have any questions. 

Please feel free to share this e-mail with party members. They can subscribe to my mailing list with this link.

Best wishes

Scott 

Cllr Scott Arthur (SEC members for South of Scotland and the Lothian regions) 


 

1. Chair’s Welcome
The SEC reflected on the death of Ian Miller, and celebrated his contribution to our Party and the Cooperative movement.
 
2. Leaders Report
The Chair and Richard condemned the ongoing leaks from the SEC (see here and here), and were clear that it had to stop.

In Holyrood, the party has been pushing the SNP Gov on testing and the need to support the hospitality industry. The Party is also pushing to have the evidence basis for the Lockdown Tier decisions to be made clear.
 
The Party is preparing for potential Westminster by-elections in (1) Airdrie and Shotts and (2) Rutherglen and Hamilton West.
 
Daniel Johnston MSP’s Protection of Shopworkers Bill now has cross-party support and should be passed before the election.
 
The key policy areas in the 2021 Holyrood Election will be - jobs, skills, NHS investment, National Care Service, schools, childcare, housing & poverty. The three priorities will be Jobs, Jobs, Jobs! (This reminded me of Tony Blair in 1996 - "Ask me my three main priorities for government, and I tell you: education, education, education.").
 
3. SPF Update – Dave Watson
Some of the SPF arrangements were delayed by the Covid Crisis. Over 100 amendments were tabled to the penultimate draft of the report.  The final report is now on the SPF website. Dave Watson said there was a high degree of consensus around the report.
 
Elements of the SPF report will now be converted into a manifesto – this will establish a clear narrative with appeal to voters and activists.
 
4. Political reports
A focus of the reports from local government, Holyrood and Westminster reports is the £700m to £1.2bn of Barnett Consequential funding that the Scot Gov is sitting on.
 
5. Women’s committee report
The work of the Women’s Committee has been significantly impacted due to the Covid Crisis – with two key meetings having been cancelled. The party faces significant challenges to increasing female representation in Local Government, and there is a need to encourage and support women who are considering standing.  
 
6. General Secretary’s report
Work is underway on voter profiling and focus group testing of key messages. It is recognised that postal voting will be more important than ever. Martin Whitfield has been chosen as the Labour Party candidate for the  East Lothian in May’s Scottish Parliament elections.

7. Scottish Parliament Election and constituency selections
These are progressing.
 
8.    Regional List Selections 
Legal advice has made clear that reserving the top place on every regional list would not be deemed to be proportionate within the context of the Equalities Act, and may result in a legal challenge. Reserving places for “key workers” would also be subject to legal challenge if that workforce was disproportionately male or female.
 
A motion to set aside this legal advice was defeated, and it was agreed to put procedures in place to ensure at least 50% of candidates at the top of each regional list are female. Defeating the motion was important as I feel it is not the job of the SEC to knowingly put the party at risk of legal challenge.
 
The agreed process will get underway next week.
 
7. Scottish Labour Students
The SEC will establish a Working group to consult with various stakeholders to bring forward a plan and structure for the organisation of student members of the Scottish Labour Party, with appropriate guidance on affiliation.

 
8. Organisation Sub Committee 
This paper was withdrawn.

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