Founding Conference updates [Live Feed for day two is here]
Recommendations on Standing Orders
Should national/regional and publicly elected party office holders be subject to a form of term limits? – Option A
How should local party policy development be initiated? – Option A
How are motions brought to conference? – Option A
How do we choose members to go to conferences? – Option A (no sortition)
Simpler Recall for Local Parties – Vote Yes
Who gets to vote on matters going to conferences? – Option A
Zarah Sultana’s speech
Powerful speech from Sultana, fighting talk all along the line. She challenges the unelected bureaucrats dominating the early days of Your Party and calls for greater democracy in the party as a prelude to a fight for greater democracy in wider society.
She goes through the key issues from Sudan and Palestine to poverty and trans liberation. She also calls for working class power, that working people can run society better than the billionaires. We shouldn’t limit ourselves to just renationalising what was privatised but going further; for instance food and banking.
She also apologised again (as she did on Friday’s rally) for her role in the chaos over the last few weeks.
Big standing ovation in the hall.
Recommendations on voting
Strengthening Trade Union Relationships – vote No [we are concerned about trade union bureaucracies taking over Your Party and turning it into a Labour Party style model. We need rank and file trade union activists not full time bureaucrats to lead the trade union work.]
Committing to the fight for trans liberation – vote yes
Prepare for the May elections with a bold anti-austerity stand – vote yes
Local elections and defending local jobs and services – vote yes
Whether to endorse Independent socialist candidates in 2026 – vote Option A
Explicitly Mention Trans Liberation – vote yes
Add Anti-Oppression as a Principle – vote yes
There is also some agitation from some on the left and the pro Corbynistas to REJECT the constitution and political statement. Whilst there are major issues with both and amendments will be needed at the next conference, to reject the constitution now means to effectively abort the party and leave the existing clique in charge of whatever is left. ACR is recommending a YES vote for both but with a view to amend at a later conference.
Trans liberation motion
It goes without saying ACR backs the trans liberation amendment. Trans liberation is human liberation and socialists are tribunes of the oppressed. Vote YES for the trans liberation motion.
Day Two: Results are in!
The results are in for first day of voting. Around 21,000 people were eligible to vote and around 40% did. The results were positive for what the left was promoting, though some of the options were not great either way.
Voted yes for it to be an explicist socialist party based on the working class?
Members also voted yes for the party to be part of the ‘broadest possible social alliance’.’
Collective leadership was backed, as opposed to the one leader model- very narrowly!
On the contentious issue of whether dual membership is possible if CEC agrees this passed very clearly with 69% of the vote.
Branch quorum was set at 20% alongside a stronger proposal for branch spending autonomy. The constitution includes CEC being elected by regions. Also the membership voted to not allow MPs and elected representatives to take bribes. All results here.
Mood in the hall seems much brighter today as Claudia Webbe read out the results.
One of the complaints from delegates however is that there is such little time for delegates to debate the issues. A lot of people voted to endorse amendments that would then go to conference and if they were debated on conference floor then could be voted on by the membership, but yesterday the chair appeared to be running down the clock in terms of allowing excessive debate on some issues which could be handled much more quickly. It meant that a lot of the important amendments were not taken for discussion.
End of the first day
The conference has ended for the day. There was a lot of speeches from the floor criticicing the expulsions and the general direction of the party, but time ran out to get alternative proposals or amendments onto conference floor. This means that all the motions and amendments that people spent time on last week endorsing to go to a vote will now not be put to the membership. This is entirely down to very short times to discuss the ‘debate points’. The clique running YP will be pleased that they have effectively got their way for the day.
Nevertheless, thousands of people are looking to YP to get its act together, be a democratic force and actually start campaigning in working class communities. The key question now is whether this is a party of the left or a rigid narrow party which excludes socialists simply for the fact they are in another organisation – no matter how committed they are to Your Party.
Some speakers called for all socialist groups to dissolve and join YP. This isn’t realistic. Why should existing organisations with decades of political activity and organising under their belts dissolves for something that does not have a firm political basis yet? YP does not even have a manifesto at present.
The exclusion of the SWP and Michael Lavalette, as well as the Stand Up To Racism stall being removed is not the way to build a socialist party that can fight the far right. A rapid turn around is needed.
Broad Alliance debate
The discussion on Debate 3 was a bit all over the place. A socialist party will work on united campaigns with all kinds of people on limited issues if it furthers the interests of the working class more generally. That doesn’t mean you don’t challegne reactionary views but it does mean building a fighting unity which the socialists are in the leadership of.
Conference debates underway
There have been reports of more expulsions and removals, including MIchael Laveltte a socialist councillor from Preston and member of Counterfire.
The debates are now underway, but the discussion is a little stilted, the issues we have been allowed to debate are both really broad (should the party be rooted in the working class?) but also unclear (should we be involved in broad coalitions?). The feeling from several delegates is that the conference is the illusion of democracy.
Shabbir Lakha from Counterfire gave a great speech, condemning the expulsions and calling for greater democratic rights for YP members.
Update: delegates shut down, delegates removed
The live stream has been cut off as the chair ordered stewards to remove people trying to make a point of order from the floor. Chair Jenn Forbes in her opening speech said that “our enemies are not in the hall” which is ironic given the expulsions.
UPDATE: NO TO EXPULSIONS
The expulsion of the Socialist Workers Party on the eve of conference is an undemocratic attack. This is an attack on the left being driven by an unelected clique who are currently in control. All decisions on membership should wait until conference decisions have been made.
People wanted a left party that got away from the worst practices of the Labour Party – not to end up in a Labour Party mark 2 with bureaucrats expelling potential opposition. The eve of conference expulsion of the SWP leadership is just another round of the chaotic and unfair practices in this embryonic party.
UPDATE: Workers Wage amendments
From the Democratic Socialists Your Party campaign Take Action: Inform all delegates that the Worker’s Wage has been unfairly disqualified and to gather at 12.30pm in the large hall to the right of the Press area to raise a collective Point of Order, which we are allowed to do under conference rules
Endorsements
The process up to and likely at the Your Party conference is confusing.
Until 8am Saturday there are a number of what are called motions, which are in fact amendments to existing documents people can vote to endorse. We urge every Your Party member to endorse the following – and where you can, request that others you are working with locally or in other fora to do so too.
Reduce Term Length for Officers
In Section 3.2.7: click here to view
Replace “twenty-four months” with “twelve months”.
3.a Conference
Add: “The first national conference shall be held in 2026.”
Reduce Threshold to Recall Officers.
In 3.2.9, replace “If 40% of members” with “If 10% of members”.
Simpler Recall for Local Parties
Replace Section 3.1.10 completely with: “Members shall have a right to recall their local party officers by a majority vote in an all members meeting.”
Stronger Accountability Through Recall for Elected Public Officeholders
In Section 3.3.10, Replace completely with: “Members shall have the right to suspend the whip of an elected representative by a majority vote of an all members meeting of the branch.”
Nb We would have preferred if people had to give notice of such a motion in advance as this is likely to occur regarding something a public office holder did in public.
A workers wage
3.3.7 Elected representatives
Add: “MPs and all public officeholders should receive no more than the average wage of a skilled worker, with the rest being donated to the party.”
So that the full sentence reads: “Elected office holders will be disbarred from switching or choosing an alternative constituency or ward for matters of convenience or personal interest.”
NB This isn’t drafted well and has now been disqualified – we should support it if there is a mechanism to do so.
Membership
Delete: “Members may not affiliate with or participate in organisations undermining Party values or actively seeking to undermine the Party. Such matters shall be subject to ongoing CEC review.”
Motivation: This type of rule has been used in the Labour Party to suspend and expel troublesome members for ‘liking’ a Facebook post or supporting a campaign criticial of the leadership. YP rules already state that members have to adhere to the party’s purpose and aims and that members must comply with the consitution and rules. This sentence is redundant if it is aimed at right-wingers – and dangerous if it is aimed at critical voices on the left.
Acceptance of tendencies and factions
Section 4: Membership. Insert after “Robust democratic debate among members shall be central” the following wording: “Members have full rights to organise openly into tendencies or platforms, permanent or temporary, and advocate publicly for political positions, even if they differ from the current majority.”
NB We are not sure its in any of platforms but we definitely support this.
Explicitly Mention Trans Liberation
In Section 2D, clause ii, replace “Palestine, anti-racist and other social movement struggles” with “the struggles for the liberation of Palestine, anti-racism, trans liberation, and the struggles of all oppressed people.”
Out of order
These two have probably been ruled out of order but as of this morning the movers had not been informed – please complain about these anywhere and everywhere.
Your Party supports the social model of disability.
In section 2 of the constitution, add a paragraph:
The political statement, once adopted, shall be amended to say that the party “adopts the social model of disability.”
NB This may have been ruled out of order though the mover has not been told that, but it does not currently seem to be possible to endorse. Please complain.
Leadership
There must be the option for conference/the membership to vote on a third option of co-leadership. Support for this option has been expressed at many assemblies.
Roadmap
The way the roadmap amendments are dealt with on the portal is confusing. In emails that went out at the beginning of the week and again yesterday we have been told that roadmap amendments will be prioritised, asking that individuals endorse them seems superfluous and the fact you appear to be voting for two or more mutually contradictory options.
The most important of these roadmap choices are
Roadmap Amendment: Leadership Model (clause 3.c.)
We prefer option B collective, though this is a rather wooly formulation.
- Roadmap Amendment: Central Executive Committee Elections
We support option B – A is too rigid given regional structures don’t exist yet.
Don’t support
Discipline and Grievance Commission
In Section 4 (Membership), after Paragraph 8, add
A Discipline and Grievance Commission, composed of a jury of 11 members chosen by sortition, shall have oversight of disciplinary processes, with the power to issue recommendations to the CEC on specific cases that it believes were handled wrongly and publish annual reports to National Conference on disciplinary matters. All members of the commission will be trained on safeguarding processes.
This is the alternative to our appeals committee which did not get through. It’s a poor formulation because people are chosen by sortition and only recommend to CEC rather than having their own delegated authority. Therefore, we do not think members should support this.
There are other motions that we will oppose if they get on conference floor – but as they may not, they are not today’s priority.
Check in here from Friday evening for updates from YP founding conference.
Our proposed ecosocialist manifesto for future discussions in Your Party
Supporters of the Socialist Unity Platform
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