roadmap for how local member democracy might ever be restored . Further , many in the local party have expressed considerable unease about the way that this broad discretion has been exercised by all white Party staff , and the way that they and their fellow ( majority ) Muslim members and voters have felt undermined and even discriminated against as a result .
It seems to me that whilst there may have been real concerns about the authenticity of new membership applications some years ago , modern banking and internet-based joining methods ought to make membership fraud easier to identify . Further , large-scale recruitment from minority or any other communities is not to be regarded as suspect per se . Far more worrying , in my view , is the enduring image of hundreds of BAME Labour members in one part of a city being denied democracy and autonomy , with little in the way of procedural protection , and the likely message this sends , whilst a handful of their white neighbours enjoy full membership rights down the road .
In light of the above :
- I recommend that the NEC gives urgent attention to any parts of the country that have been under " special measures " for more than six months .
- I recommend that going forward , no Labour Party unit in any part of the country should be subject to such a regime of executive control for more than six months without review by the NEC , and that within two weeks of any such administrative action , the local party in question is offered a plan as to how it might improve its practices and be allowed to return to full democracy , autonomy and status within the Party .
- As mentioned above , I further recommend that the Party reviews its Equal Opportunities Policies and their implementation and seeks to increase the ethnic diversity of its paid staff .
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