executive elections 2023 - women candidates
There are 14 seats on the Executive; LCER's Constitution specifies that at least five seats must be occupied by women. Exactly five nominations were received from women candidates; these candidates were therefore elected automatically and do not appear on the ballot paper. These women are:
- Nic Hesper
- Maria Iacovou
- Abbie Jones
- Aileen McLoughlin
- Mary Southcott.
nic hesper (chelmsford clp)
As the secretary of my local CLP and living in a safe Tory seat, I see the real impact of FPTP. Political apathy is the side effect of feeling that your vote doesn’t matter. The country is crying out for change. As a delegate at the last Labour Party conference, I felt the elation in the hall at Liverpool when the motion on PR was passed. This was a historic moment, but it isn’t the end of the conversation. Only now does the real work begin. The Labour Party needs to commit to putting proportional representation on the next election manifesto. I want to play a key part in ensuring this. I joined the Labour Party because I believe in a fairer society, and I believe that PR is the best way to achieve it. FPTP is a relic of a bygone era where we are divided into ‘us’ and ‘them’ and the electoral system is in desperate need of modernisation. I would be honoured if you voted for me to be part of ensuring this historic change.
Nominated by Maria Iacovou, Amanda Webb
maria iacovou (harwich & north essex clp)
Since being elected to the Executive four years ago I have been involved in all aspects of LCER's work, serving as Membership Secretary and Secretary. I have spoken on voting reform at many branches and CLPs, and as a panellist and chair at large meetings and rallies. I've trained activists to speak on PR and worked with L4ND towards our momentous result at Conference last year.
We're now campaigning to ensure that Labour's next manifesto includes a commitment to PR. Looking ahead, we need to grow our movement, consolidating support for PR across the Labour party and trade unions, and reaching outwards throughout the wider public. And we need to work with the PLP and the party leadership, preparing for an eventual vote in Parliament. Labour is committed to a raft of democratic reforms, but in order for any of them to be truly effective, we need PR for the House of Commons. We're winning the argument - let's finish the job.
Nominated by Duncan Enright, Ken Ritchie
abbie jones (bury south clp)
I believe that the only way we can effectively tackle the UK’s biggest problems – from the climate crisis to social inequality – is to change the way we “do” politics in the first place. Electoral reform is a long-term solution that goes straight to the source of so many issues.
By day I’m a statistician, but in last year I've spent almost as much time organising the Make Votes Matter Greater Manchester branch, aiding the grassroots #Labour4PR campaign all the way to its conference win, and trying to convince my fellow young folk that one day, for the first time in our lives, we’ll experience a government we actually voted for.
Nominated by John Doolan, Joseph O’Toole
aileen mcloughlin (bristol south clp)
Electoral Reform is a prerequisite for robust sustainable change. Without Labour it will not happen. I was involved in the LCER-SW work building CLP support for PR. The overwhelming constituency vote at Labour Conferemce21 was a credit to activists and L4ND. I was part of the teamwork that led to policy change in UNISON. I moved the successful motion at UNISON Conference. Both were pivotal in the ground-breaking decision at Labour Conf22. What an achievement but we cannot afford to lose focus. We must continue to raise awareness and win arguments in the party through the National Policy Forum and in the trade unions to maintain a high profile. We need to break through the barriers to a Labour leadership manifesto commitment. I have held roles in Labour and UNISON: Bristol Council Candidate May21, CLP Secretary to Nov22, UNISON national roles in Health & Labour Link where I have promoted PR. I can bring Labour and union experience. I can bring passion, determination and belief.
Nominated by Stuart Hill, Geoff Gibbons
mary southcott (bristol west clp)
26 October 2022 ought to go down in history. What I remember about that day was the talking with Unite, John McDonald and media people who told me it won’t make any difference. I hope that makes you as angry as it made me. Keir Starmer thinks PR is a no brainer. Timing and Tory tabloids make him hesitate, and too much concentration on Scotland and Red Wall seats where PR isn’t necessarily a vote winner for Labour. But it is in Tory-Labour marginal further south which we cannot win without an offer to the tactical voters in other parties. Liverpool 22 was a reunion and making new friends. I went back to the book Martin Linton and I wrote in 1998. Our arguments then are just as strong today: We want to rid our democracy of distortion, disillusion, tacticalisation, polarisation, demoralisation, domination, dichotomy which spring from our voting system. We need to make votes count: maths but the culmination of the Chartists’ and Suffragettes’ work to give us all agency.
Nominated by Aileen McLoughlin, Benjamin Eckford