We, the undersigned, demand the creation of a new and democratic founding committee for Your Party, which will steward the delivery of the founding conference. The chance to build a new mass party is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Too much is at stake to risk throwing it away.
The prospect of a new left party has captured the hopes and dreams of so many, but the founding process has reached a critical blockage. It is clear there has been a breakdown of trust between leading figures, which risks the entire process disintegrating.
In a moment where millions cannot afford to heat their homes or feed their families, we cannot miss this opportunity to build a new left party that can take on the political establishment, and transform society. The many people who have signed up to support Your Party represent a rebirth for a politics of justice and hope in this country. But Your Party must belong to them and to the many more who hold the political class in disdain and know that the system is broken.
To this end, we propose the following: the appointment of an Independent Interim Team, not aligned with either of the current factions at the top of Your Party and selected from the bodies of grassroots organisations, including current and former trade union general secretaries, people from the Palestine movement, social movement lawyers, tenant union organisers, and climate movement representatives.
Events are moving very rapidly, so names aren't available yet, but a number of individuals who meet these criteria have already been approached. Names will be added to the website as they confirm. This Team should then hold open elections to elect a conference committee, which will be mandated to organise the party's founding conference and the process leading up to it, as previously laid out in Your Party communications. In more detail:
- An Independent Interim Team* is appointed, with a focused mandate. Their mandate is to establish a membership system, run an election for the party Conference Committee, and then disband. They will take exclusive legal ownership of all party resources: data, money, membership lists, digital systems, and companies. The Team will adhere to the following rule:
a. Transparency: publication of all meeting minutes within 24 hours. - They will open nominations for election to the party Conference Committee*. Any member who gathers the support of 250 other members can be nominated. Simultaneously, the independent interim committee, with party resources, will initiate a membership drive.
- The Independent Interim Team will then run an election with access to all of the party’s resources. All members will be eligible to vote, but MPs are forbidden from influencing the member-led, democratic process, either through public communication or private lobbying.
a. The vote will be ranked by Single Transferable Vote (STV under the Droop quota, a.k.a. ‘Scottish STV’), with an additional gender balance quota.
b. 11 committee members will be elected. - At this point, the Independent Interim Team will disband, and hand over all legal and practical ownership of resources to the party Conference Committee. The elected party Conference Committee will have a clear, focused mandate: implement the founding process of regional assemblies and Conference as was originally published by Your Party. The committee will be an odd number, to prevent deadlock, with gender balance. The Conference Committee will be bound by rules including:
a. Transparency, publication of all meeting minutes within 24 hours.
b. No abstentions, to prevent deadlock. - At the conclusion of the Conference, and with elections into leadership positions, the Conference Committee will hand over power and legal rights to the newly elected party leadership, and the Committee will disband.
Those who battle for justice and freedom have looked to Jeremy and to Zarah for inspiration and support, grateful for their commitment to doing what is right. Without the example they have set through their principled and fearless work over many years, Your Party could not have gathered such a base of support.
But a mass party is nothing until it belongs to the masses. 800,000 people had faith that something could be different. If these six MPs want to be worthy of that faith, it’s time to hand over the reins of this founding process to the party’s supporters. This isn’t just about you. It’s about all of us.
The individuals willing to step up as part of the Interim Team are:
- Sarah Woolley, General Secretary, Bakers and Allied Food Workers Union
- Kate Hudson, Former General Secretary, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
- Jeanine Hourani, Palestinian Youth Movement
- Imran Khan KC, progressive lawyer, former solicitor to the family of Stephen Lawrence
- Louise Regan, teacher, trade unionist, Palestine activist
- On 23 September, the language of this open letter was changed. References to an "Independent Handover Team" and a "Founding Stewards' Committee" were renamed to an "Independent Interim Team" and "Conference Committee" to better reflect their roles, and highlight their temporary mandates.