16:59

Tom Watson and four members of Labour’s governing body have backed a new motion which would auto-exclude members accused of racism or other forms of discrimination, overseen by an independent appointee, in a radical overhaul of the party’s complaints process.



The proposed change, in the wake of the BBC Panorama documentary where eight whistleblowers alleged interference from the senior Labour officials in antisemitism complaints, will be debated at next week’s full meeting of the national executive committee.

The motion, signed by Watson, MP George Howarth, councillor Alice Perry and Nick Forbes and the societies representative James Asser, calls on the NEC to resolve to bring forward rule changes to annual conference to:

establish an independent complaints process to deal with allegations of racism, sexism, misogyny, homophobia or transphobia.

automatically exclude a member from the party where there is irrefutable evidence of racism, sexism, misogyny, homophobia or transphobia.

It is unclear whether the NEC, which has a pro-Jeremy Corbyn majority, would pass such a new rule. Currently complaints are subject to a quasi-judicial process which can take years to resolve complaints and members can only be expelled after a hearing by the party’s highest disciplinary body, the National Constitutional Committee, which has elected members from the party. High-profile cases including the former mayor of London Ken Livingstone took more than two years to resolve.

