Labour group to provide advice on policies and tactics, despite unease over ‘purge’ of opponents

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Momentum has set up a network to provide training and support to councillors in target constituencies, despite accusations the grassroots group has been mounting an “aggressive purge” of opponents in areas such as Haringey.

The network aims to promote cross-collaboration between Jeremy Corbyn-supporting councils such as Haringey, as well as Salford and Preston, before local council elections take place in May. It will also offer female councillors peer mentoring to overcome the specific barriers women face in becoming councillors.

Momentum will hold councillor training days in Manchester, Birmingham and London in March when it will train council candidates on community-based campaigning and organising. It hopes to establish a network where Corbyn-supporting councillors can share experience and policy ideas that have worked in their local areas to counter drastic cuts from central government.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Participants in a Momentum training session. Photograph: Anne Laymond/Momentum

The group has pointed to the work of Labour councils in Salford, where councillors are increasing the wages of care workers by 10% and planning to build nearly 1,000 new homes, and in Preston, where they have nearly tripled the amount of money spent by government services in the area.

“In Preston and Salford Labour councils are forging a new gold standard in local governance, putting residents and ordinary workers ahead of those multinational corporations who see cash strapped councils as another opportunity to turn a quick profit at the expense of local residents,” said Momentum’s national coordinator, Laura Parker.

“Our councillor network is a unique initiative that will help councillors communicate and collaborate more easily, so they can come up with creative, radical solutions to the savage cuts to local government inflicted by this Conservative government.”

In a speech last weekend, Corbyn urged Labour to welcome “young energy” into the party after the Haringey council leader, Claire Kober, announced she was quitting after a campaign of “sexism and bullying” by Corbyn’s supporters over the Haringey Development Vehicle, a controversial £2bn deal with a private property developer.

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Rows within the local party escalated and Kober was ordered by Labour’s national executive committee (NEC) to pause plans after an outcry among many residents in the borough. The NEC was criticised for getting too involved in local policy, but Corbyn suggested the intervention was a one-off in exceptional circumstances.

“It has been a unique situation, which is why the NEC unanimously asked the council leadership to put their plans on hold and take part in a mediation process – to bring everyone together,” he said.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Momentum is aiming to share experiences and policy ideas that have proved successful. Photograph: Anne Laymond/Momentum

“Because when we bring people together and listen to everyone’s voices, we make better decisions. Democracy creates better outcomes for communities … Regeneration must put local people first, not property speculators.”

The training programme harks back to the 2017 general election, when Momentum trained activists in marginal constituencies to campaign for Labour.



Northamptonshire’s cash crisis is a taste of things to come for councils | Patrick Butler Read more

“What’s happening is that local Labour members across the country are choosing candidates for the upcoming council elections they feel best represent their communities,” Parker told the Guardian on Tuesday. “In Haringey, this has meant candidates from across the party who want to do better than another outsourced, privately run redevelopment project that will see family homes demolished, libraries and schools privatised and no social housing built in their place.

“We’re seeing the beginning of the end of this toxic outsourcing culture, and the driving force behind this change is ordinary people who care deeply about their local community.”

Data shows that only 36.7% of Labour councillors are women (29.1% of Conservative councillors). According to the IPPR, only 17% of council leaders are women, and to achieve equal numbers of male and female councillors more women will need to be elected – an increase of over 50%.



Beth Foster-Ogg, Momentum’s training coordinator, said: “It is shameful that only 17% of council leaders are women and our council network will play its part in changing that.”