Penrith & The Border: Constituency Labour Party
Penrith & The Border: Constituency Labour Party
Penrith & The Border: Constituency Labour Party
Here in the Penrith & The Border CLP we want to help new members make the most of
being part of the Labour Party and to become involved in activities of their own choosing.
Whatever the level of participation, we want members to feel comfortable, confident and
relaxed with their involvement. The following pages are designed to assist you to become
familiar with your branch and the wider party.
LABOUR is a great movement for national and international campaigning, social justice
and economic opportunity, fairness and democracy.
LABOUR is also a great grassroots movement, working for change at local level, through
campaigns on such issues as our health services, our schools and housing, the
environment and climate change.
YOU can help, because people together in the Labour Party can really make things
happen. We can fight economic and social inequality. We've started the fightback and you
can help Labour to get back in charge.
We hope to welcome you to one of our CLP meetings in the near future.
Our CLP monthly meetings take place on the third Thursday of each month except
for August and December - except for September when it will be on the first
Thursday of the month. The meetings start at 7:15 pm and are held in different venues
around the constituency but most often in Penrith: check our website for details. You will
also receive a personal notification by email – or ask the CLP Secretary. Our monthly
meetings are friendly and varied and there is usually some ‘social time’ at the end so that
members can get to know each other. We intend to have discussions, debates, social
events and campaign meetings. Our meetings are an opportunity to decide what issues we
want to focus on as a CLP and plan how to take action and plan campaigns.
If you have an issue you want to discuss the best way to do this is to add an item to the
agenda. This ensures that there is time allocated in the meeting for you to share your
thoughts and discuss it with other members. Just email or speak to the CLP secretary.
We are a friendly and polite group of people but that doesn’t mean we always agree!
These meetings are a great place to respectfully debate with other members about all
sorts of topics. We understand it can be daunting coming to your first meeting. However,
we promise it’s worth overcoming the nerves to meet a group of like-minded people and to
start making a positive difference in your community. Why not arrange to come along with
other members of your Branch?
Each month you will be emailed an agenda for the coming meeting and the minutes of the
previous meeting. We do have some printed copies at the meeting though we encourage
members who intend to attend the meeting to print their own agenda and minutes.
Things to Do Now……
Facebook
Why not like our Facebook page?
https://www.facebook.com/PBCLP/
And then join our Facebook group? Go to the address below and
press the ‘Join’ request button.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/pbclp/
Loomio
Loomio is an online virtual community for constituency members
where we can say hello, discuss hot topics and ask newbie
questions. To join, click here:
https://www.loomio.org/invitations/76be25f92fea17779ced
Please use your real name – we will check that you are a member.
Volunteer
Members up and down the country are getting out into their communities to talk to
residents about the issues that they care about - and they are making a difference. To get
involved, go to the web address below or call the number on
your membership card.
labour.org.uk/volunteer
Campaigning
The local party is involved in a range of campaigns, some
briefly and some over a long period, some local, some
national. For example, local issues may include protecting
our local NHS facilities from cuts and ensuring that any
constituency boundary changes are fair and coherent.
National issues will include Brexit negotiations, defence,
education. Very often, national issues will also be local
issues as Government policy always affects us locally.
The Executive Committee consists of the six executive officers and two delegates from
each branch.
Branch activity
Your local branch (BLP) is there to bring the Labour Party to your community. Branch
members are involved in residents' associations, youth clubs, sports clubs, trade unions
and other bodies. Much of the time, branch meetings are taken up with discussing local
problems and national politics. The branch keeps the Labour representatives informed
about local issues and the views of the members about national issues.
At election times, the branch plays a vital role. It uses its resources to work for the
election of Labour Representatives. Before the campaign, members help select the
candidate. During the campaign, members work day and night electioneering, which
includes canvassing, poster campaigns, on-line communication, issuing statements and
leaflets in support of the Party and its candidates.
There is a CLP website with also has sections for each of our five branches.
https://www.penrithborderlabour.org.uk
Constituency activity
The responsibility for running the Party in the constituency rests with the Constituency
Labour Party (CLP). The CLP elects officers to co-ordinate its activities, and its officers
meet on a regular basis. It brings together representatives of all branches in a
constituency, coordinates the work of the Party in the constituency, organises
campaigns, publishes literature explaining Party policy and promotes Labour Party
candidates. It also organises debates on national issues and invites guests to address
its meetings which are open to all members. The CLP can also help to form new
branches and can also organise a Women’s Forum and a Black, Asian and Minority
Ethnic (BAME) Forum with the approval of the NEC. Young Labour is aimed at 14-26
year olds, who can organise themselves if they so wish and have their own meetings.
The Cumbria Local Campaign Forum works towards the election of councillors onto
Cumbria County Council.
Membership of the Cumbria Local Campaign Forum is based on a model advised by the
National Executive Committee with agreement of the Regional Office (Labour North).
Therefore the Leader and Deputy Leader of the County Labour Group are members of the
forum along with CLP Chairs and/or Secretaries and the CLP Campaign Co-ordinator.
Oversee the recruitment and selection of a panel of potential candidates (in accordance
with Appendix 4 of the Party’s rule book).
The work of the CLCF tends to start approximately 18 months before the County Council
elections.
Once the panel of potential candidates is agreed, the ward members in the relevant
Branch choose candidates from this panel that they would like to interview to stand as the
candidate in their area.
District Elections
This CLP covers all of Eden District Council and some of Carlisle City Council and
Allerdale District Council. Members in the Brampton and Area branch will work with the
Carlisle Local Campaign Forum to choose candidates and campaign to get them
elected. Wigton branch will work similarly for the candidates in Allerdale. The Eden
Local Campaign Forum helps branches and members choose and elect candidates for
Eden District Council.
Rule Book
The Labour Party has a rule book which outlines procedures and rules for its activities.
If you are interested the rule book can be found at the following link.
https://www.penrithborderlabour.org.uk/rule_book2018
National Made up of representatives from each Vote for the NEC candidates
Executive section of the party - government, MPs, to decide who sits on the
Committee MEPs, councillors, trade unions and NEC
(NEC) CLPs. Members vote for their CLP
representatives in a ballot each year. The
NEC sets the party's objectives and
oversees the running of the party
nationally.
Annual The ultimate authority in the party, Vote for who will represent
Conference Conference decides the policy framework the CLP at conference by
from which the next manifesto will be being a delegate
drawn and sets party rules. Conference
considers the policy papers prepared by Put yourself forward as a
the policy commissions after consulting delegate so you can go to
local parties. Members choose delegates conference
to represent them at conference - and
those delegates could include you.
www.facebook.com/groups/pb The Facebook Group for the Penrith & the Border
clp Constituency Labour Party.
Carlisle City Council: Brampton, Great Corby and Geltsdale, Hayton, Irthing, Longtown &
Rockcliffe, Lyne, Stanwix Rural
Allerdale 16
Barrow 11
Carlisle 18
Copeland 12
Eden 9
South Lakeland 18
The Local Government Act of 1992 provided for this structure of local government to be
reviewed, resulting in recommendations for the establishment, in some areas, of unitary
authorities to discharge local authority functions previously administered by County and
District Councils. In other areas, including Cumbria, the existing two-tier system has been
favoured for retention and district councils continue to provide recreation facilities, housing
and cemeteries, organise refuse collection and street cleansing and deal with building
regulations and development control (planning). District Councils are also responsible for
collecting the rates/community charge/council tax and compiling registers of electors.
Some district councils applied for permission to be called borough councils. Cumbria has
the following District Councils.
We have two councillors in the Penrith & the Border constituency on district councils:
John Crouch, Wigton, Allerdale Borough Council
http://democracy.allerdale.gov.uk/mgUserInfo.aspx?UID=20
Lissie Sharp, Alston Moor, Eden District Council
https://democracy.eden.gov.uk/mgUserInfo.aspx?UID=405
https://www.kirkby-stephen.com/index.php/town-council/councillors-meetings-and-minutes
http://www.penrithtowncouncil.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/160417-ATM-report-15-16-
FINAL-.pdf
Give views, on behalf of the community, on planning applications and other proposals that
affect the parish
Undertake projects and schemes that benefit local residents
Work in partnership with other bodies to achieve benefits for the parish
Alert relevant authorities to problems that arise or work that needs to be undertaken
Help the other tiers of local government keep in touch with their local communities.
Seats are allocated on the basis of population of each Member State. Slightly more than a
third of MEPs are women. MEPs are grouped by political affinity, not nationality.
how many hours employees throughout the EU can be required to work and how
much rest and holiday they must be given;
which pesticides are safe to use on the food grown in the EU;
how much you pay for mobile phone calls when you go to another EU country;
how to use and label Genetically Modified Organisms;
making children's toys safe;
the safety of thousands of chemicals used in everyday manufactured goods such as
TVs and sofas;
cleaning up the air we breathe and the water we drink and swim in;
getting health care in another EU country either on holiday or when the queue is too
long in your own country;
making it easier to study at university in another EU country.
Our region’s eight Members of the Our European Parliament (MEP’s), listed below, were
elected in 2009 by proportional representation. They represent the North West as a whole.
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/
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