Brexit rebels should go if their local Labour members say so, says Owen Jones
Kate Hoey: For the heave-ho.
Owen Jones is rightly under fire over his his knee-jerk demand for Pete Willsman to quit Labour’s NEC despite not having done anything wrong.
But he’s right about this.
Kate Hoey, Frank Field, Graham Stringer and John Mann defied the Labour whip to vote in support of a Tory government motion – saving the Tories from defeat in doing so.
If members of their constituency Labour Parties say that this defies the values that bind the organisation together, then they are within their rights to vote the Brexit rebels out of any future party candidacy.
So, according to Mr Jones, Hoey must go. The only thing keeping Field, Stringer and Mann around is the fact that their CLPs haven’t voted for their deselection…
Yet.
The objection should not be whether Labour MPs defy the whip – each should have the right to act according to their conscience. But Labour members should surely have greater power to decide whether those actions defy the values that bind the party.
Labour members should have the power to adjudicate on MPs’ voting records, and “not propping up a catastrophic Tory government” should be regarded as a bare minimum.
Source: Deselection has its place in our democracy. Kate Hoey must go | Owen Jones | Opinion | The Guardian
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While I deplore the actions of the four Labour MPs who voted with the Conservatives on a Brexit amendment, consideration must be given to spare Frank Field from deselection. His performance as Chair of the Work and Pensions Committee has been exemplary. He has done a yeoman’s job exposing the flaws and human costs of the draconian welfare reforms.
I don’t think his constituency Labour members voted for him to be deselected, in fact.
Owen who