Jane Thomas – Your NEC Representative

NEC Meeting - 24th March 2026

It has been known for an NEC meeting to last under 4 hours [not often but it’s possible]. Tuesday was not one of those meetings. Held in Number 10 and with the Prime Minister, the Chief Whip Jonathan Reynolds, Ellie Reeves the Solicitor General,  Lucy Powell, the Deputy Prime Minister and Heidi Alexander, Secretary of State in attendance there was a lot to get through. And we even got to hang out, briefly, with Larry the cat.

Chaired by Peter Wheeler the meeting started with obituaries. Sadly this month there were a lot: : Cllr Alan Dawson; Lord David Triesman; Cllr Wasseem Zaffar; Kenneth Weetch MP; Nathaniel Dye; John Burton; Aysha Raza and Phil Woolas MP.

General Secretaries Report

Hollie Ridley started by saying that we cannot sugar coat Gorton and Denton by election result. However this was a battle but not the war. There will be a data led review of the campaign at the next meeting once they get the  marked registers. Some initial observations and learnings – the need to aggressively frame the choices between us and other parties; the importance of the role of digital; recognising Greens are very different beasts in different parts of the country and operate differently; the challenge of opposition candidates with large online followers. Going forward we need loud, visible multi platform campaigns. Holly received a huge vote of thanks from all members of NEC for input by her and staff during the by-election where we saw 1000 volunteers campaigning on the day, and had 10,000 members contribute financially.

The fact that the internal elections for Young Labour and Labour Students had to be rerun was discussed. Following an internal audit of the elections the General Secretary found that the freeze date applied was incorrect and it was decided that the only fair course of action is to re-run the Labour Students and Young Labour ballots. Ballots are now open and close April 8th.  Pastoral and safeguarding support has been offered to all candidates

There was mention of the continuing battle to get the Party on a good, financial footing but the prolonged discussion was about campaigning against the Greens. I asked about the research done into voting behavior in Gorton and Denton where it was obvious that many were undecided even on the last day. We also need to look at where Green councils are in power and what their track record is – for example look at Bristol. We also rely on local knowledge and due diligence issues on Green councillors [some now councillors who were expelled from Labour] and on the doorstep it will be useful to interrogate why past Labour support now voting Green.

Cabinet Report: Heidi Alexander

Renationalisation of rail is underway with Railways Public Ownership  Act – so far 8 out of 14 service providers are now public sector companies. The Railways Bill is going through parliament that will establish Great British Railways and reform of the complex and fragmented fares with a new passenger watchdog.

Over £15bn will be given to city regions over next 5 years for integrated public transport and will enable things like Leeds to finally get its mass transit system up and running – currently the largest city in Western Europe without a light rail or metro-style system. And Northern Powerhouse Rail announced in January will be a game changer

Outside of London buses are crucial – four out of five journeys done by bus. I gave her a copy of South Yorkshire Transport plan to deliver a fully integrated, publicly controlled transport network across the region, with major works planned across tram, bus, rail, and active travel infrastructure. Keeping fares low will be central to this.

Potholes are a massive issue on the doorstep. A second tranche of money is going to Councils this year with a new accountability framework to make sure they do spend the money on potholes and not something else

There followed questions around getting freight off the road, the issue and safety of driverless taxis and impact on taxi firms and a discussion on the Road Safety Strategy

Treasurers Report

There was a reassurance from outgoing Party Treasurer, Mike Payne, that the books will be balanced but the decision by Unite to cut its Labour affiliation by £580,000 brings fresh challenges. Mike has worked hard over the last 18 months to get improved financial systems in place. Income generation targets are now bearing fruit but the recent decision by Unite will mean that some readjustments have to be made.

Deputy Leaders Report

Lucy Powell started by thanking the staff for their incredible ground campaign in Gorton. It was a disappointing result when we had been ahead when we sampled the postal votes. She said we must renew our endeavour to articulate the case for voting Labour.

She had a meeting with TULO [with the PM] and discussed issues around the employment rights enactment and implementation and she emphasized her desire to get a resolution to the Birmingham bin strike.

The “Lucy Listens” events had a good take up from members and this was followed up by a survey to members that found the most common words to describe the Labour Party were hopeful, progress, optimistic although frustrated did feature! It’s clear that cost-of-living remains a policy priority for many along with economic stability and good public services. Note that nearly 70% of survey replies came from those who had joined over five years ago and of those less than 10% were active. Probably an accurate snapshot of our membership.

Prime Ministers Report

The Iran conflict continues to shape much of the day to day joys of being PM but his main task is de escalation, de escalation. The frustration is that the economic impact of the war is impacting negatively on the economic headroom the chancellor had created through inflation coming down. Having said that energy bills for millions of British households are set to fall from 1 April 2026, and the minimum wage is set to go up next week.He also mentioned the Pride of Place initiative that will see up to £5 billion given to nearly 250 areas across the UK.

Questions were taken on a number of issues including the EU [closer ties with the war] and shortages of staff for the fire brigades.

Anna Turley: Chair of the Labour Party

 led a long discussion on the forthcoming local elections as well as mentioning Operation Second Term. The locals are big elections for us –  the cost of living, the economy and the NHS will feature as national issues but locally it is housing, street cleanliness, flytipping, roads and potholes that are key issues.

Reform continues to receive significant funding – £12m from one donor. However we hope that new legislation will turn off the tap. We also need a reality check about how much of a dent Reform will be in the long run. Previous local election results show at this point in the cycle it’s not good for incumbent government [ look at 2003]. Look also at UKIP showing in local elections and then how they fared in 2015.

We need to show they are NOT the party of the working people and we must undermine their credibility in terms of ability to govern. Similarly the Greens are untried but are in danger of becoming overtly populist. I asked  how we can counter them from a policy perspective as this is where they are gaining ground [not on campaigning because we are still the best party with the ground war]. I asked for more positive material in the Campaign shop on climate and nature. I also suggested we revisit the doorstep app and refine to capture some more details on the don’t knows. One of the things that came out of Gorton was how late voters were deciding which way to vote – many on the last 2 days.

Of course the squeeze message works until it doesn’t. We need to know what message is moving the vote and also to tap into the fact that people need hope.

We finished the meeting with an extended report from Wales led by Joe Locke and Huw Iranca-Davies. Welsh Labour recognise they are in for the fight of their lives but are seeking to defy the odds. Again it will be cost-of-living that will feature and the Party will also focus on NHS, jobs for the future, and protecting the planet [clean water and an energy efficient Wales].

With new voting system using the D’Hondt method means that small shifts in the vote can massively impact the outcome. But with increasing volatility and a new system the ability target is different so the approach will be a broad level of campaigning across all seats.

NEC Meeting - 20th January 2026

This report is slightly delayed due to the calling of the by-election and Sundays NEC meeting. This was called to consider whether Andy Burnham should be allowed to go forward as a candidate given that he is already an elected representative [Mayor of Greater Manchester] and would have to resign mid term. Undoubtedly he was a great candidate for that seat but the potential of losing the Mayoralty to Reform is high. Reform are polling above Labour in Tameside, Oldham, Rochdale, Bury, Bolton, Wigan and Salford. The GM Mayoralty is now one of the singularly most powerful public offices in the country, no doubt in large part down to Burnham, but this potentially hands the keys of this powerhouse to a bunch of incompetents. Alongside this is the cost of two by-elections and the need to divert scarce resources away from the Locals, Wales and Scotland. I was not at the meeting on Sunday as I am not an Officer of the NEC, but I believe the decision they came to was the correct one given the points above. Speculation of leadership contest is just that – speculation – and should play no role in difficult decisions like these. I look forward to supporting whoever is selected on the doorsteps over the next few weeks. There is a precedent [possibly more than one]. Linda McAvan when a sitting MEP wanted to run for Barnsley in a by-election and was blocked. Now we need to get behind whoever the candidate is for Gorton and retain the seat.

NEC Report – January 20th 2026 Diplomacy Dividend

In the Chair was Peter Wheeler. He started by thanking Maggi Ferncombe who is leaving the NEC and welcomed the new Unison rep Aimy Saunders and the NEC also thanked Carol Linforth for 47 years of party service. Tributes were paid to Sir Patrick Duffy, Colin Pickthall and George Catch General Secretaries Report. Hollie Ridley reported that the Party continues to innovate and support candidates and our campaigners at all levels. Operating costs are coming down but with just over 100 days away from polling day we need to have an aggressive fundraising operation. This work goes hand in hand with work for the next General Election – Operation Second Term. Sessions will cover digital, advertising and getting Labour votes into postal votes. Hollie reported that the Head Office in London and the offices in Newcastle and Scotland have been attacked and damaged. Let’s hope this is not the new normal. Staffing changes include Emma Toal as the new Senior Director of Stakeholder Team, Kate Bolger is deputising for Charlotte Walker in Newcastle and Richard Williams interim Regional Director in the North. I asked about the new Labour One app and suggested we capture positive stuff on the doorstep through the app. I also requested we have short one paragraph explainers on any new policy initiatives to be readily available and for any updates on improved induction and training for councillors. Other NEC members suggested rolling out what’s happening in Westminster for the doorstep and raised questions about donations and the possible outsourcing of the Newcastle phonebank. We also discussed the merits of selecting early for local elections [this year has been the best yet] and how the conversations we have on the doorstep are monitored and evaluated to tell the Party and No 10 what the biggest issues and concerns are. Would it surprise you that its potholes, poo and bins! The excellent byelection result in York gives us hope.

NPF Report – Ellie Reeves

Ellie Reeves, Chair of the NPF, reported that the theme for this year’s consultation will be around national renewal. The first NPF newsletter was sent and I have been promised, following some badgering, a new NPF website to be launched shortly, alongside CLPs being notified who their regional NPF reps are. I also asked that CLPs are informed in a more timely manner of this year’s programme so there is improved engagement.

Deputy Leaders Report – Lucy Powell

Lucy Powell reminded the NEC that whilst she has no formal budget for this role she is managing to get stuff out the door – her Lucy Listens webinar is popular and she’s had over 6,000 responses to her survey. She said we need to get better at telling a good story about Labour and suggested we concentrate on those things we do well with a focus on cost of living. She also urged us all to ignore anonymous briefings – there are lots of vested interests who don’t want a Labour government – but for things to improve we need to “keep those disenchantments within the family” and not got to the press. She will continue to travel around the country and prioritize places where we have elections.

Leaders Report – Keir Starmer

He started by congratulating fellow NEC member Claire Holland for her OBE in the New Years Honours list before going on to talk about how 2026 will be the year of delivery. People will begin to see real differences – for example the Employment Rights Act includes things like immediate eligibility for paternity and unpaid parental leave. Wages are growing faster than prices and inflation is coming down whilst interest rates have fallen six times in a row. There is great news on borrowing which fell to £11.6bn in December, a fall of £7.1bn from 2024, and well below analysts’ expectations. The Government launched its Child Poverty Strategy early December – a new strategy to lift 550,000 children out of poverty by 2030, the cost of living being helped by £150 off energy bills. And yes for us up t’north there is the Northern Powerhouse Rail announcement, the biggest travel upgrade in the North in a generation. The cost of living is now the PMs main focus and he will be absolutely “laser focused” on this now. One thing that Starmer is clearly proud of, as he should be, is the fact he took on Musk over Grok, the artificial intelligence system on social media platform X that has produced a flood of non-consensual sexually explicit deepfakes. Following his intervention X is acting to ensure full compliance with UK law but the PM has pledged not to back down on this and there will be further and tighter legislation if needed. On the international stage developments are fast moving and uncertain. There are some positives. In Gaza the ceasefire seems to be holding but in Ukraine civilians are still being bombed daily, and the focus on the damage to the energy network when its minus 20 outside is having a huge impact on the civilian population. The security guarantees from the US here need to be enforced. Most of the press were reporting Downing Street claims “serious behind the scenes diplomacy has got us to this place” in relation to the UK’s role in calming the Greenland dispute. He repeated that the principles that he has applied to Greenland will be rigidly stuck to – territorial integrity and sovereignty are paramount and any decision about the future status of Greenland belongs to the people of Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark alone. “ We disagree with Trump on this [it’s the same principle as we apply to Ukraine] and Europe is standing up to those two principles”. The Press conference [Monday 19th] was well received yesterday, said Starmer but if possible we want to avoid getting into a trade war which will impact our economy. NATO must survive. In answer to questions from NEC members the PM reiterated that he has taken a pragmatic and diplomatic approach to unfolding international developments. The frustration about having to answer questions about his leadership and potential leadership challenges is evident with Starmer – “every time we have to answer a question about leadership we are blown off course”. The most important focus is the cost of living and we will be making sure we concentrate out comms [find the North star] on this. As ever, and a consistent theme, is the issue of getting past the traditional papers and mainstream media. However there have been improvements in Labours cut through and he used the example of Bus Aunty [yes I had to go and look that up!] as to how to achieve impact that is not through newspapers. He took a range of questions. Of note on the Hillsborough Law, which the PM is heavily invested in, the PM said that the families must have their say and he was going to take the time to make sure what is finally in place gets the balance right when it comes to the application of any principle to the security and intelligence agencies and the asks of campaigners. Unite asked about the prospects of movement on getting the government contracts with Leonard over the line. Delays are threatening the future of the Yeovil site that makes helicopters. Pay inequalities persist and there are systemic pay inequalities in female‑dominated roles across UK local authorities. The PM noted that it takes too long to get to a tribunal which is an after the event remedy. In terms of procurement, getting things MADE in Britain is “a thing” and there is a social value in having jobs here. Finally there is another EU UK summit coming up. Interestingly the PM said that the Single market is a better route for us now and we can get closer alignment that way. Pursuing the custom union route is not a great route for us anymore because of all trade deals done with outside EU post Brexit].  For a hardened pro European like myself any moves to get closer are welcome.

Housing, Communities and Local Government – Steve Reed

This is his first visit to the NEC [and he told me afterwards how much he enjoyed it. Give it time]. He ran through some of the achievements – 1.5 million new homes in this government remains achievable, housing starts were up by 18%, upgrade to social housing and legislation to protect tenants. The fair funding review of local government is underway and he is working across departments to rationalize some spending – although our local government reps reminded him of the immediate funding challenges to many local authorities. He went on to explain about further expanding the mayoral model and further changes replacing two-tier local councils with unitary authorities. I asked about the devolution dividend and reminded him that we still need to revise the rule book to make sure mayors are accountable and that good governance is in place. NOTE since this meeting the government has confirmed there will be legislation to postpone elections for 29 councils. There was a discussion about the merit of Pride of Place, one of the best local initiatives to come out since we have been in power and one that we should be singing from the rooftops about. Finally we discussed the upcoming Elections Bill that includes, amongst other things, votes at 16 and automatic voter registration. This is something I have personally campaigned for since I did a lengthy piece of research for the Electoral Reform Society. I still think the government should repeal all the last Tory government iniquitous voting legislation. More broadly as Steve Reed said, we have “actors of bad faith who are having an effect on our elections” and we urgently need to tighten the rules on foreign interference in our elections. I had to leave early but there followed presentations from Scotland with leader Anas Sarwar, deputy Jackie Baillie, party chair Anna Turley; a discussion on the important role of trade unions within our movement; and how to build a healthy youth movement.

NEC Meeting - 2nd December 2025

Apologies for length but it was a long meeting, lots covered. I’ve tried to capture of what members will be most concerned about but apologies now for anything missed.

Deputy Leaders Report

Lucy Powell joined us in her new role as Deputy Prime Minister and explained that she will be doing this job “politically” and won’t get embroiled in the government side as she has no department to run and will be focused on this role full time. Her Lucy Listens webinars are underway and there is an appetite from members to engage. She reflected on the recent deputy leadership elections and suggested that for future elections the role of affiliate members should be revisited so that the rules are equalised across the board. She also spoke about supporting our elected members, MPs and Councillors, and how the role of an MP has changed even in the past 10 years. I asked specifically what support we can offer to those who are suffering abuse on a daily basis, especially our Councillors. In Sheffield some of our Councillors are the subject of harassment and abuse on a daily basis – some online and some in public – and we all have a duty of care to those in our party who are representing us to support them. [Note: I had a separate conversation with Claire Reynolds about this and we are exploring ways of having some better support mechanisms in place. Please get in touch with me directly if you have ideas or you yourself as an elected representative are experiencing unnecessary abuse.]

Treasurers Report and General Secretary’s Budget updates

Mike Payne gave us a financial update explaining this year has been about rebalancing the budget post general election. Progress has been made but it remains challenging and the aim now is to get some stability and to use resources in a better way. We know that 2026 will be a harder year than this year because of the elections but we also recognise that this is cyclical as it is normal for donations to drop substantially straight after an election. I was re-elected onto the Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee.

Innovation: Field, Data and Tech

We had an in-depth presentation led by Charlotte Walker Exec Director of Field Operations Campaigning – winning the next elections will be by embracing all the technical advances. We need to be more agile, to use new technologies and to get different and deeper data on the doorstep. “Listen Change Win” is the key campaign strategy emphasizing strong local campaigns rooted in communities with the Pride of Place scheme – demonstrating the change that a Labour government is bringing in our communities. So we need new tools with a real focus on digital transformation. We were shown how the new Field Planner tool will bring together tasks, training and metrics. Labour Learns is a fantastic resource [Home – Labour Learn] with everything in one place. It’s an online training platform with courses and webinars, a CLP hub and a place that shares best practice from campaigns up and down the country. Labour One [Labour One] – the new mobile app which is much more intuitive where you can view sessions straight from Contact Creator and explore new canvassing tools like road group maps. And Polling Day Dash is the new updated selections on polling day to get the most bang for our bucks. And you can help the Party by sending any opposition party leaflets and intelligence to oppowatch@labour.org.uk

Preparation for 2026 elections

Anna Turley as Chair of the Labour Party took us through some of the stats and what we have coming up next year. Currently Labour are 10 points behind Reform. Losses to other parties are not uniform as it varies depending on geography but it’s the Labour to Undecided that’s most notable. Next year we will be defending about 2400 – 2500 seats that were last contested in 2022. These will be a much more urban set of elections than last year [pretty much all our major cities] and will include elections for the Scottish parliament and the Welsh Senedd. In the latter, where we are third in the polls to Plaid and Reform, there will be a new electoral system. In Scotland it’s pretty much a straight Labour vs SNP fight. There are four key audiences [turn out; persuade; squeeze; suppression] and the key messages/themes will be around health, families and pride in place. Labour will be reminding voters that Reform is not on the side of working people, threatening the NHS, and proposing tax cuts for the richest people. Reform are recycled Tories and Putin supporters. There will be print and digital packages for both MPs and for CLPs and a new doorstep script with a conversation guide and the ability to tailor the script to accommodate local campaigns. The Canvass tracker will record how well local campaigns are doing and changes to print branding. There are now four different campaign packs to use straight away – family hubs, NHS, Police jobs security and better rights at work. I was pleased to hear that there is now a Constituency Readiness Review – which is basically a CLP health check to ensure that CLPs are supported, especially those with smaller membership numbers.

Internal Elections

Note the following important deadlines for annual conference and internal ballot timetables: Monday 8th December: nominations open for National Committee of Labour Students and Young Labour Monday January 5th: closing date for statements submissions/self-nominations January 29: nominations close for the above elections. Ballots open 16th February and close March 2nd January 2026: First email detailing deadlines and invitation to submit contemporary motions and constitutional amendments. Delegate registration opens. 26 June 2026: closing date for CLP and affiliate delegate applications; nominations for National Officers and to National Committees Annual conference: Sunday 27th September to Wednesday 30th September On NPF: note these elections will be held this year at conference and will be voted on by delegates. Last year’s policy seminars at the annual conference worked really well and they will be continued. I thanked Ellie Reeves as Chair of the NPF for the useful briefings NPF reps were getting from Ministers when important policy announcements happened. I requested that a timetable for the 2nd year of the consultation process be given some thought and communicated early to our reps. Note: the NEC Equalities Committee Sub-committee protocol (terms of reference) have been revised and accepted.

Update from Claire Reynolds Executive Director of Stakeholder Relations

Her role covers the following areas: the Democratic Ecosystem; Youth and Students; Women; Faith and Communities; Business Relations; Wider Stakeholders – including grassroot organisations. She reported progress with BAME Labour and a new committee in the New Year.

Report from Keir Starmer

He started by saying how good the budget was – protecting our public services, getting borrowing under control, bearing down on the cost of living, helping with energy bills. Wages are now going up faster than prices. And our help with expanding free childcare and the ending of the two child benefit cap is lifting half a million children out of poverty. It is good for our economy if we give children the best start in life – and it is the right thing to do! He took a number of questions including one on trial by jury explaining that the government is only proposing to look at what he called the middle ground cases ie where some could be done by a magistrate’s court. The fact is that only about 3% of cases are done by a full jury and so this adjustment is not as big as the press are making out. It would mean though that we can try and address the travesty of a victim waiting years to go to court. This is particularly harrowing for victims of abuse and violence. Those interested in the stats can look at Rape: Levels of prosecutions – House of Lords Library or Review shows scale of police requests for rape survivors’ counselling notes | End Violence Against Women We are undoubtedly up against a hostile media so we will have to find other media outlets. On Nathan Gill – a 10 year sentence is a significant sentence. One NEC member asked for the government to launch an independent enquiry, which I wholeheartedly support – especially in the current climate of a press that seems to have an aversion to reporting anything negative on Reform. I’d go further and ask for an inquiry into the Russia report [remember all those redactions] and an examination of Russian interference in our political processes. There’s a petition here if you are interested. Another NEC member suggested that the welcome £150 off energy bills may be even more welcomed – and more impactful – if it could be given next April as a one-off payment. The Prime Minister promised to go back and see if that was possible. Other questions centred around cutting aids cases, community cohesion and asylum seekers, safety for train staff [very pertinent in the wake of the recent horrific stabbings] and tackling violence against women and girls. Finally, we touched on the offers to our young people through minimum wage initiatives and hoped that we can build a membership drive on the back of this as we are the party delivering for our young people.

Women’s Conference 2026

We revisited the thorny issue and a legal challenge of how we comply with our own Rule Book whilst also complying with the Supreme Court ruling and subsequent FWS judgment. My short report on the NECs response to the For Women Scotland vs The Scottish Ministers [the FWS judgement] lays out the context. Also, for reference the ECHR is a separate legal framework, and the Court did not explicitly consider its compatibility with its ruling, but the ruling has significant implications for UK law and equality practices. So this all has yet to unravel. The ECHR is updating its guidance to reflect the ruling’s practical guidance problem but this has not been published yet – hence we are still operating under the same conditions and constraints of the UK Supreme Court ruling earlier this year. Against this backdrop we have to discuss what we can legally do with a Women’s Conference in 2026. Our legal advice and options were: 1. Restrict the main conference hall to women delegates with an open fringe programme that includes all policy and panel discussions and networking sessions 2. Restrict the entire conference to women delegates [women as defined by the ruling] 3. No women’s conference 2026 We accepted option 1 as it balances legal compliance, political sustainability, fulfills Rule Book obligations, addresses participation and maintains engagement with the wider Labour movement. Finally, as an aside and on a personal note I am particularly frustrated, as many are on the NEC are, that this is not of our making and pushes into a position many are uncomfortable with.