2 July 2020 | UK NEWS
Candidates for Forward Momentum have had great success in the Momentum internal elections, gaining a clean sweep of member representative seats in votes. The vote also further underscores the departure of Momentum’s co-founder, Jon Lansman, whose own Momentum faction was defeated.
Forward Momentum won a majority on the NCG, Momentum’s highest organisational body, with all twenty seats in the members’ section going to the Forward Momentum faction.
Their full original slate can be seen here:
The victory of Forward Momentum in these elections also signifies the potential success for the group in the upcoming NEC elections, which will have major implications for Labour policy-making in the future, regardless of the leadership.
The Forward Momentum group ran on the idea that Momentum needed to reorganise its group structure, with an emphasis on increasing democracy within Momentum, having already had open primaries to select their candidates. Forward Momentum are also seen as the more radical bloc.
The other platform in contention was Momentum Renewal, the faction associated with Jon Lansman, who were focused on “left unity”.
However, Jon Trickett MP, and Councillors Emina Ibrahim, Sarah Doyle and Leigh Drennan, also won the public office seats that were up for grabs in the election. They defeated Forward Momentum’s preferred candidates Nadia Whittome MP, Mayor Jamie Driscoll, Councillors Christine Howard and Barrie Margetts for these roles.
A Momentum spokesperson said: “This election is the start of a new era for Momentum. Our members have elected a talented, diverse team who will unite our movement and take us forward.
“We will proudly champion radical policies like the Green New Deal 2030 and push the leadership to support the Black Lives Matter movement and lay out a bold plan for after the pandemic. Now our elections are over, it’s time to get on with the hard work of building a socialist mass movement together.”
Forward Momentum candidate and new Momentum NCG member Gaya Sriskanthan said in response to the election results: “These results could not be clearer: Momentum members in every corner of the country want a fresh start and a new direction. This means rebuilding our organisation from the ground up, placing members at the centre and developing a strategy for winning in the Labour Party and campaigning in communities.
“This starts today, and our message to Momentum members, however they voted, is that we can only achieve this with the involvement of everyone. Socialism holds the answers to many of the problems we face today, and we must do everything in our collective power to make sure it’s at the heart of everything the Labour Party does.”
We will bring you further coverage of the direction of the Momentum movement in the post-Corbyn era as it develops.
