The Labour Party has published a new complaints policy, and, at last, some information on disciplinary decisions. 356 cases have been heard by panels of the National Executive Committee (NEC) over the last ten months, since May 2020. Almost half of those (170) were in the three months May-July 2020.
94 members out of those 356 have been expelled. We don’t know for what, except that the report says 70% of the 356 cases were charges about antisemitism. On top of the 94, 43 members have been “auto-excluded” (i.e. expelled without a hearing) on the catch-all clause about “supporting a political organisation other than an official Labour one”, which makes anyone supporting the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament or Friends of the Earth or such theoretically open to instant expulsion. That clause was used in 2015 and 2016 to expel hundreds of left-wingers; it was then apparently sidelined, but it’s back in use now.
Socialists should start the work now for a reformed and democratic disciplinary code.