Labour Party women’s conference is on 19-20 March 2022, online. The deadline for motions and delegacies from constituencies is 11 February. The limit for motions is 250 words, and the text below is 247.
We note:
• The government is using public outrage about violence against women and girls to help its Police Bill – a law that will increase police powers, diminish collective freedoms and deepen inequality
• At least 15 serving or former police officers have killed women since 2009
• 2,000 police officers have been accused of sexual misconduct, including rape, over the past four years
• One woman a week reports domestic abuse by a police officer.
• 53% of women in prison report having experienced abuse as a child
Heavier policing and a more punitive criminal justice system are not solutions to society’s problems. We must attack poverty and inequality and expand social provision – starting by comprehensively reversing cuts to services, including refuges and rape crisis centres.
We will campaign to:
• Stop the Police Bill and commit Labour to repeal it if passed
• Tackle police violence and abuse of power; replace the Independent Office for Police Conduct with a genuinely independent body with representation from friends’ and families’ campaigns and the labour movement.
• Curb of police powers and role, including in terms of use of force, stop-and-search, and police presence in schools.
• Addressing drug-related problems through public-health policies instead of criminalisation
• Boost services so that mental-health crises are dealt with by mental health professionals
• Launch major prisoner release programme of those convicted for non-violent crimes, and reduce the use of prison sentences.
• Restore local government funding and expand VAWG services
In January 2022 Leeds West CLP passed this motion on the Police Bill (not specifically for LP conference) which other CLPs may want to adapt. Note that it calls for a commitment by the Labour Party leadership to repeal the Police Bill and anti-union laws on return to office.
LWCLP:
Notes that the Police, Crime and Sentencing and Courts Bill:
• Is designed to undermine hard fought rights to protest and campaign across a range of issues affecting society • Aims to use draconian powers to suppress the right to protest.
LWCLP calls upon the Labour Party and its leadership to: • Work alongside campaign groups to publicise the dangers this Bill represents to democracy in this country. • Organise effectively in Parliament to defeat the Bill and, if unsuccessful, to commit to the repeal of this legislation along with other restrictions on the right to protest along with anti-trade union laws.
This resolution to be passed to: • The Labour Party NEC • The Leader of the Labour Party • The Labour Member of Parliament for this constituency
Labour To Win supporters in some CLPs are putting the following motion:
It is time to take action on how society deals with misogyny, exploitation and violence against women.
We call on Labour authorities to:
Campaign to change the law to ensure that misogyny is recorded and prosecuted as a hate crime.
Campaign for legal changes to make public sexual harassment a crime.
Campaign for immediate action on bringing rapists to justice including fast-tracking rape and serious sexual assault cases through the courts and improved support for survivors.
Provide long-term, stable funding for specialist support for domestic abuse survivors including funding providers led by and for those from minority communities including for Black, Asian and other ethnic minority survivors, LGBT+ survivors and survivors who are disabled, deaf or blind.
Ensure there is a firewall to separate immigration enforcement from services supporting survivors of gender-based violence and abuse and ensure all women including migrant women and women with no recourse to public funds can safely and confidently access domestic violence support services.
Press for the governmental end-to-end rape review to detail how the systemic, practical and emotional issues preventing women reporting violence, harassment abuse will be tackled.
Provide proper funding for specialist trauma-informed mental health services for survivors and victims.
Ensure that the national personal, social, health and economic, and relationships and sex education curricula in schools includes actively tackling harmful gender stereotypes so that all young people learn about domestic violence, hate crime and their right to report and right to justice.
Note that it focuses heavily on increased police activity and on increased activity by local councils without any corresponding call to restore central government funding to those councils.