Solihull and Meriden Labour Party

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE REPORT TO GENERAL MEETING 8.2.2018

Since the last General Meeting the Executive Committee has met once on 25th January 2018

1) Blythe by-election

This has now been triggered, and will take place on Thursday March 1st with nominations
closing on 2nd February 2018. In view of this timescale the E.C. agreed to endorse Sardul
Marwa, who has already been agreed as our candidate for May, to be our candidate and there
will be a limited campaign, but this should not detract from campaigns in the 6 Target wards.

2) 2018 Council Elections

The E. C. will finance the campaign in the 6 Target wards, but all Branch parties will be asked
to make a donation to these costs as our Branch parties receive all money we receive from
Head Office for subscriptions and this has risen substantially in recent years.

Any campaigns in Non-Target wards will need to be financed by Branch parties.

A Training session for Doorstep canvassing may be held in late February.

3) Future Events

The E.C. discussed the “Rise Like Lions” event on Saturday 17th February, and the joint
constituency event with North Warwickshire C.L.P. with John McDonnell M.P. on Thursday
March 15th – both events at Kingshurst Labour Club. For the latter event, as John
McDonnell may have to leave early some additional content is being looked at.

They will both need to be widely advertised to make them a success.

As our General Meeting on 8th March co-incides with International Women’s Day, and as
2018 is the centenary of some women getting the vote in the U.K., we will have a speaker
on this at the March General Meeting.

4) Membership

The E.C. approved 6 new members and 3 transfers into our local party and had an update
on membership numbers, which were 542 in Solihull and 435 in Meriden as at 25.1.2018.

This was quite a drop since the last meeting, and was due to a number of members who
joined in the Summer of 2016 to vote in the Leadership election but who had not renewed
their membership a year later and had now lapsed, and a number of members who had
been contacted when the new Electoral Register was published and have transferred their
membership to a new address.

5) Annual Conference 2018

This will be held in Liverpool in September, and our delegates will be elected at the
Annual General Meeting in June. For both constituencies this year there is no restriction
on the gender of the main delegate. The E.C. will agree on how many delegates we can
send, depending on costs, at a future meeting before the A.G.M.