Your Party sets out constitution plans including new year leadership contest
Your Party, the leftwing movement steered by Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana, has set out draft constitution plans including a leadership contest in the new year and new governing structures, the Guardian has learned.Organisers say the proposals will bring a “democratic revolution” and begin transforming Britain’s “post-Labour left” into a formal political force, while drawing a line under months of public rifts.According to plans, the group intends to elect a leader or co-leaders by March 2026 through a one-member one-vote system and create a 21-member central executive committee (CEC) dominated by ordinary members.Sixteen seats would be directly elected by members, with two reserved for MPs, who would be barred from chairing.The leader’s term would be capped at 21 months, keeping the founding team in place until late 2027, unless members decide otherwise.
The CEC, chair and vice-chair model is billed as a central pillar of Your Party’s attempt to build a political organisation “accountable not to billionaires and their client politicians, but to ordinary people”, breaking decisively with what organisers call the top-down Westminster model.If endorsed at a founding conference in Liverpool on 29-30 November, the blueprint would turn a loose and often fractious alliance into Britain’s first major party to the left of Labour in a generation, giving it formal rules, internal elections and a permanent structure.Your Party is expected to confirm its official name within weeks, with members due to vote on it before the conference, it is understood.Those involved emphasise that Corbyn and Sultana are steering the public process but will have no guaranteed leadership role once members vote next year.There is already speculation about whether Corbyn will stand, with some allies urging him to consider the risks of running given he has at times been privately frustrated by Sultana’s unilateral decisions.
Others, meanwhile, have encouraged Sultana to run on her own ticket, given her questions over whether she thinks the party is democratic enough, her accusations of a “sexist boys’ club” and two self-directed interventions.The document introduces a digital democracy process, encouraging individual members to submit edits and suggestions online, with the text evolving “iteratively” over several weeks.Thousands of delegates will then be chosen by sortition (lottery) to vote on amendments at the Liverpool conference before the final version goes to an all-member vote.Insiders said the draft would include recall clauses, allowing elected officers to be removed midterm if they lost the confidence of members, part of wider safeguards intended to prevent any leadership drift.They also confirmed that the constitution would contain strict procedures to guarantee that selection processes remained democratic and that “due diligence” could not be misused, a clear response to criticisms of candidate vetting under Labour’s current leadership.
The CEC would approve candidates approval and the party’s finances, powers that, some warn, could eclipse the elected leadership itself,Supporters counter that those responsibilities are necessary to prevent MPs consolidating control and point to new oversight clauses designed to ensure accountability,Sympathetic organisers concede a tension remains between Sultana’s democratic idealism and the administrative realities of party-building,The draft comes after months of turmoil,Some said Sultana’s premature announcement in July was intended to prod Corbyn into engaging more decisively, reflecting frustration among younger organisers at his hesitation to formalise their joint work.
Last month, Sultana and her allies promoted a membership email drive that went live without full signoff, prompting internal complaints over data handling.The MP then accused colleagues in the Independent Alliance of running a “sexist boys’ club”, saying she launched the portal to protect grassroots engagement after being sidelined.Corbyn’s team denounced the site and referred the issue to the Information Commissioner’s Office.More than 20,000 people registered within hours.Both Corbyn and Sultana later said the dispute had been resolved, with Sultana joking that the pair were like the Gallagher brothers, and one ally saying that, like the brothers, “one’s all heart, one’s all stubbornness”.
Debate among supporters has since shifted to how the drafting group was selected and whether its internal workings would ever be made public.Organisers argue that disagreements are inevitable in a democratic project.Asked whether the constitution should include a binding clause to prevent future public rows, one insider said: “We don’t think democratic parties can or should do that.There will be vigorous debate at assemblies, but it should be kept respectful.”Regional assemblies begin this week, with more than 20 events planned nationwide before the conference.
No independent body has yet been appointed to oversee the leadership vote planned for March 2026, though insiders say the ballot will be run by a trusted independent professional body to ensure transparency.
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‘Gamechanging’ HIV prevention jab to be approved for England and Wales
A “gamechanging” injection to prevent HIV is to be approved for use in England and Wales.The long-acting jab, administered every two months, will offer an alternative to the daily pills used to protect against the virus.This form of HIV prevention therapy, known as Prep (pre-exposure prophylaxis), is typically taken by HIV-negative people to reduce their risk of infection.In draft guidance published on Friday, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) recommended cabotegravir (CAB-LA) for adults and young people at risk of HIV who are unable to take oral Prep.The injection is already available on the NHS in Scotland
London developers to be allowed to reduce percentage of affordable homes
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NHS medical negligence liabilities hit £60bn amid surge in maternity payouts
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Virginia Giuffre’s story of abuse exposes impunity of powerful men, UK experts say
Virginia Giuffre’s latest revelations are a “mirror held up to a system” that still enables powerful men to groom, abuse and exploit women with impunity, women’s rights campaigners have said.Excerpts from Nobody’s Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice, which were released ahead of the book’s publication next week, lay bare how Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell took advantage of their position of power to manipulate and groom Giuffre.In the posthumously published text, Giuffre warns that more women will suffer similar experiences if people continue to believe that Epstein was “an anomaly, an outlier”.She wrote: “The way he viewed women and girls – as playthings to be used and discarded – is not uncommon among certain powerful men who believe they are above the law. And many of those men are still going about their daily lives, enjoying the benefits of their power
Brace for early flu season in England and get vaccinated, say experts
The flu season could be coming early this year, public health experts in England have said, adding that those who are eligible for a free vaccination should take up their offer.According to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), an increase in flu levels in England is being driven by cases among younger adults and schoolchildren.It comes as Japan’s health authorities declared an influenza epidemic, with a higher than usual number of infections for the time of year.A report by the UKHSA suggests that while flu levels are rising in England, they remain within baseline – or typical – seasonal ranges. But it added that the levels were similar to those seen when the flu season came early in 2022-23
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