Belfast Wednesday June 16th

I was invited over to Belfast for a meeting of Labour Party members in Northern Ireland-it's always a pleasure to visit Belfast. Members in Northern Ireland waged a long campaign for official recognition and last year were finally organised into a single Constituency Labour Party.They have been steadily growing in numbers and in the last month experienced a 20% increase in membership.They recieve good support from a number of unions,especially Unite and the GMB and are very keen to contest the assembly and local elections next May. These elections are held under STV so there are no problems with splitting the centre left vote.

There was a vigorous discussion about the importance of these elections. If the party is to do well we need to fight them properly and start the hard work now. To do that they need to be authorised by the party nationally. The meeting unanimously agreed to seek that sanction and I agreed to do all I can to help them.