Labour Women for NEC
Cat Arnold
Charlotte Cornell
Dot Foster
Priti Paintal
Emily Pomroy- Smith
Who are we?
Labour Women for NEC are a fully independent slate. We are not affiliated with any one Labour Group, Socialist Society or faction.
We are seeking your vote to become CLP representatives on Labour’s National Executive Committee. We have diverse backgrounds, home CLPs and experience, but share a set of common goals to increase participation and facilitate access within the Labour Party.
Read Our Statements
How do I vote?
The ballot opens on Tuesday 27th August and will come into the email associated with your Labour Party membership. For those without email access, you can still vote by post. The ballot closes at noon on Tuesday 17th September.
Please use your top 5 preferences for all of the Labour Women for NEC candidates.
If you have any questions for our candidates before voting
Priorities
We are at the start of an extremely exciting chapter in the Labour Party’s history. We want to continue to build on our success
Through positive engagement with members, equality of access and representation, with a focus on breaking down the barriers to participation.
The seismic 2024 General Election, which returned a Labour Government of 412 MPs (46% of which women), has placed the Labour Party back in the service of working people. All being led by our excellent Prime Minister and Cabinet, with policies that will make a significant improvement to many lives.
To this end, we want to provide fresh voices on the NEC for this new era of our Party, to pursue and support the best internal policies that promote the breadth and diversity of our members’ talents, and to support the Parliamentary Labour Party.
We have 5 key areas of focus for our internal party systems.
5 Key Areas of Focus
Ensuring equality of access and representation for volunteer or paid roles by breaking down the barriers to participation that disproportionately affect women, disabled members and other minorities within the Labour Party
Supporting job shares for CLP roles where desired and supporting the increased use of technology and AI within meetings to facilitate inclusion and engagement.
Putting women and minorities at the heart of future selections process reviews, including ensuring that CLPs and members are always included in the selections process and that candidates are selected as early as is feasible
Working collaboratively across the full spectrum of Labour members, to ensure that all voices are given equal status
Refining the speed, transparency, independence and communication of the Labour Party’s disciplinary and complaints processes.
Cat Arnold
East Worthing & Shoreham
I will bring integrity, democracy and accountability to my NEC role. These values are embedded in my work of running two charities. One as CEO of ‘Sussex Prisoners’ Families’, another as director of a community café; I have a proven track record of fighting for those on the margins. I will do the same for our members, with energy and passion.
I have experienced many facets of The Labour Party; as councillor of six years, partaking in the parliamentary selection process, CLP campaigns officer, and now as a Co-operative Party branch secretary.
We can improve on recognising, harnessing and heralding the talents of our minorities and I will work to remove the barriers to anyone taking up a volunteer or paid Labour Party position
I’m a mum of two with one SEN child. I fought for parental leave for Adur District Councillors and won, imagine what I could do on the NEC!
I will ensure NEC policies recognise and address:
- *Disability/Neuro-Diverse/SEN adjustments and access,
- *Conference/training funds for those on low incomes,
- *Increased access to Labour Party meetings and roles for single parents/guardians/kinship carers, and
- *Increased provision for childcare access for role-holders.
Please also vote for: Please vote for CArnold, C.Cornell, D.Foster, P.Paintal and E.Pomroy-Smith your
#LabourWomen4NEC slate.
Unison, Co-operative Party
East Worthing and Shoreham CLP
Charlotte Cornell
Canterbury
Please consider giving me one of your early preference votes to be a CLP rep on Labour’s NEC. I bring a fresh voice with 20 years of membership. In which I’ve experienced both the joys and frustrations of being a member. I’m organised, honest, dedicated, and non-factional.
I aim to enhance inclusion, transparency, and deliver more wins locally and nationally. I have:
• Held multiple roles in branches, CLPs, and socialist societies
• Organised election campaigns across various CLPs
• Experienced success and failure in internal parliamentary selections
• Loved being a city council cabinet member
• Stood in elections since 2010, often in non-target seats
• Graduated from the Jo Cox Women in Leadership Programme
• Spent decades teaching and am a mum-of-three, including a child with complex SEND
Read more on www.charlottecornell.org
As your representative, I will champion the voices of ordinary members, ensure integrity in selections, enhance inclusion, develop Labour’s digital tools (and ensure fair access to them), and improve communication. I support the NPF’s agenda, focusing on reducing child poverty, tackling VAWG, and addressing climate change with bold policy.
Thank you for your consideration. Please vote for C.Arnold, C.Cornell, D.Foster, P.Paintal and E.Pomroy-Smith your #LabourWomen4NEC slate.
Canterbury CLP
GMB, Unison, Co-operative Party
Dot Foster
Halifax
CLPs are an important part of how the Labour Party functions, being the voice of local members.
I’m standing for the NEC to bring further empowerment to members through their CLPs, to ensure members have a voice, particularly when selecting candidates for national roles.
I’ll be an ambassador for ordinary members, argue for better inclusion and fairer selection processes. I’ve been a Labour member for 12 years and an elected Calderdale Councillor for 10. I bring years of experience working in numerous roles; as a Councillor, within branches and for the Labour Party.
I’ve worked hard for local representatives in every election since becoming a member, and am honoured to have been Calderdale’s longest serving Mayor from 2019-21. As a recent graduate of the Jo Cox Women in Leadership Programme I’m delighted to see so many women on the green benches and in the cabinet. But we can and should seek equality and diversity at every level, from Parish, Councils to Parliament. Enabling more women, disabled people and minorities to have the confidence to stand for office is hugely important and something I‘ll fight for at every opportunity.
Please vote for C.Arnold, C.Cornell, D.Foster, P.Paintal and E.Pomroy-Smith your #LabourWomen4NEC slate.
Halifax CLP
GMB
Priti Paintal
Weald of Kent
ransparency, democracy, diversity at all levels is key to strengthening our party while enabling a full range of representation in parliament. I will be working towards supporting and enabling a diversity of people to be elected at all levels. I’ve supported the general election campaigns for the first; Nepalese, Roma and Malayalee woman MP.
am Chair of the Weald of Kent CLP and supported and campaigned for our 2 local MP candidates here in East Kent.
am a single Mum and have worked in the Arts for most of my life as a professional musician-composer and organising multicultural festivals and supporting performers and artists.
I I understand the life of freelance and part-time working and want to see increased support, both, within our party (to overcome barriers to participation) and outside for fthis community. Part-time and freelance workers are mainly; women, young people, refugees, those from minority backgrounds and cultural sector staff.
I am also Chair of the Diversity Arts Network in Kent championing more diversity, equity and inclusion in some of our more conservative cultural organisations and museums. My organisation also manages a Refugee Hub in Ashford where we support refugees and their families’ needs.
Please vote for C.Arnold, C.Cornell, D.Foster, P.Paintal and E.Pomroy-Smith your #LabourWomen4NEC slate
Weald of Kent CLP
MU, Unite
Emily Pomroy-Smith
South-West Wiltshire
As your NEC representative, fostering a culture of collaboration, respect, and open communication with all stakeholders will be my top priority.
s a disabled woman and mother, I intimately understand the barriers to participation at all levels of our party. In my role as chair of my CLP, I have championed best practices for accessibility, from utilising technology for hybrid meetings and supporting job shares to improving online accessibility and offering flexible meeting times and locations.
As your NEC representative, I am committed to sharing these best practices across all CLPs and advocating for their adoption by local and national governments.
I have held almost every position at the CLP level, including Disabled Members Officer and Chair. As a parliamentary candidate in 2019, a graduate of the Jo Cox Women in Leadership Training, and the Future Candidates Training, as well as a recipient of a MotheRed grant, I have demonstrated my dedication to our party's values and goals.
Together, we can build a more inclusive and effective party, ensuring every member's voice is heard and respected. Please consider voting for me, and let's move forward together. Please vote for C.Arnold, C.Cornell, D.Foster, P.Paintal and E.Pomroy-Smith your #LabourWomen4NEC slate.
South West Wiltshire CLP
Unite
THANK YOU
Many thanks to all the CLPs who nominated us, or took indicative nomination votes at meetings. As we only decided to run very late in the process following the superb general election victory, we have been overwhelmed with the support our women have received in only a few weeks. Including from the following constituency parties:
Arundel and South Downs, Bognor Regis and Littlehampton, Calder Valley, Canterbury, Chatham & Aylesford, Chichester, East Worthing & Shoreham, Gower, Gravesham, Halifax, Herne Bay & Sandwich, Hitchin, Meriden & Solihull East, Sittingbourne & Sheppey, Solihull West & Shirley, South East Cornwall, South West Wiltshire, Sutton & Cheam, Weald of Kent
Thank you.
