January 2012 EC Minutes

[Socialist Party Head Office]

MINUTES OF THE 1ST MEETING OF THE 109th EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF
THE SOCIALIST PARTY OF GREAT BRITAIN HELD ON 7 JANUARY 2012

(Note: These minutes are not official until amendment and adoption by the EC.)

Present: Deutz, Buick, Browne, Bond, Shodeke, Shannon, Lambert and Wicks (.
Apologies: Byrne and Field.

The meeting was called to order at 13.03 when the quorum was obtained

1. Election of Chair – Cde P Deutz on a motion of Browne and Shannon. Agreed.

 

2. Minutes of the previous meeting, business arising therefrom and the General Secretary’s raising of Notices of Motion and Business from previous meetings

(a) Adoption of the December 2011 minutes was agreed on the motion of Browne and Deutz.

(b) Adoption of the results of the Executive Committee and Party Officer election.

It was noted that there was a 39% turnout in the ballot for the 2012 EC Members and Party Officers.

Motion 1 – Lambert and Browne moved that the report by the ballot committee on the results of the ballot to elect 2012 EC members and Party Officers be adopted. Agreed.

Cde P Shannon suggested that the ballot committee could take note of members who do not vote. After repeated abstentions, we could contact these members and attempt to find the reasons why they do not vote. This may assist in improving the election process so that more members participate in the Party ballots. Cde M Browne believed that this would create too much work for the ballot committee. Cde A Buick argued that members may not vote for good reasons, e.g. they do not know any of the candidates. Cde P Deutz – As the ballot returns are broken down to branch level, we could send enquiries to branches with the highest level of abstentions. Cde O Bond suggested that any enquiries could be sent to all members, not just those who do not vote. Cde Brown suggested that enquiries or questionnaires could be sent in the March mail out. Cde P Deutz argued that those who don’t vote are less likely to complete enquiries or questionnaires. Cde P Shannon said that we could ask branch secretaries, but the problem does not originate in the branches.

i. E-mail from Cde Byrne (1 January) re EC ballot and resignation from the EC:

 

“To the E.C. in particular and to the whole Party:

Dear All, I am very sorry, but I have to resign from the EC before I have begun this year. I would very much like to have helped with it, and to have met up with some of you again on a more regular basis. However, whilst taking some time during the holiday to carefully contemplate the situation, I have realised that I cannot take on any further commitments if I am to do justice to the work that I already have in hand. It was my mistake to accept the nomination, and as I have said, I do sincerely apologise.

Although SWRB meetings are also a long journey from where I live, I do plan to attend these and contribute what I can.

There is also a point I would like to raise:
I think that there are two main reasons why I received the lowest number of votes for the EC – although not by a lot.
1) Because I continue to hold that the denial of ethics being involved in socialism is due to false dogma, and thus I also continue to hold that the dominant version of the MCH in the party involves some error.
2) Because it is a long and relatively more expensive journey from Cornwall to London and back, and one which I have needed to claim expenses for.

I have no sour grapes over this, or over the following; but I do think that it requires attention.
I noticed that my name was put at the bottom of the list of candidates for the EC, which prompted me to wonder why the list was not in alphabetical order according to surnames.
It is a small point but one of proper practice which could be important in some circumstances. It is plain that in a democratic organisation no one person or group within the organisation should be able, however unwittingly, to indicate any preferences in this way. For equality/to be even handed, such lists need to be set down in alphabetical order, and I would hope that
a) if this is already official practice that people will be reminded of it, and b)if it is not official practice that it will be incorporated into standing orders.
If further procedures are required for this, such as bringing a motion via a branch, I would appreciate this being noted in a reply.

Many thanks,

yours for common ownership and democracy,

Lyla Byrne”

On the matter of the list of ballot nominees not being in order of surname, Cde O Bond reported that on Saturday 5th November he wrote a draft of the ballot paper in which the names of the candidates were in random order. Cde M Browne, who was previously a member of the ballot committee, informed him that the list of candidate surnames needed to be in alphabetical order. Cde O Bond was in the process of correcting the ballot paper, when he received an urgent request to print off some last minute documents that needed to be presented to the EC meeting later that day. However, there was some difficulty in printing the documents, which took a little while to sort out. In order to avoid any delays in the dispatching of the ballot papers, he decided to abandon reordering the entries on the ballot paper.

Cde Buick said that the ballot list should be in order of candidate surnames, but not necessarily beginning with those whose names start with the letter ‘A’. He also believed that the best place for a candidate to be on the list is either at the top or bottom, where he or she is more likely to be noticed. Cde M Browne proposed that there should be guidelines for the ballot committee.

Motion 2 – Shannon and Shodeke moved that the listing of EC nominees should have been in alphabetical order of surname but was left random due to an oversight. Carried (8 for, 0 against)

ii. E-mail from Cde Ndege (14 December) re late arrival of voting papers:

“I’d like to express my concern with the late arrival of voting papers. Please, make sure you send these papers early. Because when you send these papers one week to the voting date, I won’t be able to fill in my preferred candidates and have enough time to send thus disenfranchising me. Or better still introduce electronic voting.”

Cde O Bond reported that the ballot papers were dispatched on Saturday 5th November. There must have been a delay in the Post Office.

Motion 3 – Buick and Browne moved that as the ballot papers were sent out in November, the EC regret that Cde Ndege’s ballot paper did not arrive in time and that, as the ballot is now no longer secret, he may be able to vote by email in future. Carried (8 for, 0 against)

(C) Cde L Byrne’s resignation from the EC as outlined in the email in item 2(b).i.

Motion 4 – Browne and Lambert moved that Cde L Byrne’s resignation from the EC be accepted and hereby call for nominations by branches for the vacant position on the EC to arrive at Head Office no later than the EC Meeting on 3rd March 2012.

Amendment to Motion 4 – Shannon and Lambert move insert “with regret” after “Cde L Byrne’s resignation from the EC be accepted” on line 1. Carried (7 for, 1 against)

Motion 4 as amended – that Cde L Byrne’s resignation from the EC be accepted with regret and hereby call for nominations by branches for the vacant position on the EC to arrive at Head Office no later than the EC Meeting on 3rd March 2012. Carried (6 for, 1 against, 1 abstention)

(d) Amendment and adoption of the Standing Orders of the Executive Committee

Cde M Browne proposed that item 9(e) of EC Standing Orders be amended to include discussion of advertising, i.e. it would read as follows – 9(e) Reports of party officers, party appointees, subcommittees, and departments; discussion of advertising, campaigns and the Socialist Standard.

Cde P Shannon objected that this item already includes reports of subcommittees and departments, and hence there is no need to list every department report. Cde M. Browne replied that this amendment would apply to the discussion of advertising strategy, rather than reports of the Advertising Dept. It would save EC members the time in raising notices of business, when they wanted to discuss advertising strategies.

Motion 5 – Browne and Wicks moved that item 9(e) of EC Standing Orders be amended as follows – insert “advertising” after “discussion of” and before “campaigns” . Carried (5 for, 1 against, 2 abstentions)

Cde P Shannon proposed changing the time in rule 3 to 13:15. Thus it will read “3. In the event of no quorum being present at 13:15 in the EC room, those present shall deal with any urgent business and their actions shall be presented for ratification to the next properly constituted meeting of the EC. “

Motion 6 – Shannon and Shodeke moved that item 3 of EC Standing Orders be amended as follows – change “14:15″ on second line to “13:15”. Carried (6 for, 0 against, 2 abstentions)

Cde M Browne proposed changing the time in rule 6 to 16:00. Thus it will read “6. The EC meeting shall take a twenty minute break midway, and aim to end at or before 16:00. “

Motion 7 – Browne and Lambert moved that item 6 of EC Standing Orders be amended as follows – change “17:00″ to “16:00”. Lost (1 for, 7 against).

Motion 8 – Buick and Browne moved that the Standing Orders of the Executive Committee as amended be adopted. Carried (7 for, 0 against, 1 abstention).

(d) Matters arising from the December 2011 meeting minutes.

None

 

3. Forms A and F

(a) Form F for M Hopwood (Manchester, deceased)

It was agreed to accept the Form F.

(b) Form F for O Atkinson (Manchester, lapsed)
(c) Form F for T Rogers (Manchester, resigned, personal reasons)
(d) Form F for D Kember (Manchester, resigned, personal reasons)
(e) Form F for S Watkins (West Midlands Regional, resigned, disagreement)
(f) Form F for L Wright (West Midlands Regional, resigned, disagreements)

Motion 9 – Lambert and Shodeke moved that the Forms Fs for O Atkinson, T Rogers, D Kember, S Watkins and L Wright be accepted.
Carried (8 for, 0 against).

(g) Form A for Gareth Whitley was received from the Membership Applications Department.

Motion 10 – Lambert and Wicks moved that the Form A for Gareth Whitley be accepted. Agreed.

4. Accounts

(a) E-mail from Cde McEwan (22 December) re bank statements and checking dues. Cde McEwan wrote that she was unable to continue her work on maintaining the financial data for the Standing Order payments to the Party, which includes membership dues and Socialist Standard subscriptions, because her old computer, where the data resided, had died, and that her new PC does not have Office software. She has no spare time in which to begin again.

Motion 11 – Browne and Buick moved that Cde P McEwan be thanked for her work. Agreed.

Cde A Buick explained that Cde P McEwan kept a check on Standing Orders for Party dues and Socialist Standard subscriptions. We need another volunteer to carry on with this work.

Cde P Shannon volunteered his services. The meeting accepted his kind offer to stand in.

5. Reports of Party Officers, Party Appointees, Subcommittees, and Departments; discussion of campaigns and The Socialist Standard

(a) Reports to the EC

i. Report of the Blog Department: Cde Humphries wrote by e-mail (27 December) that due to other commitments he would no longer be able to continue as a member of the Blog Department. Cde Stafford then reported (28 December) as follows: “I hope this will be brought to the attention of the EC, the Comrade thanked for his work, and a call put out for another member to join the Blog Department. Meanwhile, Comrade Johnstone and I will try to ensure that SOYMB continues to be updated on a daily basis.” Note that a call has already been made for nominations to the Blog Department (along with all other Departments and Committees). —TM

Motion 12 – Wicks and Lambert moved that Cde D Humphries be thanked for his work. Agreed.

ii. Report of the Election Department on the Greater London Assembly elections (29 December):

These will be held, at the same time, as the mayor’s election, on Thursday 3 May 2012. Nominations can be put in from 20 March. The closing date is 28 March at noon, though we are advised to give notice of intention to stand as soon as possible.
We don’t propose to contest to contest the mayoral election, but would propose that we should contest at least one of the seats on the Assembly, preferably two.

At the last elections in 2008 we put up a candidate in Lambeth & Southwark (the seats comprise two London boroughs). We would propose that we contest this again, and that the candidate be comrade Danny Lambert. We also think that we should contest the neighbouring seat of Merton & Wandsworth. This is because under proposed constituency changes for the next General Election (in 2015) parts of the Vauxhall constituency will be transferred to Battersea. If the EC agree to contesting this second constituency we propose the candidate be comrade Bill Martin.

There is a deposit of £1000 refundable if a candidate obtains 5% of the vote. So there would be a cost of £2000. There is no requirement to collect signatures (see http://www.londonelects.org.uk/im-candidate/nominations for more details).

There is no free postal distribution, so we would have to rely on members distributing the manifesto. In 2008 we had 20 000 printed and distributed most of them. We could do this again, but if this is considered too ambitious we could have 10 000 or 15 000 done instead. The cost of printing should be less than £500 (bearing in mind that it only cost £240 to have 10 000 of the N30 leaflet done).

Motion 13 – Shodeke and Wicks moved that the proposals as contained in the report be accepted. Carried (7 for, 0 against, 1 abstention).

The Election Dept. will produce an election manifesto, by the February EC Meeting. A call will be made on-line (on Spintcom, Spopen and the Party website) for a draft text with 500 words maximum and a closing date of the end of January. Agreed.

iii. Report of the Central Organiser (31 December):

As planned, we did run a stall at the Occupy St Pauls site for the six weeks leading up to xmas. A total of 10 members took part at least once. We must have given away over 1000 leaflets and had numerous discussions with occupiers and visitors. We also sold over £40 of literature. Altogether a very useful exercise.

The only thing we failed to do was to get a speaker invited to make a presentation at “Tent City University”. We are, however, trying to get a showing of the Capitalism and Kids Stuff video at the indoor “Bank of Ideas” occupation in Hackney (see separate email from them [29 December]):

Hi,

Thanks for proposing the screening of Capitalism

and Other Kids Stuff at the Bank of Ideas. Unfortunately, we don’t have a projector at the moment as our last one was stolen. We are working on getting a new one though.

I’ve cc’d in Kish who runs the cinema as this is more his field. Hopefully

we’ll have a new one soon so we can do the screening. I’ll keep you posted.

Thanks for the support,

Heather

Motion 14 – Lambert and Wicks moved that the report be noted. Agreed.

iv. Report of the Head Office Organiser/Assistant Secretary on an offer for a free trial of a Pitney Bowes franking machine

On the 6th December, a sales representative from Pitney Bowes contacted Head Office to offer a free 30 day trial of their franking machine. We would need to post at least 50 items per month to make it worthwhile. We easily exceed that number in our monthly Socialist Standard mail out.

The main advantage of this service is the reduced cost of postage. For example sending a single Socialist Standard to a UK address by large letter rate costs 58 pence postage; the franking rate is 44 pence.

However, we currently purchase bulk orders of stamps from a contact of Cde Tristan Miller, who provides a 25% discount on the cover price of stamps. We use these mainly in the Socialist Standard mail outs. However, these stamps are usually in small denominations and several have to be combined to make up the full postage rate. Attaching these stamps to envelopes can be a fiddly and time consuming task. We also purchase stamps at full price from the Post Office for everyday use.

I have made a comparison of the postage costs of the different payment methods based on the latest January 2012 Socialist Standard mail out-

– Total Postage at full price – £487.08
– Total Cost at franking prices – £409.44
– Postage stamps at a discount of 25% of the full price (via Tristan’s Miller’s contact) – £365.31

There are also costs in running the Franking machine –

Monthly rental is normally £25.14 including VAT. However, in the third week of the free trial, we can explore other options such as purchasing the machine, leasing it or negotiate a reduced monthly rental rate.

There is a £6.84 admin charge for adding post to the postage metre.

Pitney Bowes ink cartridges normally cost £60.00, and provide 1800 impressions. However by searching the internet, we may find suppliers, who sell these cartridges at a lower rate; perhaps up to a third of this price.

The free trial forms include a direct debit mandate form for the purchase of postage during the trial. If we are not happy to sign the direct debit, we can set up a purchase order, where we declare that we will pay the postage.

Another advantage of employing a franking machine is that it saves time and effort in putting stamps on to envelopes.

EC members tended to be in favour in of a trial. However, they needed more time to consider the proposals. They also needed more information, such as the cost of purchasing the franking machine outright and the size of the machine itself. It was also noted that the 2008 Conference rejected a previous proposal from Pitney Bowes on hiring their franking machine. No reason was given in the Conference report. Cde M Browne considered that the March mail out of Conference documents would be a good time to conduct the trial.

Motion 15 – Lambert and Browne moved to defer these proposals for one month for further consideration. Agreed.

(b) Reports to Conference

i. Report of the Library Department.

It was agreed to accept the Library Department report.

6. Correspondence

(a) Matters of urgency

(b) Correspondence from or concerning Branches, the Party in general, and members

i. E-mails from South London Branch (21 December) and Cde Miller (2 January):

Comrades

At its meeting of 6th December South London Branch discussed the problems relating to various aspects of IT at HO in particular those associated with the router and its failure to connect with laptops, the printer, and the window monitor.

The following resolution was passed:

“That an urgent call be made for a party member with sufficient skills and time to rectify the problems currently associated with the router at HO.
If such a member proves to be unavailable that a professional technician be employed to solve the problem by the February EC Meeting.”

Carried 7 – 0 with 7 members present.

Fraternally

Gwynn Thomas (Branch Secretary)

Dear Comrades,

Shortly before I moved overseas the Head Office router became defective and I ordered a replacement. Unfortunately, the replacement was also defective and was returned to the retailer. A replacement of a different make and model was then ordered. Unfortunately, by the time it arrived I did not have time to fully install it before leaving. (I did spend nearly a full day at Head Office trying to configure it, though run up against some difficulties, the source of which I could not trace; possibly they were with our ISP rather than the router.) In the end I installed one of the older BT routers as a stopgap measure. This seemed to perform adequately, though it lacks the functionality for allowing remote access to our computers. This means it is not possible for comrades to maintain the Head Office window display except by coming to Head Office to manually copy the files over.

I am not aware of any problem with the router connecting to the printer. Some weeks ago some comrades from Head Office called me to report a problem with the printer, but this was traced to a bug in the Microsoft Windows print spooler, and had nothing to do with the router. I was able to fix this problem and can provide instructions for doing so again should the problem recur. If there is some other problem with the printer which has not yet been reported to me, I would advise the affected comrades to let me know what it is in case there is an easy fix which doesn’t require hiring a technician.

I am also not aware of any problem with connecting laptops to the router. Any computer or laptop plugged into the router with an Ethernet cable should automatically be connected to the Internet. Any computer or laptop can also connect to the router wirelessly; the network’s SSID is “SPGB” and the password is written on the bottom of the router. If there is some other problem with connecting laptops which has not yet been reported to me, I would advise the affected comrades to let me know what it is in case there is an easy fix which doesn’t require hiring a technician.

Of course it would be useful if someone with the appropriate technical skills could install the new router I purchased in the spring, which would once again allow remote access to the window display. This is something it is not possible for someone to do remotely, though I am happy to provide whatever assistance is necessary to the comrade or external technician who actually does so.

Yours for Socialism,

Tristan Miller

Motion 16 – Shannon and Wicks moved that an estimate be elicited from a local computer engineer and if it is lower than £50.00, then we automatically accept it. South London branch are to be informed.
Carried (8 for, 0 against).

ii. E-mail from Cde Clanchy (13 December) re stall:

“Could you put forward to the EC that the TUC are asking if we want a stall again in July? We have had two before and can again – Shane could get on behalf of the Branch and the SPGB call it Socialist Standards again. But it is £60 (times 2). If comrades do want to have two stalls – and they do seem to work well as we can put all free lit on one and people feel less self conscious about taking the stuff than if you’re hovering, and on the other the pamphlets etc we sell. Anyhow, up to the EC. If John Marter comes he could possibly give out Socialist Standards – which would obviate the need for a second stall. “

Motion 17 – Buick and Shodeke moved that two stalls be arranged at a total cost of £120.00. Carried (8 for, 0 against).

iii. E-mail from North London Branch (16 December) putting forward two motions to Conference:

It was agreed to note these Conference resolutions. It was also pointed out that Conference resolutions do not need to come before the EC.

iv. Form G for T Miller (North London to Central)

In accordance with the provisions in rule 3, transfers from branches to Central branch need to be approved by the EC.

Motion 18 – Lambert and Buick moved that the Form G be accepted. Agreed.

(c) Correspondence from Companion Parties and Groups (available on spopen)

i. Socialist Party of Canada Secretary’s Report, December 2011

ii. Socialist Party of Canada General Administrative Committee minutes, December 2011

(d) All other correspondence

7. Any other business

(a) Triannual review of Departments’ and Subcommittees’ Terms of Reference (EC Standing Order 27)

Motion 19 – Shannon and Buick moved that the Departments’ and Subcommittees’ Terms of Reference be made available to EC members to be discussed at the February EC meeting. Agreed.

 

(b) Renewal of our registration as a political party (EC Standing Order 28). Cde Buick reported that the Party receives an automatic reminder in April to renew our registration. It will be completed then.

(c) Update of register of trustees and bank signatories (EC Standing Order 28). The EC noted from the results of the Executive Committee and Party Officer Election that the new Trustees are Howard Moss and Victor Vanni.

The updating of the register for bank signatories will be held over until next month.

(d) Email from Cde D Poynton –

“Dear EC,

I hope this question can be answered on Saturday’s meeting under AOB.

I have recently met a web developer who has offered me cheap access to an office space in Norwich, at a price of £10 per day.

I am hoping next week to begin working at length undertaking various tasks updating and improving the party’s website. At home (I live in a mobile / touring caravan) I only have access to mobile internet, which is not really suitable for transferring the large amount of data that I will be needing to do.

What I would like to do is use the office space once a week for the

whole of January. This would cost a total of £40. I think this

represents good value to the party as I will be putting in 4 days

solid work and an average daily rate for a web developer is around

£200 – £250.

I would like to request that the EC covers the full cost of my use of

this office space.

YFS,

Darren Poynton

Motion 20 – Browne and Lambert moved that the request for £40.00 be granted. Agreed.

(e) Email from Cde M Foster requesting that arrangements be made to pay the £1277.50 deposit for the Summer School at Harborne Hall.

Motion 21 – Buick and Shodeke moved that the request for £1277.50 deposit for the Summer School at Harborne Hall be granted.

Carried (6 for, 0 against, 2 abstentions).

(f) Request from a Central branch member – Cde M Browne reported that a Central branch member, who lives in France, wishes to propose a resolution for our next Conference. However, the procedure for Central branch members to propose resolutions to Conference is rather complex and there may not be time to apply it in this case.

It was agreed that his request be sent to other branches so that they could sponsor his resolution on his behalf.

(g) Head Office Organiser expenses from January 2012 –

It was agreed to reimburse travelling costs – train and bus fares. This is available for all volunteers at Head Office.

Food allowance –

Motion 22 – Buick and Shodeke moved that a £10.00 meal allowance per day be made available. Carried (8 for, 0 against).

(e) Notice of business at next EC Meeting from Cde M Browne – discuss Advertising and Campaigns.

(f) Cde A Buick noted that both he, as Central Organiser, and Cde O Bond, as Head Office Organiser, gave permission for Cde Keith Scholey of Manchester branch to stay at Head Office in the first week of January until 8th January, so he that he would be able undertake his archiving work.

(g) Notice of business at next EC Meeting from Cde P Shannon – discuss the Head Office Party sign.

8. Nomination of Chair for the next meeting. Cde A Buick

Meeting adjourned at 16.25

Results of the ballot to elect the Party Officers and Executive Committee for 2012
Total of ballot papers sent out – 322
Total of completed ballot papers returned – 127
Failed to be delivered to members home addresses, i.e. returned to Head Office by the Post Office – 2

Executive Committee

Name                                Branch         No of votes cast No of votes cast Abstentions

                                                                                             For               Against

Mike Browne……………….Lancaster……………….118…………………..2……………….7

Adam Buick…………………West London………….124…………………..1……………….2

Oliver Bond…………………West London…………..117…………………..1……………….9

Sam Wicks………………….North London………….108…………………..1……………..18

Paddy Shannon…………..Lancaster………………..119…………………..1……………….7

Pat Deutz……………………East Anglia Regional.. 116…………………..2………………9

Richard Field………………South London…………..116…………………..2……………….9

Daniel Lambert……………South London…………..116…………………..3……………….8

Jacqueline Shodeke…….South London…………..108…………………..8………………11

Lyla Byrne…………………..South West Regional….99…………………12………………16

Therefore the following have been elected to the 2012 Executive Committee –

Mike Browne, Adam Buick, Oliver Bond, Sam Wicks, Paddy Shannon, Pat Deutz, Richard Field, Daniel Lambert, Jacqueline Shodeke, Lyla Byrne.

Party Officers apart from Trustees and Auditors

Party Officer                   Name                    Branch     No of votes cast   No of votes cast  Abstentions

                                                                                                                      For                  Against

General Secretary……Oliver Bond………West London…………..120……………..0……………………7
Assistant Secretary….Tristan Miller……..North London………….113………………3…………………..11
Central Organiser……Adam Buick………West London………….124………………1……………………2
Treasurer……………….Mike Browne……..Lancaster……………….118………………0……………………9

The above Party Officers were duly elected.

Trustees         Name                  Branch                 No of votes cast
                                                                                                        For

                      A W Edgar………..East Anglia Regional……..47

                     Howard Moss…….Swansea…………………….82

                     Victor Vanni……….Glasgow…………………….74

                     Sid Wilcox…………West London………………36

Howard Moss and Victor Vanni were duly elected as Party Trustees.

Auditors  Name           Branch                       No of votes cast
                                                                                             For

                    Robert Cox…………. Kent and Sussex……..76

                    Howard Moss………..Swansea………………..85

Howard Moss and Bill Martin were duly elected as Party Auditors

Roland Lambert, Fraser Anderson, Mike Kelly

Ballot Committee

Addendum to the above report

On the 17th December, members of the ballot committee forgot to calculate the voting returns by branch. This was completed on Thursday 29th December 2011 at the Socialist Party Head Office. Three members of the ballot committee were in attendances. Roland Lambert, Mike Kelly and Roy Beat who was co-opted in place of Fraser Anderson, who lives in Edinburgh. The voting returns by branch are as follows –

Branch Returns

Swansea………………………………..11

South London…………………………..9

North East……………………………….2

Central…………………………………..31

Lancaster…………………………………5

Glasgow…………………………………10

East Anglia Regional branch…………6

West Midlands Regional branch…….5

South west Regional branch…………3

Manchester…………………………….14

Edinburgh………………………………..4

Kent& Sussex Regional branch…….5

West London………………………….16

North London…………………………..6

Roland Lambert, Mike Kelly, Roy Beat
Ballot Committee

Standing Orders of the 108th Executive Committee

Socialist Party of Great Britain

Agreed at the 2 April 2011 EC Meeting

At the first meeting of a new Executive Committee
these standing orders shall be considered for
adoption and/or amendment:

1. The regular meeting of the EC shall be at
Head Office on the first Saturday of the
month at 13:00; if urgency or workload requires,
additional meetings shall be held.

2. It shall be the duty of the General Secretary,
Assistant Secretary, or failing them,
any member of the EC to call the meeting
to order immediately a quorum of five is
present and to place before the Chair a copy
of the Standing Orders and Party Rules.

3. In the event of no quorum being present at
14:15 in the EC room, those present shall
deal with any urgent business and their actions
shall be presented for ratification to
the next properly constituted meeting of the EC.

4. Special Meetings: Any five members of the
EC or the General Secretary and any four
shall have the power to call a special EC
meeting. All members shall be informed.

5. The General Secretary shall be responsible
for keeping the attendance book.

6. The EC meeting shall take a twenty minute
break midway, and aim to end at or before 17:00.

7. The presence at Conference and ADM of EC
members is required.

8. EC members may not smoke at the EC table.

9. Normal order of business:

(a) Election of Chair
(b) Minutes of the previous meeting, business
arising there from and the General Secretary’s
raising of Notices of Motion and Business from
previous meetings

(c) Forms A and F

(d) Accounts

(e) Reports of party officers, party appointees,
subcommittees, and departments;
discussion of campaigns and  the Socialist Standard

(f) Correspondence

i. Matters of urgency

ii. Correspondence from or concerning
Branches, the Party in general
and members

iii. Correspondence from Companion
Parties and Groups

iv. All other correspondence

(g) Any other business

(h) Nomination of Chair for the next meeting

10. When an item is before the EC, the Chair
should have discretion to allow a general
discussion before accepting a motion.

11. Urgency: Any member of the EC may at any
time during the meeting raise an item by
way of action of urgency. The member raising
the matter shall be asked by the Chair
to state briefly what the matter is, and why
urgency is requested. The member requesting
urgency shall then state to what the
matter relates and why urgency has been
requested. The Chair shall then take a vote
as to whether urgency should be granted.
If a majority vote in favour of urgency, the
matter shall be dealt with forthwith.

12. The EC will normally consider only correspondence
and papers received on or before
the Monday preceding the EC meeting but
late papers will be considered if the EC decides.

13. All motions dealing with a matter of policy
shall be recorded by a division. An EC
member may call for a division (recording of
names) on the voting of any motion before
the EC.

14. A Notice of Motion must be seconded before
being accepted by the Chair and recorded in
the minutes. [Conference Resolution 1980]

15. The Chair shall ensure that a written Notice
of Motion placed before him/her shall
be read and recorded before the meeting adjourns.

16. A Notice of Notion shall take effect at the
next EC meeting and each member shall be
advised.

17. An EC resolution may not be rescinded except
by a Notice of Motion as in x16 above.
In exceptional circumstances the proposal
to rescind may be considered immediately
if at least a quorum of the EC votes for urgency.

18. Notices of Motion which embody supportive
or contentious statements shall be ruled
out of order by the Chair and shall not be
recorded.

19. Notices of Business: If a member of the EC
gives notice that he/she will raise a “question
for discussion” it shall be treated in the
same manner as business under x16 above.

20. The Chair is not permitted to move any motion
but may second and vote on any motion
except as indicated in x21 re a Vote of Direction.

21. In the event of any ruling from the Chair on
procedural matters being challenged, an EC
member may move or the Chair may call for
a Vote of Direction without further discussion.
The Chair shall accept the direction of
a simple majority of the EC.

22. The Chair is not permitted to move or second
or to vote on a “Vote of Direction” motion
but may call for such a motion as provided
for in x21 above.

23. Subsequent amendments to these Standing
Orders may be only be made by way of Notice
of Motion (as per x16).

24. A EC member shall speak when invited to
do so by the Chair noting a raised hand.
Any member not conforming to this Standing
Order shall on a majority vote be required
to leave the EC table for the remainder
of the meeting.

25. All contributions by EC members shall be
limited to three minutes but may be extended
at the discretion of the Chair.

26. Any procedural matters or matters relating
to the conduct of EC members not covered
by the Standing Orders are to be taken as
covered by Conference and ADM Standing
Orders.

27. There shall bea review of Departments’
and Subcommittees’ Terms of Reference triannually
starting from 1999.

28. The January EC shall consider the renewal
of our registration as a political party and shall
review and update a register of trustees and
bank signatories.

29. Reports of the Treasurer and Auditors not
presented to the EC prior to Conference or
ADM shall be presented to the EC at its
meeting following the Conference or ADM.

30. Any EC member who has a financial interest
in any matters before the EC shall declare that interest.

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