Anthony Butcher

NEC Proposal submitted 12th March by Anthony Butcher:

PROBLEM
Both the Political Committee and the Chairman’s Committee are involved in significant decision making roles, but currently have no formalised NEC presence, beyond the discretion of the Chairman or Party Leader. This leaves a total lack of member representation on these committees, and removes any direct involvement of the NEC in the decision making process.

PROPOSAL
Two ‘back bench’ NEC members should be included as members of the Political Committee and the Chairman’s Committee, with full voting rights. The four individuals should be voted for by the NEC and will be in addition to any existing NEC members on those committees.

ISSUES
Back bench would probably be defined as non-MEPs; i.e. people who have no specific political role in the party and would not normally be involved in policy creation.

Although the new constitution states that the Chairman or Leader will appoint the members of the committees, these two positions would be in addition to those appointees. Hence their presence would not contravene the constitution.