By-election results - ARMS motion

This emergency motion was proposed at the NW ARMS AGM on Wednesday 1 March by Tony Mulhearn and passed by the meeting.

North West ARMs welcomes the victory for Labour in Stoke but also recognises the setback in the Copeland by-election.

We believe that major factors in the Copeland result were:

1. The wrecking intervention by the Mandelson and Blair who days before the election slandered Jeremy Corbyn, and the continuous sniping by Blairite MPs in the PLP.
2. The Tory and right wing-inspired media distortions about Corbyn's policy on nuclear power. He has categorically stated that no nuclear industry worker will lose their jobs under a Corbyn-led Labour government.
3. The Blairites' responsibility for the defeat shown by the decline in Labour's majority in Copeland which had declined from nearly 12000 in 1997 to 2564 in 2015.

We believe it essential that the treacherous Blairite MPs who continually undermine Corbyn should be held to account by the membership who should be empowered to deselect those MPs who sabotage his leadership, including Frank Field who has called for an end to the triple lock which would undermine the already inadequate state pension.

This government is determined to continue with its attacks on working class living standards, pensioners' entitlements, the NHS and the trade unions. We reaffirm our support for Jeremy Corbyn and the policies he represents and call for the fight to be stepped up to force the government to retreat.