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Manifesto Click here for a condensed draft PDF version of Sam's manifesto. The full manifesto is below: Contents
The economic crisis has not only brought hardship for many working people this winter but a fundamental turning point in how the centre-left assess its answers in the quest to build a fairer, more equal, more democratic society. The thinking that has dominated the industrial world for nearly thirty years has led to a financial crisis which has caused a global downturn; and ideas that once threatened to be the preserve of a left leaning tradition now sit at the centre of worldwide debate. As Barack Obama's victory and first days in office have shown, to talk about inequality, fairness, and control of the markets and sustainability is now to reflect not just the aspirations of but the objective interests of the mainstream. It is here that I will seek to lead Young Labour - because now, more than ever is the need for progressive Labour Government; progressive solutions are needed to take our country forward. I will position Young Labour as not just the electoral engine on which we win electoral victories, but an organisation which is capable of growing fast and deepening, to meet the Tory threat. Young Labour must also be a space in which progressive ideas and debate can flourish - but where those debates and ideas - are turned into campaigns to deliver social justice, equality and fairness for all. I believe that we can only achieve this by encouraging and supporting fresh and exciting ideas and approaches to how we do politics, a space that allows us to unite in tolerance and respect whatever internal views we might hold, and which is attractive to people who aren't already involved in party politics. Many in our generation are turning to single issue and pressure group politics. We need to show them that this is not enough. Young Labour must become the first place people look to make change happen. That is why I put forward to you a comprehensive set of policies and ideas to make Young Labour fit for the challenges ahead. We cannot let the Tories stop us, we must organise to win. I ask you to join with me in campaigning, organising, and the rebuilding of our movement from the bottom-up. Together, we are stronger than we are alone. Together, we can change our future.
As capitalism has gone global and corporations see no borders, so must the social democratic solutions we put forward go global in their vision. We must recognise that insecurity does not only affect those on the margins of society. The huge amounts of money that pour through our financial markets have created a new divide, between the super rich elite and the rest of us. People from every walk of life seem to feel increasingly insecure, working hard, playing by the rule - yet still missing that security, as job losses mount they want to know that Labour has the boldness to give them that solid foundation. The big issue of our time only compound this insecurity. High levels of migration mean that our communities are changing fast, but the media and too many politicians use the language of fear and division, feeding the poisonous activities of the BNP. Climate change threatens our planet, but we are told that market forces that caused many of our environmental problems can somehow provide a solution. Terrorism and war afflict the world as never before, but particularly in the aftermath of Iraq our international institutions have been weakened. Globalisation is a fact - but the form it takes is for us to decide. I say people first, that the country we want to create, and the Europe too, people before profit. We can make globalisation work for us, or we can become its victims. Moreover, offering an alternative to unrestrained markets and providing a solid foundation for life - the essence of Labour mission since the party was founded - are not a matter of simply saying no, we must take those tough decisions, yet embrace bold, forward looking ideas and ensure our values are always placed in a modern setting. We need a new Labour coalition for the 21st century - with young people and Young Labour at its heart; built on principles, policy and organisation, that will win popular support.
Fighting the BNP: strategy, experience, delivery
In the GLA Elections as the East London Coordinator for the Hope not Hate campaign I ensured that tens of thousands of leaflets were delivered and that we organised hundreds of people across the capital and in East London to come out and take action to stop the BNP in that election. On one day alone I helped co-ordinate over 750 people campaigning at over 150 tube and train stations across the capital. I have pioneered innovative community based campaigning in BNP strongholds including targeted anti-Racism sports events for young people with the help of GMB Young London and a local Trades Union sponsored educational program for young disadvantaged children. I help advise national campaigns against the BNP and have a highly regarded reputation and expertise in building the campaigning to defeat the BNP across the UK, particularly in the build up to the European elections. I have and will continue to help mainstream the campaign against the BNP as a core campaign priority of the Labour party as we seek to reconnect with those communities who have traditionally been our party's staunchest supporters yet are now already voting or considering voting for the BNP. I will ensure that Young Labour will be at the heart of any national anti-BNP strategy and its delivery.
I have worked on and run campaigns related to House of Lords Reform, Party Funding, Freedom of Information and MP's Expenses, Electoral Reform, and Civil Liberties, to name but a few. I have strong record of delivery and campaigning by building grassroots support to pressurise MP's and Ministers to listen to constituents and to support progressive legislation. I am a highly experienced community organiser and campaigner and have helped lead the fight in local campaigning against the BNP and Tories during by-elections in Dagenham. This record of campaign achievement and delivery is un-matched by anyone in Young Labour - I intend to bring this experience to turn Young Labour not just into a highly effective an mobilised electoral campaign machine to help deliver an unprecedented forth term of Labour Government but as a campaigning pressure group fighting for Young People, taking up their issues and campaigning for real and lasting change.
Young Labour: Organised to Campaign, Organised to Win! Young Labour 'Campaign Camp' and Bi-Monthly Campaign Training Seminars/Workshops I will organise for Young Labour members' regular campaign training seminars to teach young members campaign techniques. This will have two halves - morning training seminars on how to campaign electorally and organise for the Labour party, and in the afternoon training seminars on how to run and organise single issue campaigns. We will bring in the best Labour party election campaigners, NGO campaign experts such as from Friends of the Earth, War on Want, Jubilee Debt Campaign and others like Hope not Hate and Blue State digital. We will also use graduates of the TUC Organising academy to come in and teach Young members about workplace organising. It will be a one day ‘campaign camp'. We will enable Young Members to become active campaigners on issues that matter to them as well as more effective Labour party campaigners. A National Full Time Officer for Young Labour Young Labour has a considerable membership - well over 3000 in London alone and many thousands more across the country. However, Labour Students is seen as a more vibrant, relevant and independent campaigning body. Labour Students benefits from three full-time officers working inside party HQ as full-time organisers. Unfortunately there is nothing like this for Young Labour. Despite this, Young Labour serves a much wider group of people than just students, including those in vocational education, those who have never been to University or are immersed in the world of work after University. This varied constituency has different needs to students and is no less important, it is these Young members that turn out and campaign in local elections the length and breadth of the country. They need a voice, working full time, in Labour HQ to organise and plan campaigns and to meet the needs of young Labour members helping make YL more relevant and more responsive - more on the side - of Young labour Party members. Gender equality and women's empowerment at the heart of Young Labour.
Young Labour Funding Review I will launch a Young Labour National Committee review supported by the NEC to look at Young Labour funding and resource with a funding strategy drawn up within 1 year to be reported back to Annual Conference to allow Young Labour to have a national officer and to campaign on issues as well as in elections. With Young Labour consisting of many thousands of members across the country this rich resource if members must be utilised and organised to its fullest potential. A Young Labour National Committee Member for Under 19's: I will put forward rule changes at party conference to allow a Young Labour National Committee member for Under 19's elected at Young Labour conference by caucus of under 19 Young Labour members. Young Labour spans an age range of ten years - whilst all members have common concerns and issues I believe that younger members of Young Labour should have a specific voice campaigning, organising and representing under 19's on the Young Labour National Committee. Young Labour Campaigns Technology Drive: Technology has created more direct communication between constituents and elected officials, it can allow small groups of donors to compete with corporate influence, we can use it to level the playing field and make the most of Young Labour activists - nothing proves the power of this principle more then Barack Obama's campaign for President in the USA. Organising to grow - Young Labour as a recruitment engine
A more dynamic Young Labour Website and Young Labour TV
Young Labour International Solidarity Fund I would set up a Young Labour International Solidarity Fund, so that Young Labour has fundraising events throughout the year of which a proportion of the money raised will go to help struggling young socialists and young Trades Unionists in others parts of the world or projects in developing countries agreed by the YLNC. We should remember that international solidarity is a cornerstone of the Labour movement and even more so in this globalised interconnected age. Young Labour and Internationalism
Young Labour Membership Rate and Member Retention Extend £1 Youth rate so that after one year the jump does not put off young members from renewing their membership, particularly during a recession. Young Members often make up for the lesser amount of money paid through the hard work as campaigners on the door steps across the country. Rebuilding Young Labour from the grassroots in every region
Equalising the National Minimum Wage whatever your age and fighting for a Living Wage for all
Votes at 16, building the campaign - Changing the law
Working in partnership with Labour Students for Campaign Success
Trades Unions
Trades Union Young Members and Young Labour partnership agreement
Graduated UCL 2004 Parliamentary Research Assistant to Labour MP Office of the Deputy Prime Minister - Higher Executive Researcher in Local and Regional Governance Research Unit Home Office - Higher Executive Officer; National Offender Management/National Probation Directorate Home Office - Higher Executive Officer; International Police Assistance Section Campaigns Officer - Unlock Democracy/Charter88, 2007 - Present
Other Experience 5th year as Labour Party member London Young Labour Executive, 3rd Year Elected serving as Anti-Racism Officer Longbridge BLP Secretary 2006 - Present 3rd Year on Barking and Dagenham Labour Local Government Committee 3rd Year Elected onto Barking CLP General Committee and Executive Committee Delegate to Labour Party Youth Conference TUC Young Members Conference GMB Delegate 2008/2009 GMB Young London Vice Chair - 2007 - Present GMB B10 Branch Youth Officer - 2007 - Present SERTUC Young Activists Network - Founding Member GLA Election Hope not Hate East London Coordinator Compass Management Committee 2007 - Present Stop the War Coalition National Steering Committee 2004 - Present Young Labour National Committee 2008 - Present (Affiliates Section) Key Organiser - GMB Young Members National Conference 2008 Fringe meeting speaker - 2008 TUC Congress Attended 2007 and 2008 Labour Annual Conference Chaired Young London Seminar at Progressive London Conference 2009
Member of Christian Socialist Movement Young Fabians Co-Operative Party Honorary Member - Muslim Labour Movement GMB Unite the Union (T&G ACTS Section) |
We are entering a time of insecurity that none of us have known in our lifetimes. The immediate future seems to hold more questions than answers. Will we be able to get a job when leaving school or university? If our families can't make ends meet, what will be there to catch us? Are the BNP going to use this crisis to tear our communities apart? 
I have an un-matched experience in Young Labour in fighting the BNP; I have as London Young Labour Anti Racism Officer and as an organiser and campaigns trainer for the Hope not Hate campaign organised some of the biggest anti-BNP interventions in the Region. Including regular days of action focussing on BNP strongholds in East London and Essex. The biggest to date saw over 100 Young Labour activists turn out to campaign in Barking and Dagenham with over 10,000 homes delivered localised anti-BNP literature and many hundreds of doors knocked on. Across the course of the past three years as London Young Labour Anti Racism Officer I have organised dozens and dozens of campaign days against the BNP and serious interventions in Local Elections in which the BNP are standing, including most recently in the east Wickham By-election. I have travelled across London, the South East and other parts of the UK talking at CLPs and Trades Union branches about the threat of the BNP and how to organise to defeat them. 
I have worked as a professional campaigner for over two years for Unlock Democracy, the UK's leading democracy, civil liberties and rights pressure group. I have been highly involved in some of the most radical and successful democracy related campaign including Parliamentary Bill campaigns such as the Sustainable Communities Act, which came into force last year after being passed by Parliament and supported by Hazel Blears MP and Minister for Communities and Local Government. 
In a world in which globalisation has benefitted corporations and the international bankers, with their bonus bandits being the ultimate expression of the ideology of greed, Young Labour must renew its international links with our sister organisations as we seek partners for delivering social democracy throughout the world. With European Elections on the horizon we need to campaign for a progressive majority in the European Parliament; we must work with ECOSY and our sister youth sections in each social democratic and socialist party across Europe to help deliver the MEPs we need.