The Basingstoke Constituency Labour Party (CLP) operates an All Members structure where members and affiliated supporters attend monthly All Member Meetings (AMMs) where any decisions are agreed.  The Executive Committee (EC) comprises volunteer members elected by the CLP. The EC provides strategic direction for the CLP, makes the day-to-day operational and administrative decisions, and reports to the Annual General Meeting (AGM) and AMMs. We organise and plan member events, run local campaigning to help with local elections, and promote Labour Party policies within the constituency.

The Executive Committee usually meets once a month. From time to time, other people may be invited to come along to EC meetings as attendees. Member meetings are the primary decision-making body of the CLP.

As well as an Executive Committee, the CLP can elect coordinators to lead on particular areas of interest to help the local party undertake important jobs or connect with the broader community. For example, business liaison, assistant secretary, membership engagement, fundraising, etc. These coordinators are not members of the Executive Committee but work closely with them sharing their expertise and knowledge.

If you would like to be actively involved with the Basingstoke CLP, please check for any role vacancies, and apply to play your part for Labour in Basingstoke.

You can find out more about these roles on the Labour Party website. If you would like an informal chat over the phone, email chair@basingstokelabour.org with your contact details.

The Executive Committee

Executive Officers (at least 50% must be women ), with a minimum of three women in the top six roles.

Chair: Rosalind Bach  Email
Chairs EC and Member meetings. Provides leadership and coordinates strategic development of the CLP with other officers.

Vice-Chair (Campaigning): Cllr Angie Freeman
Acts in the absence of the Chair and supports other officers in their work, with a particular focus on campaign planning.

Vice Chair (Membership): Carolyn Wooldridge  Email
Works with officers to develop member engagement, correspond with members about membership questions, and welcomes new members. Provides Councillors with up-to-date membership lists and prepares registers for constitutional membership meetings.

Secretary: Zander West Email
Supports EC and Member meetings with agendas and minutes and acts as a contact point for CLP correspondence.

Treasurer: Tom Cusack  Email
Manages CLP finances, keeps accounts and works with other officers to raise funds.

Policy Officer: Vacant
Encourages local party members and supporters to participate and play a full and active part in policy making.

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For the following positions at least three of the current vacancies must be reserved for women.

Women’s Officer: Cait Fuller
Chairs Women’s Forum. Works to increase the involvement of women in all aspects of the constituency.

BAME Officer: Shibaji Shresthra
Engaging with and representing the views of Black, Asian and Ethnic Minority voters is hugely important to the Labour Party – to ensure the views of these communities are not only listened to but are reflected in Labour’s policy-making. BAME Officers are at the forefront of this, ensuring that people’s views are heard, and those in BAME communities feel welcomed and empowered in the party.

Disabilities Officer: Steve Drake
Act as a representative of disabled members within the CLP and works to ensure that disabled members are fully involved in the work of the local party, as well as taking a leading role in ensuring that the constituency’s campaigning work reaches out and engages with disabled voters.

LGBT Officer: Vacant  
The local representative of LGBTQ+ members within the CLP works to ensure that members are fully involved in the work of the local party. They also take a leading role in ensuring that the constituency’s campaigning work reaches out and engages with LGBTQ+ voters in the community.

Youth Officer: Vacant
Represents young members (age 26 & under) at a local level and takes the lead on making sure the local party engages with issues and campaigns that are important to young voters. It is a fantastic opportunity to meet new people and have fun, rewarding experiences – and the role plays such an essential part in the local party and community.

Trade Union Liaison Officer: Vacant    
TULO Officers work with other CLP Officers to involve local trade unions and union members in the party’s structures and campaigns to grow the collective campaigning capacity of the local party and affiliated trade unions – whether that’s electoral campaigning or raising the profile of issues that affect workers at a local level.

Communications & Social Media Officer: Bradley Phillips
Provides communication materials, including social media, to support campaigns and events. Takes the lead on Labour’s National Campaign Days and works with other officers to provide newsletters, content for the website and other communications to members, supporters and the general public.

Political Education Officer: Vacant
Work closely with the policy officer and others to offer members opportunities for political education through engaging, informative discussions. Contact experts, organisations and campaigns, locally and nationally, to help fill the CLP calendar with engaging events. Can work with other CLP officers, such as the youth officer, to reach out and inform the wider community about Labour’s message and the importance of participation in politics.

Other Basingstoke CLP co-ordinator roles to support the EC:

IT & Data Lead:  Vacant
This is an important role requiring good organisation. This person takes the lead in maintaining the party’s voter identification system, inputting data and producing reports for Councillors and other officers. They audit and keep a list of all CLP IT systems and users, add and remove users as required, and help manage the website. They also ensure users complete any GDPR forms and keep a log.

Assistant Women’s Co-ordinator: Vacant
Works with the Women’s Officer to arrange women’s forum meetings to help increase the participation of women within the CLP (as campaigners, activists, councillor candidates and policymakers, for example).

Interim Branch Secretaries Zander West (NW Branch)

Auditors: David Bell
The Auditor’s role is to inspect the CLPs annual statement of accounts prepared by the Treasurer before the General Meeting of the CLP approves them. The Treasurer produces a yearly Statement of Accounts every year. This has to be approved by a general meeting in the first quarter of the following year and forwarded to Labour’s Governance and Legal Unit by 30 April. So the work of an auditor is time-limited (1 to 2 hours) and mainly occurs in February. Auditors are not members of the Executive Committee.

Other volunteering opportunities

Ward Officers
Not quite ready for an elected post? Why not volunteer to help out in a less official capacity?

Ward officers help the campaign team and Labour councillors to ensure that each ward is a campaign fighting force in local elections and by-elections and that we’re campaign ready in the event of a General Election. Make the job as small or as big as you like.