“Instead of blindly following Treasury orthodoxy, we need to tackle poverty and inequality through wealth taxes & scrapping the two child benefit cap.”
Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP
By LabourHub
Bell Ribeiro-Addy’s bid to be nominated for the Deputy Leadership of the Labour Party is gathering momentum, with MPs and others lining up to lend their support.
In a twitter (X) thread today, Bell said: “I am standing to be Deputy Leader because I believe this Labour Government urgently needs to go back to the guiding values of our party and movement, and deliver an ambitious programme of popular, progressive policies.
“We can offer hope and a vision to rebuild Britain after decades of neglect, and take on the politics of hatred and division. If Labour carries on presenting itself as a pale imitation of Reform, then millions will conclude that Reform must have all the answers.
“Instead of blindly following Treasury orthodoxy, we need to tackle poverty and inequality through wealth taxes and scrapping the two child benefit cap.
“We can show leadership on the world stage – opposing the genocide in Gaza, ending arms sales, and introducing sanctions against Israel. The absurd and authoritarian proscription of Palestine Action must end immediately.
“Internally, the Labour Party needs to return to its best traditions of open debate and tolerance of dissent, starting with restoring the whip to the seven Labour MPs punished for voting with their consciences.
“These are the values that drove me to join the Labour Party, as with so many parliamentary colleagues, party members and affiliated trade unionists. It is these values I represent in this contest.”
Momentum said it was “fantastic” to see Bell putting herself forward, adding: “Having a principled socialist like Bell in the contest would enable the open debate we need about Labour’s future.”
It joins the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy in calling upon Labour MPs “to nominate Bell to ensure members hear arguments for a radical change of direction and have a real choice.”
Former Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell MP tweeted: “Full support to Bell standing for Deputy Leader. If elected Bell will be the voice of members and will help our Party reconnect with our supporters. I’m urging Labour MPs to nominate Bell so that we can have a properly democratic election with candidates from all wings of our Party.”
Former Shadow Justice Secretary Richard Burgon MP said: “I’m proud to have nominated Bell Ribeiro-Addy to be Labour’s Deputy Leader. Bell will be a strong voice at the top table for the issues that matter to Labour members – from opposing disability cuts and supporting wealth taxes, to standing up for Gaza and defending trade union rights.
“The Labour leadership has attempted to stitch up this election to exclude a candidate from the left, as part of a broader effort to sideline the views of party members. But on the big issues, it’s Labour members who have consistently been more in touch with the public than the leadership. The Labour leadership should be listening to members – not trying to silence their voices.”
Nadia Whittome MP also endorsed Bell, saying: “From workers’ rights to equalities, from the climate to civil liberties, from migration to global justice, Bell has shown herself to have consistent, principled, socialist politics.
“She’s pluralist, democratic and honest. I’m thrilled she’s running – she has my full support.”
Journalist Gary Younge said: “Bell is exactly the principled voice Labour needs if it wants to regain any sense of relevance, reorient itself towards delivering for working people and play a progressive role on the world stage. If she doesn’t get the nominations, that will say far more about the Party than her.”
Brian Leishman MP, one of the best of the 2024 intake and currently with the Labour whip suspended, said: “The Party needs a strong voice from the left as Deputy Leader. Someone who will represent the politics and opinions of the rank and file grassroots members who want to see us govern by real Labour values. Bell Ribeiro-Addy would be that Deputy Leader.”
Former Shadow Employment Secretary Andy McDonald MP has also nominated her.
A proud record
So who is Bell Ribeiro-Addy? The MP for Clapham and Brixton Hill is a member of the Socialist Campaign Group and chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Afrikan Reparations. She was born and brought up in South London where she has been an MP for six years. Before that, she was the National Black Students’ Officer for the National Union of Students (NUS) from 2008 to 2010, and from 2016 to 2019, she was chief of staff to former Labour frontbencher Diane Abbott. She describes herself as a “life-long socialist.”
Speaking to the BBC’s Today programme this morning, Bell said Labour needs a debate about “what’s gone wrong” in its first year in power, warning the Party will not be able to attract or even to retain voters without a change in direction.
Bell voted against disability benefit cuts in the big welfare rebellion against the Government earlier this year. She tabled an amendment to the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill, to scrap the £1,214 child citizenship fee, a huge administrative charge that leaves British-born children undocumented in their own country. She co-signed a letter with 40 cross-party MPs demanding then Foreign Secretary David Lammy address allegations of continued UK arms exports to Israel and later called for an Inquiry into UK complicity in Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
She spoke out against the Government’s proscription of Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation, saying: “This decision dangerously conflates direct action tactics aimed at disrupting an ongoing genocide with violent acts of terror aimed at causing loss of life.” She added that it “suggests that ministers are more preoccupied with activists causing property damage than the utter destruction of human life we are witnessing in Gaza.”
Bell will need nominations from eighty MPs to be in the contest for Deputy Leadership and the timetable is tight. Members need to contact their Labour MPs today and urge them to ensure that the Deputy Leadership contest is inclusive of the views of Labour’s broad church. For the sake of a proper contest, and not a stitch-up, MPs need to nominate Bell Ribeiro-Addy, whether they agree with her views or not.
- This was originally published on LabourHub here.
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