During the 1980s, the NEC had a major role in policy-making and was often at the heart of disputes over party policy.
In 1997, under Tony Blair's new party leadership, the General Secretary Tom Sawyer enacted the Partnership in Power reforms.[1][2] This rebalanced the NEC's membership, including by reducing trade union membership to a minority for the first time in its history. The reforms also introduced new seats: two for local government, three for the Parliamentary Party, three for the (Shadow) Cabinet, and one for the European Parliamentary Labour Party (EPLP). Until these reforms, Member of Parliament could stand for CLP section seats on the NEC, but thereafter MPs and MEPs could not stand in this section.[3] Moreover, under Blair, the committee's role declined. Its former policy development function is now largely carried out by the National Policy Forum. One of its committees has disciplinary powers including the ability to expel members of the party who have brought it into disrepute or to readmit previously expelled members. However, the NEC remains the administrative authority of the party.
The 2017 Conference saw the creation of four additional NEC seats: one in the trade union section and three in the CLP section. Although the additional union seat was elected at Conference, the extra CLP seats were not elected until January 2018.
In November 2020, following the Brexit withdrawal agreement ending UK representation within the European Parliament and ending the European Parliamentary Labour Party, the single seat on the NEC for the EPLP leader was replaced by a new disability representative.
The Labour History Archive and Study Centre at the People's History MuseuminManchester has the full run of the minutes of the National Executive Committee in their collection.[6][7]
The Joint Policy Committee (JPC) has strategic oversight of policy development in the party through overseeing the rolling programme of Partnership in Power. The JPC acts as the steering group for the National Policy Forum. It is therefore a joint committee made up of NEC, Government and National Policy Forum representatives.
The Business Board is responsible for overseeing the business functions of the organisation including the management of the finances.
Chair: Mike Payne
Audit, Risk Management and Compliance Committee[edit]
The Audit, Risk Management and Compliance Committee has responsibility for audit and compliance oversight, and is accountable for internal audit procedures providing a systematic approach to risk management in all of the party's activities. The committee ensures that the Labour Party's financial activities are within the law, and that an effective system of internal control is maintained.
The Organisation Sub Committee is a sub-committee of the NEC (generally known as Org Sub) and is responsible for party rules and constitution; ensuring parties are operating effectively throughout the country to the highest standards and has overall responsibility for membership, investigations, selections, Conferences, electoral law, boundaries strategy and internal elections.
The NEC Complaints & Disciplinary Sub-committee is a sub-committee of the NEC Organisation Sub-committee which hears membership appeals; re-admission applications; party disputes and conciliation; minor investigations and local government appeals where referred to the NEC. It operates in a quasi-judicial fashion, conducting hearings and interviews around the country where necessary.
Excluding ex officio members, NEC members are elected by their respective constituencies, and each serve a two-year term.[9] As of 2023, the NEC has 39 members, as follows:[10]
The chair of the party is elected by the NEC from among its own members, and holds office for a calendar year, chairing both NEC meetings and national party conferences.
The name of this post has become confused since 2001 when Labour Party leader Tony Blair appointed Charles Clarke to the courtesy position of Chair of the Labour Party without the NEC or the national conference authorising such a position.[14] The office's name remains "chair of the party" in the Labour Party Constitution, but elsewhere the party presents the position as "Chair of the NEC".[15] Prior to 2001 the position was called "Chair of the Labour Party", and before that "Chairman of the Labour Party".
List of chairs of the Labour Party National Executive Committee[edit]
Chairmen of the Annual Conference of the Labour Representation Committee[16]
Laffin, Martin, Eric Shaw, and Gerald Taylor. "The new sub-national politics of the British Labour Party." Party Politics 13.1 (2007): 88-108. online
McCormick, Paul. "The Labour Party: three unnoticed changes." British Journal of Political Science 10.3 (1980): 381-387.
McKenzie, R. T. "The Wilson Report and the Future of the Labour Party Organization." Political Studies 4.1 (1956): 93-97. online
Massey, Christopher. "The Changing of the Praetorian Guard? The Size, Structure and Composition of the Labour Party's National Executive Committee and the Enduring Importance of Labour's Trade Unions." Political Quarterly 92.2 (2021): 343-351. online
Russell, Meg, and Meg Russell. "The National Executive Committee." in Building New Labour: The Politics of Party Organisation (Springer, 2005): 172-189. online
Shaw, Eric. "The Labour Party and the Militant Tendency." Parliamentary Affairs 42.2 (1989): 180-196. online
Sibley, John Richard.『Labour Party Committee Elections and the Labour Leadership, 1945–1976.』European Journal of Political Research 6.1 (1978): 71-104. online