CONSTITUENCY LABOUR PARTIES (CLPs)

CLPs are the building blocks of the Labour Party, where members in a local area can meet together to discuss policy and organise local campaigns.  After a review of how the Scottish Labour Party is structured, CLPs in Scotland are organised on the basis of the Scottish Parliament's constituency boundaries. 

This means that your CLP may overlap between different Westminster Parliament boundaries or Local Authority boundaries. This can be confusing at times, but also means that some CLPs meet together (such as in Dundee or Aberdeenshire) or coordinate closely (as with Cunninghame North and South).

To find out which CLP you are in the quickest way is to put your postcode in the "Find Your MSP" page on the Scottish Government's website, which can be found here. As well as telling you who your MSP is, it will identify the constituency that you live in.

If you have joined the Labour Party but not been advised of when your CLP is meeting next, then in the first instance you can contact the Campaign for Socialism here.

What do CLPs do?

Being active in your CLP is a vital part of ensuring the Labour Party as a whole reflects the views of the members. CLPs can send delegates to Party Conferences, which discuss and vote on policy. There will also periodically be Policy Documents on specific subjects which are sent to CLPs to be discussed and amended. CLPs are also the organisations which select local candidates for Council, Scottish Parliament and Westminster elections, and can make recommendations for internal elections such as the Scottish or UK leadership elections.

CfS will often organise around certain issues or internal elections, and members of CfS can help shape how we do this.

Motions at CLPs

Motions are a good way to debate issues and commit your local party to a position. Any member can make a motion at a CLP meeting. Ideally these would be sent to your CLP secretary in advance to get it on the agenda and allow other members to read it before the meeting. CfS will frequently produce draft motions or policy amendments, and these can be found in our Resources section here.

CLP AGMs

Once a year your CLP will hold an Annual General Meeting where members of the CLP's Executive are elected.  As well as the usual positions of Chair, Secretary and Treasurer, there are also roles such as Campaign Coordinator, Youth Officer, Women's Officer and others.

The CLP Executive take day-to-day decisions on the running of the CLP and are often involved in the running of campaigns and local elections.

Campaign for Socialism and CLPs

CfS encourages all Labour Party members to attend their CLP meetings. If you want to be more active and organised in your CLP, then contact us to find out if there is any up-coming events or other CfS members in your area.