One request for a”No fault suspension” per week cannot be right

The number of complaint submissions with a request that a member be suspended from all party’s activities under the “No Fault Suspension ” (NFS) – be they elected councillors, duly selected parliamentary candidates, local party officers or “ordinary members” – has leaped to an eye-watering 50 cases, or one per week, over the last 12 months.

Due to the huge backlog of complaints, what is meant to be a short term, temporary measure to legimitately protect the party from any potential serious risk of reputational damage whilst the complaint is being investigated, suspended members are often left in limbo for months and with no right of appeal.

Some long serving, highly committed members are known to have been left in that unacceptable and distressing situation for over a year. Many just leave the party before their case has even been heard.