City MP is new party whip

LABOUR leader Jeremy Corbyn has given a vote of confidence to Coventry North East MP Colleen Fletcher by making her a party whip.

The appointment comes just over a year after Mrs Fletcher resigned from a parliamentary undersecretary role and called on Mr Corbyn to resign.

Now Mrs Fletcher will be part of the team responsible for enforcing party discipline and ensuring MPs rally behind Mr Corbyn and Labour’s policies, rather than against them. Mrs Fletcher took up her role this week and thanked Mr Corbyn for the opportunity. Whips are MPs or members of the House of Lords appointed by each party to inform and organise their own members in Parliament. One of their responsibilities is to make sure that their members vote, and vote in line with party policy. It is the party whips, along with the leader and shadow leaders of the House of Commons and House of Lords, that negotiate behind the scenes to arrange the day to day business in Parliament – a process often referred to as ‘the usual channels’. Whips frequently act as tellers by counting votes. They also manage the pairing system where members of opposing parties both agree not to vote when other business prevents them from being present at Westminster.

Mrs Fletcher said: “I am delighted to have been appointed to this position and I thank the opposition chief whip, Nick Brown, and the Leader of the Opposition, Jeremy Corbyn, for giving me this exciting opportunity. We are living in uncertain times and there are very real and widespread worries about the direction our country is heading in under this Tory Government.

“That makes it essential that Labour is working as a strong, cohesive and united team in Parliament – a team that is able to effectively and robustly hold the government to account. I am very much looking forward to playing an active role in that process as a Labour whip.

“I am still first and foremost a constituency MP, though, and whilst I am extremely excited about this new role, my work in and for Coventry North East is and will always be my priority.”