NUS "conference" votes through cuts in democracy
By Sally Murdock On 17 June, a very small NUS extraordinary conference met in Leeds and endorsed the National Executive Committee's proposals for cuts in the union's democratic structures. It was announced earlier this year that NUS is facing an annual financial shortfall of £500,000. This has provided an excuse for the right-wing of the union, including the Labour Students/independent Blairite majority on the National Executive Committee, to take up their favourite theme of "democratic reform", ie attacks on NUS's democratic structures. By the start of June, they had succeeded in getting 25...