The Purpose of Emily’s List UK was to give women members of the Labour Party the financial help they need to gain selection as candidates at all levels of public office. This may be through individual grants or sponsorship for training.

 

What is an Emily Grant?

You could apply for an Emily Grant for financial assistance with the following expenses involved in seeking section:

 

• Travel Expenses

• Dependent Care

• Printing

• Photography

• Telephone

• Postage

 

Grants were awarded to individual women for expenses incurred in a single selection attempt.

 

Application

Any woman member of the Labour Party was seeking selection as a candidate for the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh Assembly, the European Parliament and Westminster could apply for an Emily Grant. Applications had to fulfil Labour Party criteria; support the programme and values of the Party and be pro-choice.

 

The form was straightforward, asking for name, address and daytime and evening telephone numbers, a brief history of your Labour movement history, i.e. length of Party membership, Trade Union membership if any, your current CLP and the details of the selection for which you are seeking a grant. The form outlined the upper limits awarded in each category.

 

Applications were made just prior to the start of a selection attempt or within three months of the final section meeting.

Applicants did not need to be successful in their selection attempt, but must have made an application for the selection for which they were seeking a grant, ie. at the very minimum submitted a CV.

 

A subcommittee, (comprising Hilary De Lyon, Barbara Follett and Jean Black), made the final decision about applications, following consultation with a Panel of Regional Advisors.

 

History of Emily’s List UK

Founded by Barbara Follett, EMILY's List UK was launched on February 6th 1993, exactly seventy-five years after British women first gained the right to vote in Parliamentary elections. An acronym for "Early Money is Like Yeast" (it makes the dough rise), the purpose of EMILY’s List UK was to raise money to help women members of the Labour Party with the cost involved in seeking Parliamentary Selection.

 

In the four years between its founding and Labour’s landslide victory in the 1997 General Election, EMILY’s List UK gave over £40,000 in grants to seventy Labour women who were seeking selection as Parliamentary candidates. Of these twenty-six were selected as Westminster candidates and fourteen were elected as Labour Members of Parliament.

 

The 1997 General Election saw a large increase in the number of women in the House of Commons with 101 Labour women MPs, 14 Conservative women, 3 Liberal-Democrats, and two Scottish Nationalist Party women, a total of 120 plus Betty Boothroyd, the Speaker of the House.

 

In 1998 EMILY’s List UK extended its Grants Scheme to cover selections in the Welsh National Assembly and the European Parliament. A total of £2,900 was given to eight Labour women, none of whom were elected. A training event for potential Labour women candidates for the Scottish Parliament was sponsored for £1,800.

 

In 1999 EMILY’s List UK gave grants to women seeking selection to Greater London Assembly seats and for women trying to get onto Labour's National Parliamentary Panel. A total of £2,685 was given to thirteen Labour women, one of whom was elected to the GLA and three of whom were accepted onto the Parliamentary Panel.

 

Before the 2001 General Election EMILY’s List UK gave a total of £3,454 to eighteen Labour women seeking selection as Parliamentary candidates, three of whom were selected but not elected to the House of Commons. A grant of £500 was also given for a training event to encourage more Labour women to become Local Government candidates.