Title: Labour Party | History, Facts, Policies, & Leaders | Britannica
Headings: Labour Party
Labour Party
political party, United Kingdom
History

Content: Labour’s narrow five-seat majority in the election of October 1974 diminished through the term, forcing the party to enter a “Lib-Lab” pact with the Liberal Party. Although hampered by a small majority, the Labour Party pursued controversial policies, including support for Britain’s continued membership in the European Community and devolution in Scotland and Wales, which was rejected by referenda in 1979. Ultimately, the moderate social-democratic approach exemplified by the Wilson-Callaghan years foundered on the twin rocks of Britain’s chronic economic problems and Labour’s worsening relations with its trade union allies. Following the “Winter of Discontent” of 1978–79, when Britain suffered a series of major strikes by trade unions, the party was ousted from office by the Conservatives under Margaret Thatcher. Subsequently, Labour underwent a period of considerable internal turmoil. Aided by the leaders of some major trade unions, the party’s left wing succeeded in forcing through a number of organizational reforms that enhanced the power of grassroots activists and trade unions in the selection of parliamentary candidates and party leaders. In response, a number of leading parliamentarians and supporters seceded from Labour and founded the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in 1981. In the 1983 general election Callaghan’s successor, Michael Foot, presented a radical manifesto—dubbed the “longest suicide note in history” by Gerald Kaufman, a Labour member of Parliament and critic of the party’s reforms—that proposed extensive nationalization of industry, economic planning, unilateral nuclear disarmament, and the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Community. The result was Labour’s worst national electoral defeat in more than 50 years. Foot was replaced later that year by Neil Kinnock, a politician with leftist credentials who set about reestablishing Labour as a credible national electoral force.