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

Content: Labour Party | History, Facts, Policies, & Leaders | Britannica
Home Politics, Law & Government Politics & Political Systems
Labour Party
political party, United Kingdom
Give Feedback
External Websites
WRITTEN BY
Paul David Webb
Chair, British and Comparative Politics, University of Sussex, Brighton, England. Author of The Modern British Party System and Trade Unions and the British Electorate. Associate and Reviews...
See Article History
Alternative Title: Labour Representation Committee
Labour Party, British political party whose historic links with trade unions have led it to promote an active role for the state in the creation of economic prosperity and in the provision of social services. In opposition to the Conservative Party, it has been the major democratic socialist party in Britain since the early 20th century. Tony Blair and Gordon Brown
British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown arriving at the Labour Party's local election headquarters in London, 2006. AP Images
History
The Labour Party was born at the turn of the 20th century out of the frustration of working-class people at their inability to field parliamentary candidates through the Liberal Party, which at that time was the dominant social-reform party in Britain. In 1900 the Trades Union Congress (the national federation of British trade unions) cooperated with the Independent Labour Party (founded in 1893) to establish a Labour Representation Committee, which took the name Labour Party in 1906. The early Labour Party lacked a nationwide mass membership or organization; up to 1914 it made progress chiefly through an informal agreement with the Liberals not to run candidates against each other wherever possible.