Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a political party in the United Kingdom that has been described as an alliance of social democrats, democratic socialists, and trade unionists. The Labour Party sits on the centre-left of the political spectrum. In all general elections since 1922, Labour has been either the governing party or the Official Opposition. There have been six Labour prime ministers and thirteen Labour ministries. Since the 2010 general election, it has been the second-largest UK political party by the number of votes cast, behind the Conservative Party and ahead of the Liberal Democrats. The party holds the annual Labour Party Conference.
Labour Party | |
|---|---|
| Governing body | National Executive Committee |
| Leader | Sir Keir Starmer |
| Deputy Leader | Angela Rayner |
| General Secretary | David Evans |
| Chair | Anneliese Dodds |
| Lords Leader | The Baroness Smith of Basildon |
| Founded | 27 February 1900 |
| Preceded by | Labour Representation Committee |
| Headquarters |
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| Youth wing | Young Labour |
| LGBT wing | LGBT+ Labour |
| Membership (March 2024) | 366,604 |
| Ideology |
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| Political position | Centre-left |
| European affiliation | Party of European Socialists |
| International affiliation | Progressive Alliance Socialist International (observer) |
| Affiliate party | Co-operative Party (Labour and Co-operative) Former affiliates
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| Other affiliations | Social Democratic and Labour Party (Northern Ireland) Gibraltar Socialist Labour Party (Gibraltar) |
| Colours | Red |
| Slogan | "Britain's future" / "Let's get Britain's future back" (2024) |
| Anthem | "The Red Flag" |
| Devolved or semi-autonomous branches |
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| Parliamentary party | Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) |
| House of Commons | 201 / 650 |
| House of Lords | 173 / 790 |
| Scottish Parliament | 22 / 129 |
| Senedd | 30 / 60 |
| Regional mayors[nb] | 8 / 10 |
| London Assembly | 11 / 25 |
| PCCs and PFCCs | 8 / 39 |
| Directly elected mayors | 10 / 16 |
| Councillors[nb] | 6,361 / 18,646 |
| Website | |
| labour | |
^ Mayor of London and nine combined authority mayors. ^ Councillors of local authorities in England (including 25 aldermen of the City of London) and Scotland, principal councils in Wales and local councils in Northern Ireland. | |
| Part of a series on |
| Organised labour |
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| Part of a series on |
| Socialism in the United Kingdom |
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The party was founded in 1900, having grown out of the trade union movement and socialist parties of the 19th century. It overtook the Liberal Party to become the main opposition to the Conservative Party in the early 1920s, forming two minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in the 1920s and early 1930s. Labour served in the wartime coalition of 1940–1945, after which Clement Attlee's Labour government established the National Health Service and expanded the welfare state from 1945 to 1951. Under Harold Wilson and James Callaghan, Labour again governed from 1964 to 1970 and 1974 to 1979. In the 1990s, Tony Blair took Labour to the centre as part of his New Labour project which governed under Blair and then Gordon Brown from 1997 to 2010.
The Labour Party currently forms the Official Opposition in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, having won the second-largest number of seats in the 2019 general election. The leader of the party and leader of the opposition is Keir Starmer. Labour is the largest party in the Senedd (Welsh Parliament), being the only party in the current Welsh government. The party is the third-largest in the Scottish Parliament, behind the Scottish National Party and the Scottish Conservatives. Labour is a member of the Party of European Socialists and Progressive Alliance, and holds observer status in the Socialist International. The party includes semi-autonomous London, Scottish, Welsh, and Northern Irish branches; however, it supports the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) in Northern Ireland, while still organising there. As of March 2024, Labour has around 366,604 registered members.