Labour Party in Northern Ireland

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Not to be confused with Labour Party of Northern Ireland or Northern Ireland Labour Party.

Labour Party in Northern Ireland
Political positionCentre-left
National affiliationLabour Party
European affiliationParty of European Socialists
International affiliationProgressive Alliance
Socialist International (observer)
Colours  Red
House of Commons
(NI Seats)
0 / 18
House of Lords
1 / 783
NI Assembly
0 / 90
Local Government
0 / 462
Website
labourpartyni.org

The Labour Party in Northern Ireland (LPNI) is the

electoral pact with the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) to support its candidates.[2][3][4][5]

In the

National Executive Committee had refused to allow candidates to stand as official Labour Party candidates.[6]

History

For many years the UK Labour Party held to a policy of not allowing residents of

electoral pact with the SDLP not to stand in Northern Ireland and to support SDLP candidates instead.[5]

The 2003

National Executive Committee
has established a regional constituency party it has not yet agreed to contest elections there.

While the party has not officially contested elections in Northern Ireland, a Labour government in Westminster has administered the

periods of suspension and direct rule
.

House of Lords

Margaret Ritchie, Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick sits in the House of Lords as a member of the Labour Party.[10]

Labour Representation Committee

In December 2015, the LPNI's

integrated and secular education system.[6] The move to stand in elections was assisted by former Labour MP Andrew MacKinlay.[13] They stood one candidate each in eight of the eighteen constituencies in the 2016 Assembly elections. They won no seats, with candidates obtaining between 0.2% and 0.7% of the first-preference votes. After the 2016 assembly election, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn had publicly stated that he would consider candidates for the next election, stating, "There is a democratic deficit in one sense. There is a question of a relationship with other parties in Northern Ireland as well and how that will be affected."[14]

In the 2016 UK leadership election, 765 Labour party members in Northern Ireland took part in the vote, with a majority voting for Corbyn (Corbyn 541; Owen Smith 224).[15]

The LPNI did not stand in the

National Executive Committee assessing LPNI's case for structuring as a full part of the Labour Party (like Welsh Labour or Scottish Labour).[19]

In May 2018, Corbyn made his first visit to Northern Ireland as leader of the Labour Party.

SDLP, was notably not at the conference that year when the leader of the party usually attends.[22]

Despite this, Labour chose not to run candidates at the 2019 election, instead endorsing the Social Democratic and Labour Party again. In a statement to the Belfast Telegraph former Labour MP Kate Hoey called this decision "disappointing".[23]

Structure

As of September 2017 it was recorded that 37,000 Northern Irish trade union members had opted-in to pay the political levy their trade union offers which largely goes to the Labour Party. Additionally the party in the area had over 2,000 members and 1,000 registered supporters.[1][22]

NILRC electoral results

2016 Assembly elections

Party Leader Seats Votes
Candidates won Change
from
2011 		First
preference
votes 		First
pref. % 		Change
from
2011
NI Labour
 Kathryn Johnston 8 - 1,577 [24] 0.2% N/A
Constituency Candidate First
pref. votes		 First
pref. %
North Antrim Kathryn Johnston 243 0.6%
Belfast North Abdo Thabeth 127 0.3%
Belfast South Brigitte Anton 246 0.7%
North Down Maria Lourenco 177 0.5%
Lagan Valley Peter Dynes 171 0.4%
Upper Bann Emma Hutchinson 250 0.5%
Fermanagh and South Tyrone Damien Harris 285 0.6%

Notes

References

  1. ^
    The Belfast Telegraph
    . Retrieved 14 September 2017.
  2. ^ a b Understanding Ulster by Antony Alcock, Ulster Society Publications, 1997. Chapter II: The Unloved, Unwanted Garrison. Via Conflict Archive on the Internet. Retrieved 31 October 2008.
  3. ^ Clarke, Liam (5 March 2014). "Ed Miliband's refusal to fight elections in Northern Ireland slammed by Labour members". The Belfast Telegraph. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
  4. ^ Labour List website, Labour Party in Northern Ireland urges UK party to allow it to stand candidates, article by Katie Neame dated 19 July 2022
  5. ^ a b Thompson, David (24 July 2024). "DUP accuse SDLP of 'somersaulting' across House of Commons to sit with the government". News Letter. Retrieved 2 April 2025.
  6. ^ a b c d "Labour rebels defy party to set up new Northern Ireland party". newsletter.co.uk. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
  7. ^ Labour Party membership form at the Wayback Machine (archive index), ca. 1999. Retrieved 31 March 2007. "Residents of Northern Ireland are not eligible for membership."
  8. ^ "It's Time for Labour to Disassociate from the SDLP". New Socialist. Retrieved 29 June 2024.
  9. ^ "Labour NI ban overturned". BBC News. 1 October 2003. Retrieved 31 May 2013.
  10. ^ UK Parliament website, MPs and Lords section, Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick, retrieved 19 September 2024
  11. ^ "LPNI prepare to fight elections". Archived from the original on 14 January 2016. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
  12. ^ Walker, Stephen (27 April 2016). "NI Labour candidates warned not to stand in assembly election". BBC News. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
  13. ^ Fealty, Mick (13 April 2016). "Welcome to the Northern Ireland Labour Representation Committee party?". Slugger O'Toole. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
  14. ^ Stephen Walker (26 September 2016). "Jeremy Corbyn: Labour will 'consider candidates in Northern Ireland'". BBC News. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
  15. ^ Edwards, Peter (19 October 2016). "Leadership election: How Corbyn won across the UK - including in Wales". LabourList.
  16. ^ Jayne McCormack (20 February 2017). "Labour Party expels NI member for standing in election on different ticket". BBC News. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
  17. ^ "Legal threat against Labour over NI candidate ban". BBC News. 22 May 2017. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
  18. Independent News & Media
    . Retrieved 27 September 2018.
  19. Independent News & Media
    . Retrieved 27 September 2018.
  20. ^ a b Jayne McCormack (21 May 2018). "Labour NI left hanging over Jeremy Corbyn's visit". BBC News. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
  21. ^ Patrick Maguire (24 May 2018). "Labour is looking to the future in Northern Ireland – but can they escape Corbyn's past?". New Statesman. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
  22. ^ a b c Patrick Maguire (23 September 2018). "Will Labour run in Northern Ireland?". New Statesman. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
  23. ISSN 0307-1235
    . Retrieved 18 December 2019.
  24. ^ BBC website, NI Election 2016: Results
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