The aggressive trade union leader Ernest Bevin, as Minister of Labour and National Service, directed Britain's allocation of manpower, Herbert Morrison became Home Secretary, Hugh Dalton was Minister of Economic Warfare and later President of the Board of Trade, while A. V. Alexander resumed the role he had held in the previous Labour Government as First Lord of the Admiralty. Labour also filled eight junior posts, a number which rose to seventeen by 1945. [9] According to G. D. H. Cole, the basis of the Wartime Coalition was that the labour ministers would look after the Home Front (including the maintenance of important social services and the mobilisation of manpower). Although the Exchequer remained in the hands of the Conservatives, a firm understanding was made with Labour regarding the equitable distribution of tax burdens. [18] In hindsight, many have argued that the failure of the unions to adopt the proposals of In Place of Strife, led to the far more drastic curbs on trade union power under Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s. [13] 1970s [ edit ] From the outset, it was clearly a well-received change, as Labour's 14-point lead in the November 1990 "Poll of Polls" was replaced by an 8% Tory lead a month later. Labour returned with a 179-seat majority in the 1997 general election under the leadership of Tony Blair. The party's large majority in the House of Commons was slightly reduced to 167 in the 2001 general election and more substantially reduced to 66 in the 2005 general election. Under Gordon Brown, it was defeated in the 2010 general election, becoming the opposition to a Conservative/Liberal-Democrat coalition. After further losses in the 2015 general election, party leader Ed Miliband resigned with the party in opposition to a Conservative majority government under David Cameron. The Conservatives would lose their majority in 2017 but Labour would remain in opposition against a Second May ministry with a Confidence and supply agreement. The 2019 United Kingdom general election would be Labour's fourth defeat since power resulting in the First Johnson ministry majority followed by the end of the Labour Party leadership of Jeremy Corbyn.

Also in the 1940s, trade union power and authority was extended further than in British history up until that point, with labour's ability to regulate and control work significantly enhanced during this period. This was assisted by developments such as full employment, the growth of union membership, rising from 32% to 45% of the workforce from 1939 to 1950 and increasing workplace representation, as characterised by the large increase in the number of shop stewards. The progressive social changes were continued in the initial post-war period, with the creation of the Welfare State (which placed a floor under wages) and the extension of the legal rights of unions through the repeal of the Trade Disputes and Trade Unions Act 1927 in 1946, while the 1948 Industrial Injuries Act provided workers' compensation for accidents in the workplace. [73] Following Labour's heavy defeat in the 2019 general eThe aftermath of the 1979 election defeat saw a period of bitter internal rivalry in the Labour Party which had become increasingly divided between the ever more dominant left wingers under Michael Foot and Tony Benn (whose supporters dominated the party organisation at the grassroots level), and the right under Denis Healey. [ citation needed] It was widely considered that Healey would win the 1980 leadership election, but he was narrowly defeated by Foot, who succeeded Callaghan as party leader late in 1980. Labour has had several spells in government, first as minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929–1931. MacDonald and half his cabinet split with the mainstream of the party and were denounced as traitors. Labour was a junior partner in the wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945. After the famous 1945 general election landslide under Clement Attlee (1945–1951) it set up the welfare state with the National Health Service, nationalised a fifth of the economy, joined NATO and opposed the Soviet Union in the Cold War. Under Harold Wilson in 1964–1970 it promoted economic modernisation. Labour was in government again in 1974–1979 under Wilson and then James Callaghan. Escalating economic crises (the " Winter of Discontent") and a split with David Owen and others forming the Social Democratic Party, resulted in opposition status during the Thatcher years from 1979 to 1990. [ citation needed] The Labour Party's origins lie in the growth of the urban proletariat in the late 19th century and the extension of the franchise to working-class males, when it became apparent that there was a need for a political party to represent the interests and needs of those groups. [2] Some members of the trade union movement became interested in moving into the political field, and after the extensions of the franchise in 1867 and 1885, the Liberal Party endorsed some trade-union sponsored candidates. In addition, several small socialist groups had formed around this time with the intention of linking the movement to political policies. Among these were the Independent Labour Party, the intellectual and largely middle-class Fabian Society, the Social Democratic Federation and the Scottish Labour Party.

With the Liberals in disarray Labour won 142 seats in 1922, making it the second largest political group in the House of Commons and the official opposition to the Conservative government. After the election the now-rehabilitated Ramsay MacDonald was voted the first official leader of the Labour Party. Labour governments under Ramsay MacDonald Toggle First Labour governments under Ramsay MacDonald subsection The Wall Street Crash of 1929 and eventual Great Depression occurred soon after the government came to power, and the crisis hit Britain hard. By the end of 1930 the unemployment rate had doubled to over two and a half million. [36] The 1910 election saw 42 Labour MPs elected to the House of Commons, a significant victory since, a year before the election, the House of Lords had passed the Osborne judgment ruling that Trades Unions in the United Kingdom could no longer donate money to fund the election campaigns and wages of Labour MPs. The governing Liberals were unwilling to repeal this judicial decision with primary legislation. The height of Liberal compromise was to introduce a wage for Members of Parliament to remove the need to involve the Trade Unions. By 1913, faced with the opposition of the largest Trades Unions, the Liberal government passed the Trade Disputes Act to allow Trade Unions to fund Labour MPs once more. Main article: Labour government, 1964–1970 Harold Wilson, Labour Prime Minister (1964–70 and 1974–76)

Labour councils not only brought relief to the poorest sections of the community, they provided opportunities for employment and, through the funding of education and library facilities, self-improvement. The Labour Party was emerging from the rapidly growing union movement after 1890. It formed an alliance with the Liberal Party that allowed for cross support in elections, and permitted the emergence of a small labour contingent in Parliament. It was a temporary arrangement until the 1920s, when the Labour Party was strong enough to act on its own, and the Liberals were in an irreversible decline. The causes were subtle social changes in the working class that produced the younger generation that wanted to act independently. Michael Childs argues that the younger generation had reason to prefer Labour over Liberal political styles. Social factors included secularised elementary education (with a lesser role for Dissenting Protestantism); the " New Unionism" after 1890 brought unskilled workers into a movement previously dominated by the skilled workers; [21] and new leisure-time activities, especially the music hall and sports, enthralled youth while repelling the older generation of Liberal voters. Childs notes that the 1918 electoral reforms added many young working-class voters, and the passing of older Liberal-oriented age cohorts during the 1920s enabled Labour to supplant the Liberals. [22] Following the party's decision to support the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill 2017, at least three shadow cabinet ministers, all representing constituencies which voted to remain in the EU, resigned from their position as a result of the party's decision to invoke Article 50 under the bill. [216] 47 of 229 Labour MPs voted against the bill (in defiance of the party's three-line whip). [217] Unusually, the rebel frontbenchers did not face immediate dismissal. [218] In the election the previous month, Labour secured its best result up until that point, pushing the Liberals into third. The Conservatives failed to get an overall majority and Labour, tacitly supported by the Liberals, formed a minority government. The British Labour Party grew out of the trade union movement of the late 19th century and surpassed the Liberal Party as the main opposition to the Conservatives in the early 1920s. In the 1930s and 1940s, it stressed national planning, using nationalisation of industry as a tool, in line with Clause IV of the original constitution of the Labour Party which called for the "common ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange, and the best obtainable system of popular administration and control of each industry or service" (this clause was eventually revised in 1994). [1]

In the decade following the Second World War, Labour councils played an important part in the housing reconstruction that followed the end of the conflict, and stood as important players in the reconstruction of housing and city centres. In Newcastle, under the leadership of the visionary but corrupt T. Dan Smith, an accelerated "modernisation" of the city took place, as characterised by an ambitious programme of road construction and public building and the replacement of slum terraces with new innovative estates such as the Byker "wall." [3]As a gesture towards Labour's more left-wing supporters, Wilson's government renationalised the steel industry in 1967 (which had been denationalised by the Conservatives in the 1950s) creating British Steel Corporation. The change of leader in the Tory government saw a turnaround in support for the Tories, who regularly topped the opinion polls throughout 1991 in spite of the continuing recession, although Labour regained the lead of the polls more than once that year. John Major resisted calls within parliament to hold a general election throughout 1991. The Parliamentary Labour Party voted to abolish Shadow Cabinet elections at a meeting on 5 July 2011, [184] ratified by the National Executive Committee and Party Conference. Henceforth the leader of the party chose the Shadow Cabinet members. [185] As a result, the 2010 Shadow Cabinet election was the last. For much of the remaining Parliament the government followed stricter controls in public spending and the necessary austerity measures caused consternation amongst the Party membership and the trade unions. In the 2010 general election on 6 May that year, Labour with 29.0% of the vote won the second largest number of seats (258). The Conservatives with 36.5% of the vote won the largest number of seats (307), but no party had an overall majority, meaning that Labour could still remain in power if they managed to form a coalition with at least one smaller party. [169] However, the Labour Party would have had to form a coalition with more than one other smaller party to gain an overall majority; anything less would result in a minority government. [170] On 10 May 2010, after talks to form a coalition with the Liberal Democrats broke down, Gordon Brown announced his intention to stand down as Leader before the Labour Party Conference but a day later resigned as both Prime Minister and party leader. [171] 2010–present: Return to opposition and internal conflict [ edit ] Mark Drakeford is the current First Minister of Wales, since 13 December 2018