Labour Co-operative describes those candidates in
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
elections standing on behalf of both the
Labour PartyThe Labour Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom. Founded at the start of the 20th century, it has been seen since 1920 as the principal party of the Left in England, Scotland and Wales, but not Northern Ireland, where it has only recently begun to organise again...
and the
Co-operative PartyThe Co-operative Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom committed to supporting and representing co-operative principles. The party does not put up separate candidates for any UK election itself. Instead, Co-operative candidates stand jointly with the Labour Party as "Labour...
, based on a national agreement between the two parties.
Although many Labour Party candidates, and over 200 of the current
Parliamentary Labour PartyIn UK politics, the Parliamentary Labour Party is the parliamentary party of the Labour Party in Parliament: Labour MPs as a collective body....
, are members of the Co-operative Party, including Prime Minister
Gordon BrownJames Gordon Brown is the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party. Brown became Prime Minister in June 2007, after the resignation of Tony Blair and three days after becoming leader of the governing Labour Party...
and nine of his colleagues from the Cabinet, only those candidates who have been officially endorsed by both parties may use the designation Labour Co-operative — around 30 candidates in the elections since 1997.
Labour Co-operative describes those candidates in
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
elections standing on behalf of both the
Labour PartyThe Labour Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom. Founded at the start of the 20th century, it has been seen since 1920 as the principal party of the Left in England, Scotland and Wales, but not Northern Ireland, where it has only recently begun to organise again...
and the
Co-operative PartyThe Co-operative Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom committed to supporting and representing co-operative principles. The party does not put up separate candidates for any UK election itself. Instead, Co-operative candidates stand jointly with the Labour Party as "Labour...
, based on a national agreement between the two parties.
Although many Labour Party candidates, and over 200 of the current
Parliamentary Labour PartyIn UK politics, the Parliamentary Labour Party is the parliamentary party of the Labour Party in Parliament: Labour MPs as a collective body....
, are members of the Co-operative Party, including Prime Minister
Gordon BrownJames Gordon Brown is the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party. Brown became Prime Minister in June 2007, after the resignation of Tony Blair and three days after becoming leader of the governing Labour Party...
and nine of his colleagues from the Cabinet, only those candidates who have been officially endorsed by both parties may use the designation Labour Co-operative — around 30 candidates in the elections since 1997. Only Labour Co-operative MPs and
peerThe Peerage is a system of titles in the United Kingdom, which represents the upper ranks of British nobility and is part of the British honours system. The term is used both collectively to refer to the entire body of titles, and individually to refer to a specific title...
s belong to the parliamentary Co-operative Party group.
At a local level, where wards may elect more than one councillor, only those where all candidates are supported by the Co-operative Party may use the designation on ballot papers and leaflets. In the list systems used for elections to the
European ParliamentThe European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union , it forms the bicameral legislative branch of the Union's institutions and has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
,
Scottish ParliamentThe Scottish Parliament is the devolved national, unicameral legislature of Scotland, located in the Holyrood area of the capital, Edinburgh. The Parliament, informally referred to as "Holyrood" , is a democratically elected body comprising 129 members known as Members of the Scottish Parliament...
, Welsh Assembly and
London AssemblyThe London Assembly is an elected body, part of the Greater London Authority, that scrutinises the activities of the Mayor of London and has the power, with a two-thirds majority, to amend the Mayor's annual budget. The Assembly was established in 2000 and is headquartered at City Hall on the south...
, the designation has not been used. This convention has been adopted ostensibly to avoid confusion between a mix of candidates that could lead to a reduction in the Labour vote. Nevertheless, there have been Labour Co-operative candidates in the single-member constituencies in those bodies and the Co-operative Party continues to support and promote constituency and list members of those assemblies and the
House of LordsThe House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and is also commonly referred to as "the Lords". Parliament comprises the Sovereign, the House of Commons , and the Lords...
.
Labour Co-operative candidates use the Labour logo on ballot papers, although a variety of hybrid logos have in the past been used on promotional literature.
See also