- Liberal-Labour (UK)
:"Lib-Lab(s)" redirects here. See
Lib-Lab pact for UK Liberal Party-Labour Party agreements andLibLab for the Norwegian think-tank."The Liberal-Labour movement refers to the practice of local Liberal associations accepting and supporting candidates who were financially maintained by
Trade union s. These candidates stood for the British Parliament with the aim of representing theworking class es, while remaining supportive of the Liberal Party in general.The first Lib-Lab candidates, Alexander MacDonald and
Thomas Burt , both members of theMiners' Federation of Great Britain (MFGB), were elected in the1874 UK general election . In 1880, they were joined byHenry Broadhurst of the Stonemasons' Union and the movement reached its peak in 1885, with twelve MPs elected.The candidates generally stood with the support of the Liberal Party, the
Labour Representation League and one or moretrade union s. After 1885, decline set in. Disillusion grew from the defeat of theManningham Mills Strike , a series of decisions restricting the activity of unions, culminating in theTaff Vale Case and largely unchallenged by the Liberal Party, and the foundation of theIndependent Labour Party in 1892 followed by its turn towards trade unionism.The formation of the
Labour Representation Committee in 1900 followed by the Labour Party in 1906 and its subsequent success in general elections led most trade unions to switch support, and the terminal decline of the Lib-Lab group. The MFGB affiliated to the Labour Party in 1909, and their MPs joined Labour after the January 1910 UK general election. The movement finally died out at the1918 UK general election , when Thomas Burt (by then Father of the House) and Arthur Richardson stood down.See also
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