The British left (or The Left in Britain) can refer to multiple concepts. It is sometimes used as shorthand for groups aligned with the
Labour Party. It can also refer to other individuals, groups and political parties that have sought
egalitarian changes in the economic, political, and cultural institutions of the United Kingdom. There are various subgroups, split between
reformist and
revolutionary viewpoints.
Liberals,
progressives and
social democrats believe that equality can be accommodated into existing
capitalist structures, but they differ in their
criticism of capitalism and on the extent of
reform and the
welfare state.
Anarchists,
communists, and
socialists, among others on the
far left, on the other hand argue for abolition of the capitalist system.[1][2][3]
Leftism in the United Kingdom is thought to stretch back to the 17th century from roots arising in the aftermath of the
English Civil War.
Classical liberalism was an early example of a notable leftist British movement that was later thought of as
right-wing.[4]
Notions of socialism in Great Britain have taken many different forms from the
utopian socialism and
philanthropism of
Robert Owen through to the
reformist electoral project enshrined in the birth of the
Labour Party. Below follows historical and contemporary leftist movements.
Left-wing electoral organisations active in Britain
The largest political party associated with the British left is the centre-left
Labour Party, which is also the biggest political party in the UK by membership levels, with 415,000 members as of July 2022.[44] Labour has 197 seats in the
House of Commons (not including two MPs elected as Labour who as of 2021 have their
whip withdrawn), and has been the
Official Opposition since May 2010. The current
Leader of the Labour Party is
Keir Starmer, who was elected as the party's leader on 4 April 2020.
The other three political parties on the left and with representation in parliament are the centre-left
Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) of
Northern Ireland; the centre-left
Plaid Cymru (who are only active in
Wales) and
Sinn Féin, also from Northern Ireland. The SNP has 45 MPs, Plaid has three MPs, the SDLP have two MPs, and Sinn Féin has seven, but the latter party does not sit in Westminster as it refuses to take the parliamentary
Oath of Allegiance. In total the British left therefore have 248 out of 650 MPs.
The biggest party on the political left in the United Kingdom in terms of members and representation is the Labour Party, which was founded as the
Labour Representation Committee (LRC) in 1900. With the party's rebranding as
New Labour in the 1990s under the leadership of
Tony Blair, the party accepted a number of economic policies associated with the Right, causing it to be identified as
centrist (Blair himself stated that his ministry would have governed from the political centre) rather than
socialist, despite adding democratic socialism to the party's constitution, and was no longer considered as being a party of the Left; Blair described New Labour's ideology as
Third Way, like
Bill Clinton's
Democratic Party in the United States. The Labour Party under Blair's leadership accepted many of the
neoliberal economic policies enforced by the previous
Conservative Party governments in the 1980s and 1990s, and continued in successive Conservative governments in the 2010s.[47][48]
When
Ed Miliband was elected as Leader of the Labour Party in 2010, he announced the abandonment of the New Labour agenda, and promised to return to socialism,[49] clamp down on tax avoidance, introduce a
wealth tax in the form of a
mansion tax, raise income tax for high earners, and break up the banks.[50] The party was subsequently criticised by some, including Blair himself, as straying leftwards from the centre ground of British politics,[51] and that Miliband was a more traditional left-wing politician.[52] Others disputed this view, and put Labour's loss at the
2015 United Kingdom general election down to the party being too right-wing.[53][54]
In 2015, the membership of the Green Party of England and Wales quadrupled, and its support in national opinion polls sextupled.[73] Several factors contributed, including the collapse of the
Lib Dem vote, the influence of social media and greater awareness among younger people about the rise of other left-wing parties in Europe such as:
Podemos in
Spain and
Syriza in
Greece, as well as a rise in anti-austerity movements across the UK and Europe.[74] Other factors included the Scottish independence referendum, which proved to be an inspiration for a new kind of politics. Other key factors had been the contrast in conferences of the Green Party and Labour in September 2014, and the media exclusion of the Greens during and following their successes at the European elections; a petition against the media blackout of the Green Party reached 260,000 signatures.[75]
The party also received a significant spike in membership during January 2015 following
David Cameron's demand that the Greens be included in the leaders' debates for the 2015 general election. The Green Party has been included in a seven-way television debate.[76] The Greens' 2015 spring conference had a record 1,300 members attend; the party became the second-largest of the
European Greens in this period, as well as increasing significantly in national polls from an average 1% to 7%. It beat the Liberal Democrats to fourth place at the 2014 European Elections with 8%, under a proportional voting system, having a third MEP elected. However the Greens achieved only a 1.6% vote share at the 2017 general election,[77] following a rejection by Labour of an election pact[78] and an increase in vote share by the two major parties.
In the 2019 general election, the Green Party increased their vote share by 65% to 2.7%.[79] In the
2021 United Kingdom local elections, the party made a net gain of 91 council seats, taking its national total to a record 444.[80] As with Labour, the status of the Greens as a party of the political left has been disputed.[81]
The now defunct
Respect Party (formed in 2004), which at one point had the support of other left groups (such as the
Socialist Workers Party and
Socialist Resistance) and some electoral success, lost its last local councillors in 2014[85] and its sole MP
George Galloway - who was also the party leader. Respect disbanded after twelve years, on 18 August 2016.[86]
The
Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC), founded in 2010, comprises the
Socialist Party,
Socialist Workers Party and
RMT trade union. As of 2016, TUSC had a small number of affiliated local councillors. Following the 2015 election of Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader, TUSC floated plans for a future electoral pact with any Labour councillors standing on an anti-
austerity platform;[87] subsequently TUSC stood fewer candidates in the 2016 and 2017 local elections, based on a case by case reckoning of the political stance of local Labour candidates.[88] In May 2017, TUSC confirmed that it would stand no candidates at the forthcoming general election,[88] and give full support to Labour.[89] In 2018, TUSC suspended electoral activity until further notice.[90] In September 2020, TUSC became active once again as its steering committee agreed it would stand candidates in the 2021 local elections.[91]
A new party,
Left Unity, was formed in November 2013 and backed by a number of existing left-wing parties. Left Unity had an
electoral pact with TUSC for the 2015 elections[92] but has since renounced independent electoral activity in favour of Labour.[93]
The
Communist Party of Britain (CPB), is a split from (and effectively the political successor to) the historical
Communist Party of Great Britain, once the largest British far-left organisation.[94] In 2017, the CPB announced that it would field no candidates at that year's general election, and give support to Labour instead.[95]
Some small left and far-left parties continue to contest elections independently, such as the
Socialist Party of Great Britain (the oldest extant left-wing political party, having formed in 1904). Other parties and groups are electorally inactive, renounce participation in elections,[96][97][98] or work unofficially in support of, or advocate a vote for, the Labour Party.
^Barberis, P. et al. Encyclopedia of British and Irish Political Organizations: Parties, Groups and Movements of the 20th Century. A&C Black, 2000, p161