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Labour Students is a student organisation within the Labour Party of the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...
. It is a network of affiliated college and university clubs, known as Labour Clubs, who campaign in their campuses and communities for Labour's values of equality and social justice. Labour Students’ main activities include providing political education and training to its members, sending activists to by-elections and marginal constituencies across the country and organising politically within the National Union of Students and
Student Unions A students' union, also known by many other names, is a student organization present in many colleges, universities, and high schools. In higher education, the students' union is often accorded its own building on the campus, dedicated to social ...
. Labour Students was disaffiliated from the Labour Party by the Party's National Executive Committee in September 2019, with the intent of replacing it with a new student organisation. Although campaigning activity continued to be organised under the Labour Students branding during the 2019 general election, the organisation subsequently ceased to exist. A new, refounded Labour Students was passed at the 2021
Labour Party Conference The Labour Party Conference is the annual conference of the British Labour Party. It is formally the supreme decision-making body of the party and is traditionally held in the final week of September, during the party conference season when th ...
. National Committee elections were held in August 2022 and Ben McGowan was elected as chair of the organisation on 2 September 2022.


History

The Labour Party's first organisation for students was the National Association of Labour Student Organisations (NALSO), which was founded in 1946 but had its recognition by the party withdrawn in 1967 after it was taken over by supporters of the Trotskyist Socialist Labour League. While the Scottish organisation continued, the Labour Party was left without a national student body.Peter Barberis, John McHugh and Mike Tyldesley, ''Encyclopedia of British and Irish Political Organizations'' In 1970, some Labour supporters created Students for a Labour Victory, a group intended to coordinate campaigning in the general election that year. That group then became the National Organisation of Labour Students (NOLS), which held its founding conference in 1971. Despite changing its name in the early 1990s, the current body, Labour Students, is still sometimes referred to by the
acronym An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in ''NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, as ...
NOLS. In its early years, NOLS was divided between two factions — members of the
entryist Entryism (also called entrism, enterism, or infiltration) is a political strategy in which an organisation or state encourages its members or supporters to join another, usually larger, organization in an attempt to expand influence and expand the ...
Militant The English word ''militant'' is both an adjective and a noun, and it is generally used to mean vigorously active, combative and/or aggressive, especially in support of a cause, as in "militant reformers". It comes from the 15th century Latin ...
group and a mainstream left group, associated with the
Tribune Tribune () was the title of various elected officials in ancient Rome. The two most important were the tribunes of the plebs and the military tribunes. For most of Roman history, a college of ten tribunes of the plebs acted as a check on th ...
group of Labour MPs, which formed in January 1974 called Clause Four, after the central political statement of the Labour Party constitution. Militant controlled NOLS from January 1974 to December 1975. Members of NOLS in the 1970s included future parliamentarians
Charles Clarke Charles Rodway Clarke (born 21 September 1950) is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Norwich South from 1997 until 2010, and served as Home Secretary from December 2004 until May 2006. Early life T ...
,
Bill Speirs William MacLeod Speirs (8 March 1952 – 23 September 2009) was a Scottish trade union leader, a socialist and internationalist. He was General Secretary of the Scottish Trades Union Congress. Speirs was a key figure in left-wing Scottish pol ...
,
Peter Mandelson Peter Benjamin Mandelson, Baron Mandelson (born 21 October 1953) is a British Labour Party politician who served as First Secretary of State from 2009 to 2010. He was President of the Board of Trade in 1998 and from 2008 to 2010. He is the ...
, Sally Morgan,
Mike Gapes Michael John Gapes (born 4 September 1952) is a British former politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Ilford South from 1992 to 2019. Born in Wanstead Hospital, Gapes attended Buckhurst Hill County High School. He studied ec ...
, Mike Jackson, Nigel Stanley,
Margaret Curran Margaret Patricia Curran (born 24 November 1958) is a Scottish Labour Party politician. She served in the British House of Commons as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Glasgow East from 2010 to 2015 and was Shadow Secretary of State for Scot ...
and
Johann Lamont Johann MacDougall Lamont (; born 11 July 1957) is a Scottish Labour Co-operative politician who served as Leader of the Scottish Labour Party from 2011 to 2014. She was previously a junior Scottish Executive minister from 2004 to 2007 and ...
. During
Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of t ...
's premiership, Labour Students opposed the Government's planned introduction of university "top-up" fees. Labour Students were broadly supportive of
Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in Tony ...
's government. In 2016, the national conference adopted a one-member-one-vote (OMOV) system for internal elections, through an amendment of its constitution. However many member clubs perceived this as being implemented incompletely and slowly, with accusations of vote-rigging in 2019. In the early 2019 Labour Students leadership election there were 507 eligible voters, out of a claimed approximately 30,000 Labour Party student members. As a consequence, about half of member clubs, including Oxford University Labour Club and
Cambridge University Labour Club The Cambridge University Labour Club (CULC), formerly known as Cambridge Universities Labour Club, is a student political society, first founded as the Cambridge University Fabian Society in 1905 by Nick Davis, to provide a voice for British La ...
, disaffiliated from Labour Students. Further to the disaffiliations by Labour university Clubs, a motion was tabled by
Jon Lansman Jonathan Lansman (born 9 July 1957) is a British political activist. He is best known for having worked on Jeremy Corbyn's successful 2015 campaign for the leadership of the Labour Party and subsequently founded the pro-Corbyn organisation Mom ...
at the Labour Party NEC meeting in September 2019 to dissolve the current organisation on the grounds that it did not pay its affiliation fees nor submitted its political rules to the party. At the NEC meeting this motion passed and Labour Students is no longer affiliated to the Labour Party. This action was challenged by the incumbent Labour Students leadership, but they were unsuccessful. As of 2021, the organisation's Twitter account is inactive, and its website is no longer operational.


Internal organisation

Labour Students is a ' socialist society', affiliated to the Labour Party. This means that, whilst its aims are broadly in line with the wider party, Labour Students is an independent organisation and is entitled to democratically determine its own policy and governance. Labour Students members are entitled to vote in the affiliates section of Labour leadership elections.


National Events

Generally, before the organisation's relaunch, Labour Students held four main national events each year, attended by club members from institutions across the country. ; Summer Training : Summer Training is primarily intended for members entering their second and third years of study. There is often a focus on preparing Labour Clubs for recruitment drives at the beginning of the new academic year. The event is usually structured with a variety breakout sessions and workshops, led by industry experts, trade unions and other campaigning organisations. In recent years Summer Training has included sessions led by Matthew Doyle (former deputy director of Communications,
10 Downing Street 10 Downing Street in London, also known colloquially in the United Kingdom as Number 10, is the official residence and executive office of the first lord of the treasury, usually, by convention, the prime minister of the United Kingdom. Along w ...
), Kirsty McNeill (former adviser to
Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in Tony ...
) and community organising group Movement for Change. There is also usually a heavy emphasis on training from the four liberation campaigns. ; Political Weekend : Political Weekend is usually the event where Labour Students welcomes its new members each year. Labour Students usually hosts a number of high-profile speakers, including government ministers during periods of Labour government and members of the Shadow Cabinet in times of opposition. ; Liberation Conference Liberation Conference sees the election of Labour Students’ four Liberation Officers (see ‘Liberation Campaigns’). It also includes panels and sessions around issues of particular importance to Liberation groups, for example mental health services or tackling antisemitism on campuses. ; National Conference : National Conference sees the election of the Labour Students National Committee for the following year, as well further policy debate. Though nominally described as an "election", only a small number of delegates vote, along lines pre-determined by their nominating clubs. National Conference is often held in conjunction with Young Labour Conference, to help reduce members' travel costs.


National Committee

The Labour Students National Committee convenes regularly and works together to ensure the organisation runs smoothly and works effectively to represent members.


Current Committee


Liberation Campaigns

Within Labour Students there are four autonomous liberation campaigns. These were the
Women's A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardle ...
, Lesbian Gay Bisexual & Trans,
Disabled Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be cognitive, developmental, intellectual, mental, physical, ...
Students and Black Asian Minority Ethnic (BAME) Students campaigns, all of which are entitled to elect an officer to the National Committee. Labour Students holds caucuses for each of the liberation groups at every national event, has an equal opportunities policy and ensures all events are fully accessible.


Scotland and Wales

There are separate organisations for Labour Clubs in the devolved nations, known as Welsh Labour Students and
Scottish Labour Students Scottish Labour Students (SLS) is a student society affiliated to Scottish Labour, and part of the UK wide organisation Labour Students. It aims to bring Labour values to campuses and represent students within the Labour Party throughout Scot ...
respectively. The Chairs of these two organisations also sit on the committee of Labour Students as full members.


Campaigning


Priority Campaign

Labour Students took on a major campaign each year, voted for in an all-member ballot. Recent campaigns have included: *"Make Child Poverty History" campaign (2006–2007) *"Sex, Lives and Politics" (2005–2006) – This was followed by a government reduction of VAT on condoms to the EU minimum of 5%. *The Living Wage Campaign (2011–2013) – Labour Students worked in collaboration with the trade union
UNISON In music, unison is two or more musical parts that sound either the same pitch or pitches separated by intervals of one or more octaves, usually at the same time. ''Rhythmic unison'' is another term for homorhythm. Definition Unison or per ...
to equip members with the skills to fight for a
living wage A living wage is defined as the minimum income necessary for a worker to meet their basic needs. This is not the same as a subsistence wage, which refers to a biological minimum, or a solidarity wage, which refers to a minimum wage tracking lab ...
to be paid to staff on their university campuses. The campaign was extremely successful, with clubs including Manchester and Kent securing the living wage at their institutions. *The Voter Registration Campaign (2012–2013) – Labour Students intended to increase the number of students registered to vote. *A Million More Voices (2016–2017) - Campaign aimed at introducing automatic
voter registration In electoral systems, voter registration (or enrollment) is the requirement that a person otherwise eligible to vote must register (or enroll) on an electoral roll, which is usually a prerequisite for being entitled or permitted to vote. The r ...
. *Somewhere To Call Home (2017–2018) – Campaign aimed at tackling "poor living conditions and extortionate rents for students." *Time For Rights (2018– 2019) – Campaign to protect the rights of workers in Students’ Unions and Universities from Brexit.


Labour Students and the National Union of Students

Every year, Labour Students actively organised and campaigned within the National Union of Students (NUS). As a result of this, Labour Students was viewed as an influential faction within the NUS and its members were frequently elected to the NUS National Executive Council (NEC) and to full-time officer positions, although 2015 saw a majority of their candidates losing to those to the Left.


History within the National Union of Students

In the late 1970s, Labour Students (then NOLS) worked within the NUS as part of the Broad Left, a student coalition which also included the student wing of the
Communist Party of Great Britain The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was the largest communist organisation in Britain and was founded in 1920 through a merger of several smaller Marxist groups. Many miners joined the CPGB in the 1926 general strike. In 1930, the CPGB ...
and independent left wing students. The Broad Left stood slates of candidates in NUS elections. (The Broad Left is not to be confused with the post-1997 grouping Student Broad Left.) In the early 1980s NOLS broke with the Broad Left and presented its own slate of candidates in NUS elections. In 1982, NOLS won the presidency of NUS on its own for the first time. A succession of NOLS candidates were elected to the NUS Presidency until 2000 with the strongest challenges generally coming from those to the left of the Labour Party. Several former NOLS NUS Presidents, including Charles Clarke and Jim Murphy, went on to serve as
Cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filin ...
ministers, serving as members of a Labour government. Throughout this period, NOLS members of the NUS National Executive Committee were a minority, but exercised effective control. Labour Students' flagship policy in NUS was the rejection of campaigning for universal grants, in favour of targeting student support funds towards poorer students through means testing. National Conference 2006 narrowly supported this policy, but it was renewed with a much increased majority in 2007. However, the position was reversed again when National Conference 2016 voted to campaign for universal living grants, funded through progressive taxation, in both further and higher education, in a policy change that had been pushed forward by the left-wing group, the National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts.


Alumni

Recent graduates of Labour Students have often gone on to work in Labour Party Headquarters, as ministerial special advisers, Trade Union officials and as members of left-leaning think tanks. Many also go on to enjoy successful careers outside of the politics.


Notable former Labour Students officers

*
Mike Gapes Michael John Gapes (born 4 September 1952) is a British former politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Ilford South from 1992 to 2019. Born in Wanstead Hospital, Gapes attended Buckhurst Hill County High School. He studied ec ...
(Chair 1976) – Former MP for
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(1992–2019). * John Mann (Chair 1983 and 1984) – Former MP for Bassetlaw (2001–2019). *
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(Chair 1985) – MSP for the Lothian Region. * Ben Lucas (Chair 1986) – Former special adviser to
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. *Simon Buckby (Chair 1989) – Former adviser to
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and then advertising director for Labour's 1997 election campaign. *Paul Richards (Chair 1990) – Former Special Adviser to
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and parliamentary candidate for the seats of
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(2001) and
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(1997). * Tom Watson (Chair 1992) – Labour MP for West Bromwich East, Deputy Leader of the Labour Party from
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to 2019 *
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(Chair 1997) – Former MP for
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. *
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(Chair 1998) – Former special adviser to
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and
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, Director of Policy at the
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. *
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(Chair 2002) – MP for Lewisham West & Penge. * John Howarth (National Secretary 1981–2) – Former MEP for
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. *
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(National Secretary) – Former and first female
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. * Caroline Flint (Women's Officer 1982–1984) – Former Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government. *
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(Campaigns & Membership Officer 1996) – Television presenter and former MP for Ashfield. * John Woodcock (National Secretary 2002) – Former MP for Barrow and Furness. *
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(Chair, Scottish Labour Students 2001–2003) – Former Special Adviser to James Purnell and Director of the Better Together campaign, Labour candidate for East Renfrewshire 2017. *Rob Minshull (National Secretary 1986) – Broadcaster. * Jonathan Ashworth (National Secretary 2000) – Former Deputy Political Secretary to
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and MP for
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. * Vicky Foxcroft (Chair 2001) – MP for Lewisham Deptford *
Iain McNicol Iain Mackenzie McNicol, Baron McNicol of West Kilbride (born 17 August 1969) is a British politician, trade unionist and life peer who served as General Secretary of the Labour Party from 2011 to 2018. He was National Political Officer of the ...
(Campaigns & Membership Officer 1993) – General Secretary of the Labour Party *
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(Member of the National Committee) – Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care


References


External links

*
Official website of ''Scottish Labour Students''Politics Student – Political opinion from students and young activists
{{UK Labour Party Labour Party (UK) socialist societies National Union of Students (United Kingdom) factions 1971 establishments in the United Kingdom