The NewLabour Party was a centre-left political party in New Zealand that operated from 1989 to 2000. It was founded by Jim Anderton, an member of parliament (MP) and former president of the

New Zealand Labour Party The New Zealand Labour Party ( mi, Rōpū Reipa o Aotearoa), or simply Labour (), is a centre-left political party in New Zealand. The party's platform programme describes its founding principle as democratic socialism, while observers descr ...

. NewLabour was established by a number of Labour Party members who left the party in reaction to " Rogernomics", the economic policies implemented by the Labour Party's Minister of Finance, Roger Douglas, which saw the traditionally

left Left may refer to: Music * ''Left'' (Hope of the States album), 2006 * ''Left'' (Monkey House album), 2016 * "Left", a song by Nickelback from the album ''Curb'', 1996 Direction * Left (direction), the relative direction opposite of right * L ...

-leaning Labour Party swing heavily to the new right on issues of state intervention, regulation, and taxation. Anderton, who had been among the most vocal critics of Douglas, was joined by a number of other members of the Labour Party, such as Matt Robson, Laila Harré and

Phil Amos Phillip Albert Amos (4 September 1925 – 8 June 2007) was a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party. Biography Early life Amos was born in Wanganui in 1925, the son of John Amos. He received his education at Otorohanga District High Scho ...

, and a number of left-wing activists, such as Bruce Jesson. Anderton was the party's only MP before it joined the Alliance.

Electoral success

In the 1990 elections, NewLabour stood candidates in all electorates. The party gained a certain amount of support from disillusioned Labour voters, winning 5.16% of the vote. Anderton was NewLabour's only successful candidate, retaining the Sydenham seat in working-class south-central Christchurch. He remained the party's sole representative in Parliament, which was now dominated by the National Party with 67 seats out of 97.

Alliance building

In 1991, NewLabour and several other parties formed the Alliance, a broad left-wing coalition. Initially, NewLabour maintained a separate identity within the Alliance, keeping its own party organization intact. By 2000, however, many felt that maintaining parallel NewLabour and Alliance structures was counter-productive, and at NewLabour's October conference, it was decided to completely assimilate the party into the larger Alliance structure, marking the end of NewLabour as an autonomous group.

Former parliamentarians

The following is a list of former parliamentarians: MPs elected between 1991 and 2000 were members of the NewLabour Party's faction of the Alliance.

References

{{NZ Alliance Party 1989 establishments in New Zealand 2000 disestablishments in New Zealand Defunct political parties in New Zealand Defunct socialist parties Democratic socialist parties in Oceania Labour parties Political parties disestablished in 2000 Political parties established in 1989 Socialist parties in New Zealand