The Republican Labour Party (RLP) was a political party in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. It was founded in 1964, with two MPs at Stormont, Harry Diamond and

Gerry Fitt Gerard Fitt, Baron Fitt (9 April 1926 – 26 August 2005) was a politician in Northern Ireland. He was a founder and the first leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), a social democratic and Irish nationalist party. Early year ...

. They had previously been the sole Northern Ireland representatives of the Socialist Republican Party and the

Irish Labour Party The Labour Party ( ga, Páirtí an Lucht Oibre, literally "Party of the Working People") is a centre-left and social-democratic political party in the Republic of Ireland. Founded on 28 May 1912 in Clonmel, County Tipperary, by James Connolly, ...

respectively, so a common joke was that "two one-man parties had become one two-man party". Fitt won the West Belfast seat in the UK general election of 1966, and held it in the 1970 election. In August 1970, Fitt founded the

Social Democratic and Labour Party The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) ( ga, Páirtí Sóisialta Daonlathach an Lucht Oibre) is a social-democratic and Irish nationalist political party in Northern Ireland. The SDLP currently has eight members in the Northern Ireland ...

, and he and Senator

Paddy Wilson Patrick Gerard "Paddy" Wilson (c. 1933 – 25/26 June 1973) was an Irish nationalist politician in Northern Ireland who was murdered by the loyalist Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF).

were expelled from the RLP by a vote of 52 to 1. Paddy Kennedy was elected as the new party leader. He formally withdrew from Parliament in 1971, and adopted a more strongly

Irish republican Irish republicanism ( ga, poblachtánachas Éireannach) is the political movement for the unity and independence of Ireland under a republic. Irish republicans view British rule in any part of Ireland as inherently illegitimate. The develop ...

stance, agreeing to attend a conference organised by

William Whitelaw William Stephen Ian Whitelaw, 1st Viscount Whitelaw, (28 June 1918 – 1 July 1999) was a British Conservative Party politician who served in a wide number of Cabinet positions, most notably as Home Secretary from 1979 to 1983 and as ''de fac ...

only if he could bring

Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is a name used by various paramilitary organisations in Ireland throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Organisations by this name have been dedicated to irredentism through Irish republicanism, the belief tha ...

members as part of his delegation.

Eamonn McCann Eamonn McCann (born 10 March 1943) is an Irish politician, journalist, political activist, and former councillor from Derry, Northern Ireland. McCann was a People Before Profit (PBP) Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Foyle from 2016 ...

,
Obituary: Paddy Kennedy
", ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', 4 May 1999 The party was wiped out in both the 1973 elections to the

Northern Ireland Assembly sco-ulster, Norlin Airlan Assemblie , legislature = 7th Northern Ireland Assembly, Seventh Assembly , coa_pic = File:NI_Assembly.svg , coa_res = 250px , house_type = Unicameralism, Unicameral , hou ...

and the 1973 local elections and as a result was disbanded.

References

Defunct socialist parties in the United Kingdom Defunct political parties in Northern Ireland Labour parties in Northern Ireland Political parties established in 1964 Political parties disestablished in 1973 Irish republican parties Republicanism in the United Kingdom Socialist parties in Ireland Eurosceptic parties {{Northern-Ireland-party-stub