Northern Ireland Labour Party

The Northern Ireland Labour Party (NILP) was a political party which operated from 1924 until 1987.

In 1913 the British Labour Party resolved to give the recently formed Irish Labour Party exclusive organising rights in Ireland (the 1907 conference of the British party had been held in Belfast). This decision was not popular with the trade unions in Belfast, where skilled and organised workers tended to be Protestant and broadly Unionist (or at least anti-Nationalist) in outlook.

After Partition

After partition the NILP was founded as a socialist political party by groups including the Belfast Labour Party and found its main bed of support amongst working class voters in Belfast. It initially declined to take a position on the "Border Question" and instead sought to offer itself as an alternative to both nationalism and unionism. It maintained relations with the British Labour Party who did not allow membership or organisation in Northern Ireland until 2004.

The party had a Westminster Member of Parliament on only one occasion, when Jack Beattie won the Belfast West by-election, 1943, retained the seat in 1945, but lost it in 1949. He regained the seat as an Irish Labour Party candidate in 1951.^{[1] [2][3]}

In 1949, after Ireland (Éire) had become the Republic of Ireland, the Northern Ireland Labour Party's conference voted in favour of the Union with Great Britain. The result was a sharp decline in the party's already limited electoral success as Catholic voters deserted, and the Irish Labour Party attempted to organise in Northern Ireland. An earlier refusal to adopt this policy had split the party with leader Harry Midgley forming his own strongly Unionist Commonwealth Labour Party.

Later in the 1950s the party began to gain ground amongst unionist voters, and after the break up of the Irish Labour Party's new attempts to organise in Northern Ireland, amongst some nationalists, it saw its greatest period of success between 1958 and 1965. Four NILP MPs were elected to Stormont in 1958 for Belfast constituencies: Tom Boyd (Cromac), Billy Boyd (Woodvale), Vivian Simpson (Oldpark) and David Bleakley (Victoria). The NILP then became the official opposition at Stormont. ^[4]

Success came despite continued divisions, over such matters as Sunday Observance - two NILP Belfast councilors voted to close the city's park playgrounds on Sundays (as demanded by hard line Calvinists but opposed by Catholics) and were expelled as a result. As late as 1970 the party could poll over 100,000 votes on the basis of its cross-community appeal.

The Troubles

However with the onset of the Troubles, new parties emerged that appealed to the party's support base, including the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland and the Democratic Unionist Party. Once again the polarisation of politics around partition deprived the party of a critical mass.

In Government 1971

In 1971 the new Prime Minister of Northern Ireland Brian Faulkner appointed NILP Stormont MP David Bleakley^[5] to his Cabinet as Minister of Community Relations, in an attempt to bring reforms to Northern Ireland. However, the following year the Stormont Parliament was suspended when it resisted the London government request to take over responsibility for public order. In the 1973 referendum on the border, the NILP campaigned for the province to remain in the United Kingdom. David Bleakley was elected to the 1973 Assembly and 1975 Forum for East Belfast. ^[6]

The Northern Ireland Labour Party continued to contest elections but with a dwindling support base.

Labour '87

In 1987 the remains of the party merged with Labour Party of Northern Ireland (formed in 1985 by former SDLP leader Paddy Devlin), the Ulster Liberal Party and the United Labour Party to form the Labour '87 group. This group also gained the support of the Newtownabbey Labour Party. They contested local elections and Mark Langhammer contested the 1989 European Elections unsuccessfully. ^[7]

Leaders of the Northern Ireland Labour Party at Stormont

• 1925 - 29: Samuel Kyle
• 1929 - 33: Jack Beattie
• 1933 - 38: Harry Midgley
• 1938 - 42: Paddy Agnew
• 1942 - 43: Jack Beattie
• 1943 - 45: Paddy Agnew
• 1945 - 49: Hugh Downey, Dock Ward, Belfast
• 1958 - 69: Tom Boyd
• 1969 - 73: Vivian Simpson

Labour Party in Northern Ireland as of 2009

In 2009 the Labour Party in Northern Ireland(LPNI) was formally constituted as a Constiutency Labour Party of the British Labour Party. Previous to this members of the party based in Northern Ireland organised as Labour Members in Northern Ireland.

At the first CLP meeting in February 2009 Dr. Boyd Black was elected as Secretary of the CLP and Kevin McAdam as the Chair.

External links

• Labour Party in Northern Ireland website

References