Labour Party Young Socialists - Re-organisation Under Neil Kinnock

Re-organisation Under Neil Kinnock

The Party's student wing, the National Organisation of Labour Students (NOLS), had a majority from the Clause Four group, having defeated Militant tendency's control of NOLS in December 1975. Many Labour leaders and politicians' staff were once NOLS members, many of whom had clashed with Militant in their student days. In their view they saw no fundamental reason why a social democratic party should play host to a parasitic entryist organisation with a different ideology.

When Neil Kinnock became Labour leader in 1983 the battle stepped up and after 1985 Kinnock made it clear he was determined to expel the Militant. In 1986 Labour Party conference decided to reorganise the LPYS. In 1987 the Neil Kinnock led Labour Party removed most of the LPYS elected structures, including the national delegate conference and reduced its upper age limit from 26 to 23. Reducing the age limit made most of the LPYS's leadership ineligible, since most of them were over 23, by the time they had gained enough experience to become national leaders of the LPYS. By 1990 the number of LPYS branches had fallen to 52.

The Labour Party Young Socialists continued until 1993 when the party conference in Brighton supported a motion to set up Young Labour, proposed by Tom Watson (later a Labour MP), seconded by Brian Whitington, then Chair of the Labour Party Young Socialists (later the 2005 Labour Party candidate in Twickenham) and supported by then NEC Youth Representative Claire Ward (who has been a Labour Party MP since 1997).