For Labour

Before the founding of the Labour Party and the extension of the franchise in the early twentieth century, which enabled the majority of working people to vote for the first time (although women under 30 did not get the vote until 1928), the other two parties often stood local election candidates on an apparently "non-party" platform as it was felt that party politics was not appropriate for local matters. However in reality and behind the scenes, there were strong connections between the Liberal Party and those who stood for the "Progressives" in local government, and between the Tories and what was known as the "Municipal Reform" party, although there were also a large number of genuine independents. Then, as now, there were struggles between those who wanted local government to provide vital services and improve local living conditions for the better, and those who were most concerned to minimise the burden to rate-payers (who, as property-owners, were the only people with the franchise until 1918).

Labour Party members - and before the Party existed formally, numerous other activists of the left such as the Co-operative Women's Guild, trade unionists and socialist societies - campaigned for local government to tackle issues such as better housing, public bath-houses and child and maternal welfare in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Labour is part of local government's long, proud tradition of serving local communities and responding to their needs and priorities.

Since those days, local government has also been flexible enough to change, become more efficient and provide services and community leadership in different ways that are relevant to our changing society in the twenty-first century. Labour councillors today still campaign for better and more affordable housing, as well as for issues such as sustainable economic development, improved green space and leisure facilities, and better public services that look after the most vulnerable in our communities.