Socialist Party (England and Wales)

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{{Main|Militant tendency}}

The Socialist Party was formerly the Militant group, which practised entryism in the Labour Party. In the 1980s, Militant supporters Dave Nellist, Pat Wall and Terry Fields were elected to the House of Commons as Labour MPs. In 1982, Liverpool District Labour Party adopted Militant's policies for Liverpool City Council in its battle against cuts in the rate support grant from government, and came into conflict with the Conservative government.{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/legacy-of-merseys-militants-1613115.html |work=The Independent |first=Ray |last=Mgadzah |title=Legacy of Mersey's Militants |date=28 March 1995 |access-date=12 September 2017 |archive-date=15 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161115071934/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/legacy-of-merseys-militants-1613115.html |url-status=live }}

In 1991, there was a debate within Militant as to whether to continue working within the Labour Party, centred around whether they could still effectively operate in the party following the expulsions. The group became Militant Labour in 1991, after leaving the Labour Party. In 1997, Militant Labour changed its name to the Socialist Party,{{Cite web |title=The Socialist Party (formerly the Revolutionary Socialist League, Militant Tendency and Militant Labour) |url=https://mrc-catalogue.warwick.ac.uk/records/MIL |access-date=2024-08-14 |website=mrc-catalogue.warwick.ac.uk |language=en-gb}} and the Militant newspaper was renamed The Socialist.

In March 2009, the Socialist Party was invited to participate in No to EU – Yes to Democracy (No2EU), a left-wing alter-globalisation coalition by the RMT union leader Bob Crow, for the 2009 European Parliament elections.{{cite web |title=Election campaigns |url=http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/campaign/Election_campaigns/No2EU/7077 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110611002201/http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/campaign/Election_campaigns/No2EU/7077 |archive-date=11 June 2011 |access-date=3 April 2009 |work=socialistparty.org.uk}} This alliance later developed into the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC), of which the party is a member.{{Cite web |date=2021-01-05 |title=About |url=https://www.tusc.org.uk/about/ |access-date=2024-08-14 |website=TUSC |language=en-GB}}

During Jeremy Corbyn's leadership of the Labour Party, members of the Socialist Party attempted to join the former, with then leader of the Socialist Party, Peter Taaffe, stating they hoped to be able to affiliate to the Labour Party and stand joint candidates at future general elections. Labour Party sources however distanced themselves from such attempts, highlighting that the rules preventing active members of other parties joining the Labour Party.{{Cite news |last=Stewart |first=Heather |last2=Elgot |first2=Jessica |date=2016-11-11 |title=Socialist party leader submits application to rejoin Labour |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/nov/11/peter-taaffe-socialist-militants-labour |access-date=2024-08-14 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}

In 2018 and 2019, the party was involved in a dispute within the predecessor Committee for a Workers' International (1974) around the questions of socialism and identity politics.{{cite news |last=Kelly |first=Fiach |date=6 March 2019 |title=Socialist Party documents illustrate criticism from international comrades |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/socialist-party-documents-illustrate-criticism-from-international-comrades-1.3815624 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230713035953/https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/socialist-party-documents-illustrate-criticism-from-international-comrades-1.3815624 |archive-date=13 July 2023 |newspaper=The Irish Times}} The Socialist Party, as part of the “In Defence of a Working Class and Trotskyist CWI” (IDWCTCWI) faction, would go on to re-establish a revived Committee for a Workers' International in 2019 that considers itself a continuance of the original CWI (though this is disputed).{{Cite web |last=Flakin |first=Nathaniel |date=2019-08-09 |title=The Split in the CWI: Lessons for Trotskyists |url=https://www.leftvoice.org/the-split-in-the-cwi-lessons-for-trotskyists/ |access-date=2024-08-14 |website=Left Voice |language=en-US}}

The Socialist Party is registered with the UK Government Electoral Commission under the name of Socialist Alternative{{Cite web |title=The Electoral Commission Registrations|url=https://search.electoralcommission.org.uk/English/Registrations/PP108|access-date=2024-10-31 |website=Electoral commission|language=en-gb}}{{Better source needed|reason=Source does not confirm Socialist Party uses the name Socialist Alternative.|date=January 2025}}

{{Reflist|2}}

{{commons category}}

• [http://www.socialistparty.org.uk Socialist Party]
• [http://www.socialismtoday.org Socialism Today] theoretical journal of the Socialist Party
• [http://www.socialistworld.org Committee for a Workers' International]
• [http://www.tusc.org.uk Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition]
• [https://mrc.epexio.com/records/MIL Catalogue of the Socialist Party archives] held at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick

{{Militant}}

{{CWI2019}}

{{UK far left}}

{{British political parties}}

{{United Kingdom Alternative Vote referendum, 2011}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Militant tendency

Category:Labour Party (UK) breakaway groups

Category:Political parties established in 1997