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{{Short description|Student wing of the UK Labour Party}}
{{Redirect|Labour Clubs|the social clubs|National Union of Labour and Socialist Clubs}}
{{More citations needed|date=May 2017}}
{{Infobox political youth organization
| name = National Labour Students
| colorcode        = #EE0000
| chairperson      = Ruby Herbert
| founded          = as National Organisation of Labour Students in 1971, refounded as National Labour Students in 2022
| national         = [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]]
| regional1_type   = European
| regional1_name   = [[Young European Socialists]]
| international    = [[International Union of Socialist Youth]]
| ideology         = [[Social democracy]]
| website          = {{URL|labourstudents.co.uk}}
}}
[[File:Labour Students - 5563409955.jpg|thumb|right|Labour Students protesting against government cuts in March 2011]]
'''National Labour Students''' also known as Labour Students is a student organisation within the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] of the [[United Kingdom]]. It is a network of affiliated college and university clubs, known as Labour Clubs, who campaign in their campuses and communities for Labour's values of equality and social justice.

Labour Students’ main activities include providing political education and training to its members, sending activists to by-elections and marginal constituencies across the country and organising politically within the [[National Union of Students (United Kingdom)|National Union of Students]] and [[Student unionism in the United Kingdom|Student Unions]].

Labour Students was disaffiliated from the Labour Party by the Party's National Executive Committee in September 2019, with the intent of replacing it with a new student organisation.<ref name=guardian-20190917>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/sep/17/labour-purges-its-student-wing-ahead-of-party-conference |title=Labour votes to scrap student wing ahead of party conference |last=Mason |first=Rowena |newspaper=The Guardian |date=17 September 2019 |access-date=18 September 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://labourlist.org/2019/09/nec-approves-lansmans-motion-to-scrap-labour-students/|title=NEC approves Lansman's motion to scrap Labour Students|last=Rodgers|first=Sienna|date=17 September 2019|website=LabourList|language=en-GB|access-date=17 September 2019}}</ref> Although campaigning activity continued to be organised under the Labour Students branding during the [[2019 general election in the United Kingdom|2019 general election]], the organisation subsequently ceased to exist.<ref name=guardian-20190917/>

A new, refounded '''National Labour Students''' (NLS) was passed at the 2021 [[Labour Party Conference]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://labourlist.org/2022/02/refounding-labour-students-how-the-new-nols-was-won-and-how-it-will-work/|title=Refounding Labour Students: How the new NOLS was won and how it will work|first1=Fraser|last1=Amos|first2=Nabeela|last2=Mowlana|date=8 February 2022|website=LabourList}}</ref> National Committee elections were held in August 2022<ref>{{cite web |url=https://labourlist.org/2022/08/why-we-are-standing-to-be-reps-on-the-national-labour-students-committee/ |title=Why we are standing in the National Labour Students committee elections |last1=Amos |first1=Fraser |last2=Charilaou |first2=Alex |date=2 August 2022 |website=LabourList}}</ref> and Ben McGowan was elected as the inaugural chair of the organisation on 2 September 2022.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://labourlist.org/2022/09/results-released-in-nec-national-policy-forum-and-youth-wing-elections/|title=Results released in NEC, national policy forum, youth and student wing elections|first=Elliot|last=Chappell|date=1 September 2022|website=LabourList}}</ref>

== History ==
The Labour Party's first organisation for students was the National Association of Labour Student Organisations (NALSO), which was founded in 1946 but had its recognition by the party withdrawn in 1967 after it was taken over by supporters of the Trotskyist [[Socialist Labour League]]. While the Scottish organisation continued, the Labour Party was left without a national student body.<ref name="encyclopedia">Peter Barberis, John McHugh and Mike Tyldesley, ''Encyclopedia of British and Irish Political Organizations''</ref>

In 1970, some Labour supporters created Students for a Labour Victory, a group intended to coordinate campaigning in [[1970 United Kingdom general election|the general election that year]]. That group then became the '''National Organisation of Labour Students''' (NOLS), which held its founding conference in 1971. Despite changing its name in the early 1990s,<ref name=encyclopedia /> the current body, Labour Students, is still sometimes referred to by the [[Acronym and initialism|acronym]] NOLS.

In its early years, NOLS was divided between two factions — members of the [[entryism|entryist]] [[Militant tendency|Militant]] group<ref>Originally known as the [[Revolutionary Socialist League (UK, 1957)|Revolutionary Socialist League]], this name had been dropped internally within Militant by 1969, see John Callaghan ''The Far Left in British Politics'', Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1987, p.177; Michael Crick (''The March of Militant'',London: Faber, 1986, p.60) has the change occurring by 1967.</ref> and a mainstream left group, associated with the [[Tribune (magazine)#Tribune Group of MPs|Tribune]] group of Labour MPs, which formed in January 1974 called [[Clause Four Group|Clause Four]], after the central political statement of the Labour Party constitution. Militant controlled NOLS from January 1974 to December 1975.<ref>Michael Crick ''The March of Militant'', London: Faber, p.97</ref>  Members of NOLS in the 1970s included future parliamentarians [[Charles Clarke]], [[Bill Speirs]], [[Peter Mandelson]], [[Sally Morgan, Baroness Morgan of Huyton|Sally Morgan]], [[Mike Gapes]], Mike Jackson, Nigel Stanley,<ref name="encyclopedia" /> [[Margaret Curran]] and [[Johann Lamont]].

During [[Tony Blair]]'s premiership, Labour Students opposed the Government's planned introduction of [[Tuition fees in the United Kingdom|university "top-up" fees]]. Labour Students were broadly supportive of [[Gordon Brown]]'s government.

In 2016, the national conference adopted a one-member-one-vote (OMOV) system for internal elections, through an amendment of its constitution. However many member clubs perceived this as being implemented incompletely and slowly, with accusations of vote-rigging in 2019.  In the early 2019 Labour Students leadership election there were 507 eligible voters, out of a claimed approximately 30,000 Labour Party student members.<ref name=guardian-20190917/><ref name=labourstudents-20190823>{{cite web |url=https://labourstudents.org.uk/2019/08/23/2019-labour-students-national-committee-election-results/ |title=2019 Labour Students National Committee Election Results |publisher=Labour Students |date=23 August 2019 |access-date=21 September 2019}}</ref> As a consequence, about half of member clubs, including [[Oxford University Labour Club]] and [[Cambridge University Labour Club]], disaffiliated from Labour Students.<ref name=labourlist-20190716>{{cite news |url=https://labourlist.org/2019/07/why-university-labour-clubs-should-disaffiliate-from-labour-students/ |title=Why university Labour clubs should disaffiliate from Labour Students |last=Vernon |first=Rob |website=LabourList |date=16 July 2019 |access-date=20 July 2019}}</ref><ref name=cherwell-20190222>{{cite news |url=https://cherwell.org/2019/02/22/oulc-to-disaffiliate-from-labour-students/ |title=OULC to disaffiliate from Labour Students |author=Ben van der Merwe |website=Cherwell |date=22 February 2019 |access-date=24 October 2019}}</ref><ref name=cherwell-20190320>{{cite news |url=https://cherwell.org/2019/03/20/cambridge-labour-to-follow-oulc-in-disaffiliating-from-labour-students/ |title=Cambridge Labour to follow OULC in disaffiliating from Labour Students |author=Ben van der Merwe |website=Cherwell |date=20 March 2019 |access-date=20 July 2019}}</ref>

Further to the disaffiliations by Labour university Clubs, a motion was tabled by [[Jon Lansman]] at the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] NEC meeting in September 2019 to dissolve the current organisation on the grounds that it did not pay its affiliation fees nor submitted its political rules to the party.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/labour-students-wing-nec-momentum_uk_5d7ffe70e4b03b5fc8883d89|title=Labour's 'Moderate' Student Wing Facing Replacement With More Pro-Corbyn Body|website=[[HuffPost]]|date=16 September 2019|first=Paul|last=Waugh}}</ref> At the NEC meeting this motion passed and Labour Students is no longer affiliated to the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]].<ref name=guardian-20190917/> This action was challenged by the incumbent Labour Students leadership, but they were unsuccessful.<ref>{{Twitter|id=LabourStudents|name=Labour Students}}</ref>

A new, refounded National Labour Students (NLS) was passed at the 2021 [[Labour Party Conference]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://labourlist.org/2022/02/refounding-labour-students-how-the-new-nols-was-won-and-how-it-will-work/|title=Refounding Labour Students: How the new NOLS was won and how it will work|first1=Fraser|last1=Amos|first2=Nabeela|last2=Mowlana|date=8 February 2022|website=LabourList}}</ref> National Committee elections were held in August 2022<ref>{{cite web |url=https://labourlist.org/2022/08/why-we-are-standing-to-be-reps-on-the-national-labour-students-committee/ |title=Why we are standing in the National Labour Students committee elections |last1=Amos |first1=Fraser |last2=Charilaou |first2=Alex |date=2 August 2022 |website=LabourList}}</ref> and Ben McGowan was elected as the inaugural chair of the organisation on 2 September 2022.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://labourlist.org/2022/09/results-released-in-nec-national-policy-forum-and-youth-wing-elections/|title=Results released in NEC, national policy forum, youth and student wing elections|first=Elliot|last=Chappell|date=1 September 2022|website=LabourList}}</ref> Internal elections in 2024 saw the victory of the "Organise" faction, backed by [[Labour First]] and [[Progressive Britain]], which defeated the left-wing "Socialist Future" group: Ruby Herbert replaced McGowan soon afterwards.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Belger |first=Tom |date=2024-04-08 |title=Labour Students and Young Labour election results in full: Pro-Starmer candidates win control as left routed |url=https://labourlist.org/2024/04/young-labour-students-election-results/ |access-date= |website=[[LabourList]] |language=en-GB}}</ref>

== Internal organisation ==
Prior to 2019, Labour Students was a '[[Socialist society (Labour Party)|socialist society]]', affiliated to the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]]. This means that, whilst its aims were broadly in line with the wider party, Labour Students was an independent organisation and was entitled to democratically determine its own policy and governance. Labour Students members were entitled to vote in the affiliates section of Labour leadership elections.

The refounded National Labour Students is a formal branch of the Labour Party, and as such is not responsible for its own governance. Any Labour Party member who is a student is automatically a member of National Labour Students

===National Events===
Generally, before the organisation's relaunch, Labour Students held four main national events each year, attended by club members from institutions across the country.

; Summer Training : Summer Training is primarily intended for members entering their second and third years of study. There is often a focus on preparing Labour Clubs for recruitment drives at the beginning of the new academic year. The event is usually structured with a variety breakout sessions and workshops, led by industry experts, trade unions and other campaigning organisations. In recent years{{When|date=April 2015}} Summer Training has included sessions led by Matthew Doyle (former deputy director of Communications, [[10 Downing Street]]), Kirsty McNeill (former adviser to [[Gordon Brown]]) and community organising group Movement for Change. There is also usually a heavy emphasis on training from the four liberation campaigns.

; Political Weekend : Political Weekend is usually the event where Labour Students welcomes its new members each year. Labour Students usually hosts a number of high-profile speakers, including government ministers during periods of Labour government and members of the [[Shadow Cabinet]] in times of opposition.

; Liberation Conference 
Liberation Conference sees the election of Labour Students’ four Liberation Officers (see ‘Liberation Campaigns’). It also includes panels and sessions around issues of particular importance to Liberation groups, for example mental health services or tackling antisemitism on campuses.

; National Conference : National Conference sees the election of the Labour Students National Committee for the following year, as well further policy debate. Though nominally described as an "election", only a small number of delegates vote, along lines pre-determined by their nominating clubs. National Conference is often held in conjunction with [[Young Labour (UK)|Young Labour]] Conference, to help reduce members' travel costs.

===National Committee===
The National Labour Students Committee convenes regularly and works together to ensure the organisation runs smoothly and works effectively to represent members.

===National Committee===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Role !! 2022-24<ref>{{cite web|date=2022-09-01|title=Results released in NEC, national policy forum, youth and student wing elections
|url=https://labourlist.org/2022/09/results-released-in-nec-national-policy-forum-and-youth-wing-elections/|access-date=2022-10-21|website=Labour List}}</ref> !! 2024-<ref>{{cite web|date=2024-04-08|title=Labour Students and Young Labour election results in full: Pro-Starmer candidates win control as left routed
|url=https://labourlist.org/2024/04/young-labour-students-election-results/|access-date=2024-05-02|website=Labour List}}</ref>
|-
| Chair || Ben McGowan || Ruby Herbert 
|-
| Secretary || Jonathan Heywood || Issy Waite 
|-
| Vice Chair || Fabiha Askari || Lewis Warner
|- 
| BAME Officer || Elilee Arulkumar || Mason Humberstone
|- 
| Disabled Students Officer || Moya O'Rourke || Madeleine Wainman
|- 
| LGBT+ Officer || Kieron Warren || Rudi Ellis-Jones
|- 
| Women's Officer || Lola Fayokun || Martha Dacombe
|-
| Trans Officer || Alex Charilaou || Willow Parker 
|- 
| East Midlands Rep || ''vacant'' || Ben Duffy
|-
| Eastern Rep || Molly Bloomfield ||''vacant'' <ref>https://x.com/ikerem001/status/1915405064891494448</ref>
|- 
| London Rep || Nimah Ogas-Hersi || Bruno Dent
|-
| North West Rep || Chloe Brooks || Esme Barlow-Hall 
|- 
| Northern Rep || Joshua Freestone || Emily Gill 
|- 
| Scotland Chair || Solomon Cuthbertson || Emma Russell
|- 
| South East Rep || Zahra Lahrie || Cai Parry
|- 
| South West Rep || Daniel Chappel || Carys Skingle
|- 
| Wales Rep || Dylan Lewis-Rowlands || Bethia Tucker 
|-
| West Midlands Rep || Lily Soaper || Yusuf Amin 
|- 
| Yorkshire and Humber Rep || Eleanor Falshaw || Daniel Wilton
|- 
| Ordinary Rep || Zac Bates Fisher || Martin Barabas 
|- 
| Ordinary Rep || Emma Bean || Zack Hayward 
|- 
| Ordinary Rep || Hareem Ghani || Jess Hilton 
|- 
| Ordinary Rep || Kieran Kavanagh || Rachel Holland 
|- 
| Ordinary Rep || Libs Olley || Jacob Sammon 
|- 
| Ordinary Rep || Cai Parry || Katie Truman 
|- 
|}

{{reflist|group=n}}

===Liberation Campaigns===

Within Labour Students there are four autonomous liberation campaigns. These were the [[Women's Movement|Women's]], [[LGBT social movements|Lesbian Gay Bisexual & Trans]], [[Disability rights movement|Disabled]] Students and [[Anti-racism|Black Asian Minority Ethnic (BAME)]] Students campaigns, all of which are entitled to elect an officer to the National Committee. Labour Students holds caucuses for each of the liberation groups at every national event, has an equal opportunities policy and ensures all events are fully accessible.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://labourstudents.org.uk/what-we-do-2/|title=What We Do – Labour Students|website=labourstudents.org.uk|language=en-GB|access-date=2018-02-10}}</ref>

===Scotland and Wales===
There are separate organisations for Labour Clubs in the devolved nations, known as [[Welsh Labour Students]] and [[Scottish Labour Students]] respectively. The Chairs of these two organisations also sit on the committee of Labour Students as full members.

==Campaigning==

===Priority Campaign===
Labour Students took on a major campaign each year, voted for in an all-member ballot. Recent campaigns have included:
*'''"Make Child Poverty History" campaign (2006–2007)'''
*'''"Sex, Lives and Politics" (2005–2006)''' – This was followed by a government reduction of VAT on condoms to the EU minimum of 5%.
*'''The Living Wage Campaign (2011–2013)''' – Labour Students worked in collaboration with the trade union [[Unison (trade union)|UNISON]] to equip members with the skills to fight for a [[living wage]] to be paid to staff on their university campuses. The campaign was extremely successful, with clubs including Manchester and Kent securing the living wage at their institutions.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nusconnect.org.uk/news/article/soccit/How-We-Won-a-Living-Wage-at-Manchester/ |title=How We Won a Living Wage at Manchester |access-date=6 September 2012}}</ref> 
*'''The Voter Registration Campaign (2012–2013)''' – Labour Students intended to increase the number of students registered to vote.
*'''A Million More Voices (2016–2017)''' - Campaign aimed at introducing automatic [[voter registration]].
*'''Somewhere To Call Home (2017–2018)''' – Campaign aimed at tackling "poor living conditions and extortionate rents for students."
*'''Time For Rights (2018– 2019)''' – Campaign to protect the rights of workers in Students’ Unions and Universities from Brexit.

== Labour Students and the National Union of Students ==
Every year, Labour Students actively organised and campaigned within the [[National Union of Students (United Kingdom)|National Union of Students]] (NUS). As a result of this, Labour Students was viewed as an influential faction within the NUS and its members were frequently elected to the NUS National Executive Council (NEC) and to full-time officer positions, although 2015 saw a majority of their candidates losing to those to the Left.

===History within the National Union of Students===

In the late 1970s, Labour Students (then NOLS) worked within the NUS as part of the [[Broad Left]], a student coalition which also included the student wing of the [[Communist Party of Great Britain]] and independent left wing students. The Broad Left stood slates of candidates in NUS elections. (The Broad Left is not to be confused with the post-1997 grouping [[Liberation Left|Student Broad Left]].) In the early 1980s NOLS broke with the Broad Left and presented its own slate of candidates in NUS elections. In 1982, NOLS won the presidency of NUS on its own for the first time. A succession of NOLS candidates were elected to the [[National Union of Students (United Kingdom)#Presidents|NUS Presidency]] until 2000 with the strongest challenges generally coming from those to the left of the Labour Party. Several former NOLS NUS Presidents, including Charles Clarke and Jim Murphy, went on to serve as [[Cabinet of the United Kingdom|Cabinet]] ministers, serving as members of a Labour government. Throughout this period, NOLS members of the NUS National Executive Committee were a minority, but exercised effective control.

Labour Students' flagship policy in NUS was{{When|date=April 2015}} the rejection of campaigning for universal grants, in favour of targeting student support funds towards poorer students through means testing. National Conference 2006 narrowly supported this policy, but it was renewed with a much increased majority in 2007. However, the position was reversed again when National Conference 2016 voted to campaign for universal living grants, funded through progressive taxation, in both further and higher education,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.nusconnect.org.uk/resources/welfare-zone-live-policy-2014-17|title=Welfare Zone Live Policy 2014–17 @ NUS connect|website=www.nusconnect.org.uk|language=en|access-date=2017-07-16}}</ref> in a policy change that had been pushed forward by the left-wing group, the [[National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://anticuts.com/2016/02/08/left-wing-motions-for-nus-national-conference-2016/|title=Left-wing motions for NUS National Conference 2016|website=National Campaign Against Fees & Cuts|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160329053647/http://anticuts.com/2016/02/08/left-wing-motions-for-nus-national-conference-2016/|archive-date=2016-03-29|url-status=dead|access-date=16 July 2017}}</ref>

==Alumni==
Recent graduates of Labour Students have often gone on to work in [[Labour Party headquarters (UK)|Labour Party headquarters]], as ministerial special advisers, Trade Union officials and as members of left-leaning think tanks. Many also go on to enjoy successful careers outside of the politics.

===Notable former Labour Students officers===
*[[Mike Gapes]] (Chair 1976) – Former MP for [[Ilford South (UK Parliament constituency)|Ilford South]] (1992–2019).
*[[John Mann, Baron Mann|John Mann]] (Chair 1983 and 1984) – Former MP for [[Bassetlaw (UK Parliament constituency)|Bassetlaw]] (2001–2019).
*[[Sarah Boyack]] (Chair 1985) – MSP for the Lothian Region.
*Ben Lucas (Chair 1986) – Former special adviser to [[Jack Straw]].
*Simon Buckby (Chair 1989) – Former adviser to [[John Prescott]] and then advertising director for Labour's 1997 election campaign. 
*Paul Richards (Chair 1990) – Former Special Adviser to [[Hazel Blears]] and parliamentary candidate for the seats of [[Lewes (UK Parliament constituency)|Lewes]] (2001) and [[Billericay (UK Parliament constituency)|Billericay]] (1997).
*[[Tom Watson, Baron Watson of Wyre Forest|Tom Watson]] (Chair 1992) – Labour MP for [[West Bromwich East (UK Parliament constituency)|West Bromwich East]], [[Deputy Leader of the Labour Party (UK)|Deputy Leader of the Labour Party]] from [[2015 Labour Party deputy leadership election|2015]] to 2019
*[[Michael Dugher]] (Chair 1997) – Former MP for [[Barnsley East (UK Parliament constituency)|Barnsley East]].
*[[Patrick Diamond]] (Chair 1998) – Former special adviser to [[Peter Mandelson]] and [[Tony Blair]], Director of Policy at the [[Equality and Human Rights Commission]]. 
*[[Ellie Reeves]] (Chair 2002) – MP for Lewisham West & Penge.
*[[John Howarth (British politician)|John Howarth]] (National Secretary 1981–2) – Former MEP for [[South East England (European Parliament constituency)|South East England]].
*[[Jacqui Smith]] (National Secretary) – Former and first female [[Home Secretary]].
*[[Caroline Flint]] (Women's Officer 1982–1984) – Former [[Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government]].
*[[Gloria De Piero]] (Campaigns & Membership Officer 1996) – Television presenter and former MP for [[Ashfield (UK Parliament constituency)|Ashfield]].
*[[John Woodcock, Baron Walney|John Woodcock]] (National Secretary 2002) – Former MP for [[Barrow and Furness (UK Parliament constituency)|Barrow and Furness]]. 
*[[Blair McDougall]] (Chair, Scottish Labour Students 2001–2003) – Former Special Adviser to James Purnell and Director of the [[Better Together (campaign)|Better Together]] campaign, Labour candidate for East Renfrewshire 2017.
*Rob Minshull (National Secretary 1986) – Broadcaster.
*[[Jonathan Ashworth]] (National Secretary 2000) – Former Deputy Political Secretary to [[Gordon Brown]] and MP for [[Leicester South (UK Parliament constituency)|Leicester South]].
*[[Vicky Foxcroft]] (Chair 2001) – MP for Lewisham Deptford.
*[[Iain McNicol]] (Campaigns & Membership Officer 1993) – Former General Secretary of the Labour Party and Labour Peer.
*[[Wes Streeting]] (Member of the National Committee)  – [[Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care]].

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*{{official|https://www.labourstudents.co.uk}}

{{British political youth organisations}}
{{YES member organisations}}
{{UK Labour Party}}

[[Category:Labour Students| ]]
[[Category:Labour Party (UK) socialist societies]]
[[Category:National Union of Students (United Kingdom) factions]]
[[Category:1971 establishments in the United Kingdom]]