ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the tension between the relative local success of the Independent Labour Party (ILP) in Glasgow and Norwich and the national picture of decline. In electoral terms, the ILP in Norwich, as in Glasgow, and unlike in Derby or Jarrow, was able at a certain level to present a viable alternative to the local Labour Party. One recent contribution examines the ILP in Derby, where the party had influence on the trades council, and suggests the importance of networking in generating a dynamic ILP branch. The situation in Shettleston meant that an important section of the ILP, and one of its MPs, already stood irretrievably outside the Labour Party during the disaffiliation debates. The principal way in which the Clydeside situation can be addressed is through comparison with trajectories of the ILP elsewhere. The greatest influence of the national on the local came from the way in which national politics structured the political spaces available to the ILP.
