ABSTRACT
The Labour Party’s activities, considerable from the very outset, in the field of Local Government. Labour efforts to secure representation on local governing authorities go back almost, if not quite, as far as movements for Labour representation in Parliament. In effect, except in the case of the School Boards, there was little opening for Labour activity in Local Government until after 1888. The local elections of 1919, held after a suspension of four or five years, made an immense difference to Labour’s position in Local Government. In the earlier stages of Labour’s campaign for control of Local Government, municipalisation of public utilities played a large part in the Labour programme. In 1928 the Fabian Society reconstituted the Bureau as a Bureau of Local Government Information and Research, open to subscribing members; but the number of subscribers proved all too small to carry the burden.
