ABSTRACT
The Railway Company carried through the legal action against the union for £23,000 in respect of damages and costs in the dispute and eventually, after much argument and campaigning by the union, the House of Lords decided in 1902 in favour of the Company. The Union bill for the action, including their own defence and the £23,000 awarded to the Company came to £42,000. The six years from 1900 to 1906 were formative years in the political thinking of the unions. The Taff Vale decision united the unions on a single political issue, and for the first time in their history caused them to pursue political action through their own party. Finally, the lrc changed to the Labour Party and similarly changed its attitude towards setting out a separate political programme for the party, beginning to organise itself in Parliament as an independent political party.
