The battle for Labour’s future is not just being played out in Westminster, but is also unfolding among the party’s youngest members. The results of this year’s Young Labor and Student Labor contests provide an early indication of where the party may be headed.
These elections determine the national committees for Young Workers and Labor Students – bodies that, although often dismissed as juvenile, “careerist” and “clique” internal structures, in fact, are at the intersection of representation and organization within the party. They are designed to give new members a voice and also help coordinate campaigning and recruitment. In addition, the youth wing of the party will elect, in the summer, a youth representative who will hold a dedicated seat on the National Executive Committee (NEC).
The Young Labor and Student Labor contest has been dominated by two trials with opposing views on government. The organization, widely seen as a pro-leadership faction, has positioned itself as focused on delivery – promising a “youth wing that speaks to the whole country” and emphasizing the unity and strength of the campaign. Renew, conversely, has warned that Labor is at a “crisis point” and criticized the Organization’s majority youth committee for its “shameful silence” on “issues most important to young members”, while promising a more open and politically engaged wing.
Elections took place throughout February with results announced in early March, but this year’s election came with an unusual complication. Following an administrative suffrage error – the wrong membership freeze date was applied – the NEC took the seemingly unprecedented step of ordering a complete recount of the contested ballots. The original ballots, however, still offer a glimpse into the direction the youth Labor membership is heading.
Subscribe to the New Statesman today and save 75%
Initial results showed gains for Renew, the anti-leadership plan. Its candidates won eight and three seats respectively in the Young Labor and Student Labor committees. In the previous election, in 2024, there were only four successful non-organizational candidates in both bodies. And if the NEC replay suggests some races were close, then the results could be even more dramatic for Renew.
Renew emerged as a platform for criticism. Some candidates rallied against New Labour’s “expectation of loyalty”, as one put it, and the idea that new members can only get ahead by toeing the party line.
It’s not a pickup, but it’s a significant change. The organisation, closely linked to Labor to Win – the organization linked to Keir Starmer’s leadership success is disciplined and co-ordinated, backed by the endorsements of high-profile MPs. In contrast, Renew has emerged without support from either Momentum or newer soft-left groups such as Mainstream. Instead, it acts as a looser coalition arguing for a different internal culture. It appears that, even without close coordination, alternative offers can attract a significant portion of the domestic electorate.
Members across the youth wing have expressed frustration over the administrative issue that required the return of the election. party officials have emphasized that the decision “wasn’t made lightly,” but candidates from both parties reported that ballot issues were identified early but not resolved. Action was delayed until party staff returned from the Gorton and Denton by-elections. “We knew there were people who had not received ballots,” said one Organization representative. “The issues were not resolved – that was disappointing.” Willow Parker, candidate for the Student Labor Organisation, said “no one is really happy”. She noted the risk that some who voted the first time will not participate in the re-voting.
For many, the mistake illustrates why new members already feel dismissed from the party. Amelia Tamblyn, Renew’s candidate for Student Labor chair, described a system that is “hollow”, in which engagement is largely reduced to campaigning. “Every single Young Workers event … has been scrutinized and then maybe (in the pub) afterwards,” she said. “No socialization or policy development – it’s really alienating.” This disengagement is already showing up in the elections with nominations for candidates having dropped significantly since the last election, a change that suggests a decline in trust in these structures and a pool of members willing to engage with them. The party has also been in the process of hiring a youth and student coordinator over the past month after the previous president vacated the post in November, leaving a gap at the center of the structures itself between new members and the party under scrutiny.
Even those within the Organization accept the challenge – despite holding almost all the roles on the outgoing committee. She noted “a problem… of new members feeling left out”. Emily Moore, Organise’s the New Labor presidential candidate argued that rebuilding trust would require a “massive listening exercise”.
The disagreement within the party’s youth is not whether there is a problem – everyone agrees there is. The debate is what these structures should be for. The organization emphasized the unity and capacity of the campaign; UPGRADE is focused on creating space for debate and allowing members to criticize leadership. The broader question facing Labor is whether its youth wings are primarily vehicles for mobilization or space for political development.
For a party already struggling to retain its youth base, the answer matters. Youth membership has declined significantly in recent yearsand on campuses Labor faces greater competition from other progressive parties. As reported last yearmany students see official party structures as remote and overly controlled, with limited room for dissent.
This election shows changing expectations. New members are still participating – but they are more selective about how and why. “When you see things start to escalate, you understand why members are getting angrier,” said an independent candidate backed by Renew. “Something has to give.”
Within the next two weeks, the new election results for young workers and working students are expected. The local elections are in May and the CEC elections will take place in the summer. The results, when they come in, will not only determine who leads New Labor and Labor Students – they will provide one of the clearest early signals of where Labour’s domestic politics is headed next.
(Further reading: Will Labor embrace electoral reform?)
Content from our partners
