Labour were divided amongst themselves over direct elections to the European Parliament. Callaghan's last hope of clinging to office appeared to be refuge in form of the Lib-Lab Pact and protection against defeat in the Commons offered by the Liberal leader David Steel. Throughout these difficult times, the Labour Research Department continued its pivotal role in the synthesis of ideas and attitudes, the provision of information, and the shaping of documentation through to agreed statements of party policy. The range of issues dealt with will be borne out by any study of the Memoranda and Information Papers it contributed during these years. The documents also reveal many of the tensions within the Labour Party during this period.
Scholars can investigate the background to key decisions.
Many Committee sessions discussing policy issues and papers prepared by the Research Department became deadlocked with strongly held positions on both sides of any particular argument. The Labour Research Department serviced as its main function the National Executive Committee's Home Policy Sub-Committee. These documents allow scholars to study this process in detail. All Rights Reserved.