Labour vs Labour and Cooperative

[legalalien]

I've just noticed that our local councillors are divided into "Labour" and "Labour and Cooperative". I'd never heard of this before (seems it doesn't appear on the ballot paper), so googled and have read the background - en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Co-operative_Party. It didn't really give me feel for whether there was a general policy "difference" between mainstream labour and L and C, other than that the latter support the cooperative movement. Are they a sort of "wing" of the labour party? Anyone know? Just curious.

The L&C designation is an MP who represents both the Labour and Coop parties. The coop party is a slightly left of centre party founded in 1917.

You will see L&G on ballot papers.

thanks for the response - much appreciated. Do you know if they do anything particularly different? As members of both parties do they have to follow policies of both? Are there policy differences? It seems quite complicated, I suspect that for most intents and purposes they follow the labour line?

The bit about ballot papers I took from wikipedia - am pretty sure that in our general elections they just show as Labour candidates.

Most candidates use the Labour and Co-operative Party description on their ballot paper, however some stand under another version, particularly for local government elections and elections in Scotland, Wales and London that use a list system. In this case only one description will be used to avoid voters thinking Labour and Co-operative candidates are standing against Labour candidates; however joint candidates are still recognised as part of the Labour and Co-operative Group if they are elected.[17]

Although only the Labour Party emblem is used on the ballot paper, candidates and representatives can use a joint logo on their printed materials and websites.