Socialist Equality Party (UK)

The Socialist Equality Party is a Trotskyist group in Britain. It is part of the International Committee of the Fourth International, which publishes the World Socialist Web Site. The party's origins lie in the Workers Revolutionary Party (WRP) until the majority of that party split from the ICFI in 1986. A group in the WRP supported the ICFI and left the WRP. Initially known as the Workers Revolutionary Party (Internationalist), they soon became the International Communist Party, based in Sheffield. They stood in several elections before renaming themselves in 1996, in line with other members of the international group.

The party's manifesto claims the necessity for the development of a new and genuinely socialist movement against a Labour government which functions as the political tool of the super-rich. It calls for the unity of workers throughout Britain with their brothers and sisters internationally in opposition to the eruption of US aggression, which, with Labour’s support, threatens to spread the illegal wars against Iraq and Afghanistan into Iran.

The manifesto states: "The fight against war is bound up with the struggle to put an end to the capitalist profit system by reorganizing economic life to meet the social interests of the vast majority of the world’s population rather than the selfish interests of a parasitic elite." (See SEP election manifesto)

The SEP ran candidates in the 2007 Scottish Parliament elections and the 2007 Welsh Assembly elections, but failed to gain any seats. The party ran a candidate, Chris Talbot, in the Haltemprice and Howden by-election who received 84 votes. Two candidates stood in the 2010 general election, David O'Sullivan in Oxford East and Robert Skelton in Manchester Central.

First National Conference
The party held its First National Congress in Manchester, on November 17-19, 2012. The conference in the United Kingdom followed conferences held in Australia, Germany and the United States. A National Committee was elected with Chris Marsden national secretary and Julie Hyland assistant national secretary. The name of the youth organization of the party was changed from International Students for Social Equality (ISSE) to the International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE).