Data Collection and use

The Labour Party collects, processes and retains data for use in political campaigning and associated activities. The Labour Party also retains and processes data that is necessary for the administration of its own internal governance and membership systems. The Labour Party takes its responsibilities in relation to data protection very seriously, and we are committed to placing the rights of individuals at the centre of how we collect, hold and process personal information.

As a UK registered political party, the Labour Party has a fundamental role in engaging with voters as part of the democratic process. Data protection law recognises that it is in the public interest for political parties to collect and process personal information, including about political opinions in order to fulfil this important role.

We collect data in a number of circumstances, such as when:

• You complete a form on this website, or if you fill out a form delivered by a Labour Party representative
• You have a conversation on the doorstep or over the phone with a Labour Party representative about your views
• You interact with us online, including on social media channels such as Facebook or Twitter. This includes where you interact with us using an online chatbot (or the like) on social media profiles. This is where you are subscribed, or following a specific page. We will never use this service where we don’t have your consent.
• You join the party as a member, affiliated or registered supporter, donate or sign up to volunteer for us.

The Labour Party also collects and analyses a range of other information about you and the area in which you live, including

• the electoral register,
• publicly available data such as census information and election results, as well as contact information we might purchase lawfully via the BT OSIS service (equivalent to the BT Phone Book).
• commercially available data including both precise information (such as date of birth) as well as estimates of other personal information (such as whether your house is council-owned or privately owned), and geodemographic segmentations,
• information about whether our efforts to contact you in person or over the telephone have been successful, and survey data which you may have directly provided to us or a third party.

We analyse and use the data we collect in a variety of ways, and also combine them (sometimes referred to as “profiling”), in order to:

• contact you to canvass your political support and ascertain your voting intentions
• manage the internal governance of the party and our membership database
• communicate with you about our policies, campaigns, events and opportunities to get involved with the party
• understand what issues are most likely to be relevant to each elector and each area,
• decide to whom we should send our campaign materials and messages,
• choose which messages and content we put on the materials we send to you, or show you on social media,
• ensure that donations you make to us are lawful,
• allow us to estimate which way you might vote in elections and referendums, and how likely you are to vote at all,
• help us understand in which areas, at which times of day, and with which people we should focus our campaigning efforts, and
• inform the development of our policy position for future elections and referendums at every level.

We have a statutory right to some of this information as a registered political party in Britain by virtue of regulations made under the Representation of the People Acts, the Political Parties Elections and Referendums Act, and connected legislation. The data we hold to which we do not have a statutory entitlement is either data which is made available for use in a way that permits its use by political parties (for example census data, national land registry data, local election results, or data released through a Parliamentary Question or Freedom of Information [FOI] request where the data released in response to that question or request is not restricted from such reuse), or is provided through commercial agreements with suppliers who make such information available for resale to a range of customers.

Where we have obtained data commercially, our suppliers will either have obtained consent from individuals that their data may be made available for resale, including to political parties, or will have one or more other lawful bases for processing it, such as legitimate interest.

When you join the Labour Party or sign up as an affiliated or registered supporter, we will collect, hold and process personal information in order to service the contract that you enter into with the party in such circumstances.

On some occasions, such as when you sign up to receive emails from us or agree to volunteer for the party, we will collect, hold and process personal information on the basis of your explicit consent. You can withdraw this consent at any time. Please see section on “Your information rights” for more details.

In all cases we will be clear and transparent about how we use your personal information, only use it for the purposes for which it has been obtained and ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place to maintain its security.

Data you provide to us, for example if you fill out a form on this website, may be matched back to your electoral register record on our systems using the name and postcode data you provide. This might affect the number and content of future communications you might receive from us.

You have a number of rights in relation to your personal information. For further information, please visit: https://labour.org.uk/privacy-policy/