Affiliated trade union

In British politics, the term affiliated trade union refers to a trade union that has an affiliation to the British Labour Party. The party was created by the trade unions and socialist societies in 1900 as the Labour Representation Committee. Since then, the unions have retained close institutional links with the Party. During Tony Blair's leadership of the Labour Party the RMT and Fire Brigades Union severed their links. However the Fire Brigades Union re-affiliated to the Labour Party in November 2015.