Democratic Labour Party (Barbados)

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The Democratic Labour Party (DLP) is the social-democratic ruling party in Barbados.

The DLP was founded in 1955, by Errol Barrow. Once a member of the Barbados Labour Party, Barrow broke away to form this more liberal alternative. However, as a result of this common origin, the two parties have been and remain ideologically similar. Like the BLP, the DLP founders were also committed to universal adult suffrage, free education, and better housing and health care and many of its members, most notably Errol Barrow, made great strides in achieving these goals.

Another social democratic party, the Barbados Labour Party (BLP), is the main opposition party of Barbados. Led by Mia Mottley, the BLP holds 10 out of 30 seats in the House of Assembly as of January 2008. It is a full-fledged member of the Socialist International.

After being in opposition since 1994, the DLP won the general election of January 15, 2008 with 20 out of 30 seats in the House of Assembly, an increase from six in the previous election. The party is led by Prime Minister David Thompson.

The DLP had previously governed the island between 1961 (through independence in 1966) to 1976, under the rule of Errol Barrow and from 1986 to 1994, under Erskine Sandiford.

The official DLP colours are yellow and blue.