In the 1957 elections it lost four seats, whilst two other parties, the Grenada National Party and the People's Democratic Movement also won two seats, with the GNP's leader Herbert Blaize becoming leader of the island.

The party remained in power following the 1972 elections, but Gairy's government became increasingly authoritarian, with his secret police (the Mongoose Gang) threatening the opposition.

After democracy was restored, GULP won only a single seat in the 1984 elections and has since remained in opposition.

It formed an alliance with United Labour[6] for the 1999 elections, in which it lost parliamentary representation for the first time since 1951.

However, it regained a seat when Michael Baptiste of the ruling New National Party defected to GULP in June 2000.