Led by Lee Cheuk-yan, the long-time general secretary of the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (HKCTU), the party won four seats in the 2012 Legislative Council election, with about six per cent of the popular vote, making it the third-largest political party in the pro-democracy camp and sixth largest in the legislature.

It suffered a big loss in the 2016 election with veterans Lee Cheuk-yan and Cyd Ho losing their seats, leaving the party only one representative in the legislature, Fernando Cheung in New Territories East.

In early 2011, Lee Cheuk-yan expressed interest in forming a new labour party, and discussed the details with legislators Leung Yiu-chung, Cheung Kwok-che from the Hong Kong Social Workers' General Union (SWGU), Cyd Ho from the Civic Act-up and Fernando Cheung, an ex-Civic Party politician.

On 13 December 2015, the Labour chairman Lee Cheuk-yan stepped down and three candidates, Kwok Wing-kin, Cheng Sze-lut and Suzanne Wu ran for the chairmanship.

Chairwoman Suzanne Wu, who was running in Kowloon East and pulled out from the race in the last days resigned for the election results.