text: Instead , Co-operative candidates stand jointly with the Labor Party as `` Labor and Co-operative Party '' candidates . Although long-standing allies of the larger and more prominent Labor Party , the Co-operative Party is legally a separate political organization and members of the Co-operative Party do not have to join the Labor Party .
simplified: The 2003 agreement was the first between the Labor Party and the Co-operative Party , instead of the Co-operative Societies .