The Labour Party will create a legally binding definition of social enterprise, Chi Onwurah, the shadow social enterprise minister, promised yesterday on the opening day of her party’s national conference.

Speaking at the launch of the Red Book of the Voluntary Sector, which contains essays on charities from Labour politicians, Onwurah said the government wanted to make it easier for social enterprises to win public contracts, and repeated a promise made in July that government would create some contracts which could only be won by social enterprises.

But she said for this to work, there would have to be a legal definition of social enterprise.

“It amazes me that something like social enterprise has escaped definition for so long,” she said. “So we will work with the community to define what a social enterprise is.”