Lee Cheuk-yan is a former member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, where he represented the New Territories West constituency. In December 2011, Lee co-founded the Labour Party, becoming the third largest pan-democratic party in the legislature. He served as chairman until December 2015, when he assumed the vice-chairmanship.

Lee is a trade union leader and General Secretary of the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions, as well as former chairman of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China. Since the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, Lee has remained a standing committee member of the pro-Chinese democracy group, the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China.