Conservative lot leading their opponents in desire for manufacturers? (5,6)

'desire for manufacturers?' is the definition.
(manufacturers might desire cheap labour)

'conservative lot leading their opponents' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'conservative' could be 'c' (UK political abbreviation) and 'c' is found in the answer.
'lot' could be 'heap' (synonyms) and 'heap' is located in the answer.
The remaining letters 'labour' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

'in' acts as a link.