 Already involved in Labour Party politics, in 1923 Owen was elected to Blaina District Council, on which he served for four years.In 1930 he moved to Leicester and became Secretary of the Leicester branch of the Independent Labour Party; he was elected to Leicester City Council in 1932.He then worked in the Co-operative movement, in the Education and Management section in Leicester, and from 1938 in the Education Office of Burslem Co-operative north of Stoke-on-Trent.