Before the middle of the 19th century, politics in the United Kingdom was dominated by the Whigs and the Tories. These were not political parties in the modern sense but somewhat loose alliances of interests and individuals. The Whigs included many of the leading aristocratic dynasties committed to the Protestant succession, and later drew support from elements of the emerging industrial interests and wealthy merchants, while the Tories were associated with the landed gentry, the Church of England and the Church of Scotland.
By the mid 19th century, the Tories had evolved into the Conservative Party, and the Whigs had evolved into the Liberal Party. The concept of right and left came originally from France, where the supporters of a monarchy (constitutional or absolute) sat on the right wing of the National Assembly, and republicans on the left. In the late 19th century, the Liberal Party began to lean towards the left. Liberal Unionists split off from the Liberals over Irish Home Rule and moved closer to the Conservatives over time.
The Liberals and Conservatives dominated the political scene until the 1920s, when the Liberal Party declined in popularity and suffered a long stream of resignations. It was replaced as the main anti-Tory opposition party by the newly emerging Labour Party, which represented an alliance between the labour movement, organised trades unions and various socialist societies.
Since then, the Conservative and Labour parties have dominated British politics, and have alternated in government ever since. However, the UK is not quite a two-party system as other parties have significant support. The Liberal Democrats were the third largest party until the 2015 general election when they were overtaken by the Scottish National Party in terms of seats and UK political party membership, and by the UK Independence Party (UKIP) in terms of votes.
The UK's first-past-the-post electoral system leaves small parties disadvantaged on a UK-wide scale. It can, however, allow parties with concentrations of supporters in the constituent countries to flourish. In the 2015 election, there was widespread controversy[3][4][5] when the UK Independence Party (UKIP) and the Green Party of England and Wales received 4.9 million votes[6] (12.6% of the total vote for UKIP and 3.8% for the Greens) yet only gained one seat each in the House of Commons. After that election, UKIP, the Liberal Democrats, the Scottish National Party, Plaid Cymru, and the Green Party of England and Wales, together with its Scottish and Northern Ireland affiliated parties, delivered a petition signed by 477,000[7] people to Downing Street demanding electoral reform.
Traditionally political parties have been private organisations with no official recognition by the state. The Registration of Political Parties Act 1998 changed that by creating a register of parties.
Membership of political parties has been in decline in the UK since the 1950s, falling by over 65% from 1983 (4% of the electorate) to 2005 (1.3%).[8]
Parties with representation in the House of Commons
Parties without representation in the House of Commons, but with representation in other UK legislatures
There are a political parties in the United Kingdom that do not have representation in the House of Commons, but have elected representatives in the Northern Ireland Assembly and Scottish Parliament. These are:
Party descriptions
Elected representatives at principal level of local government in the United Kingdom
Great Britain-wide or UK-wide parties
Parties that only stand in a nation of the UK (i.e. England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, or Wales) or a region
Local parties
No elected representation at principal level
This is a table of notable minor parties. Many parties are registered with the Electoral Commission but do not qualify for this list as they have not received significant independent coverage. Parties active across Ireland may have representation in the Republic of Ireland but not Northern Ireland.
^The Speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, is not included in this tally as the speaker stands in the election as "Speaker seeking re-election" and no longer has ties with their original party.
^ Sinn Fein operate a policy of abstentionism and do not take their Commons seats
^Including absent, suspended and temporarily disqualified members.
^Party operates a policy of collective leadership, but Eamonn McCann is listed as the party's leader for the purposes of registration to the UK Electoral Commission.
^"Party Finance – The Electoral Commission : Regulatory issues : Political parties : Registers: Register of political parties". Search.electoralcommission.org.uk. Retrieved 3 August 2015.
^"Search – The Electoral Commission". electoralcommission.org.uk. Retrieved 25 May 2024.
^"Whatever you think of Ukip or the Greens, our electoral system is robbing them". The Daily Telegraph. 14 May 2015. Retrieved 25 May 2015.
^"Green party leader condemns first-past-the-post voting system". 9 May 2015. Retrieved 25 May 2015.
^"General Election 2015: Sixty per cent of people want voting reform, says survey". The Independent. 25 May 2015. Retrieved 5 May 2015.
^"Election 2015". Retrieved 25 May 2015.
^Perraudin, Frances (18 May 2015). "Green party and Ukip join forces to demand electoral overhaul". Retrieved 25 May 2015.
^John Marshall. "Membership of UK political parties, House of Commons, SN/SG/5125; 2009, page 6" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 April 2010. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
^"Open Council Data UK - compositions councillors parties wards elections emails". opencouncildata.co.uk. Retrieved 25 May 2024.
^Black, Rebecca (12 July 2023). "O'Neill urges people burning effigies of politicians to 'catch themselves on'". The Independent. Retrieved 4 June 2024.
^Mackintosh, Thomas (4 May 2024). "Green Party: Co-leaders hail highest number of councillors". BBC News. Retrieved 4 May 2024.
^"Open Council Data UK - compositions councillors parties wards elections emails". opencouncildata.co.uk. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
^"Open Council Data UK - compositions councillors parties wards elections emails". opencouncildata.co.uk. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
^"Open Council Data UK - compositions councillors parties wards elections emails". opencouncildata.co.uk. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
^"Open Council Data UK - compositions councillors parties wards elections emails". opencouncildata.co.uk. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
^"Your Councillors". Green Party Northern Ireland. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
^"Open Council Data UK - compositions councillors parties wards elections". opencouncildata.co.uk.
^"Your Councillors". democracy.durham.gov.uk. 7 January 2024. Retrieved 7 January 2024.
^"Open Council Data UK - compositions councillors parties wards elections emails". opencouncildata.co.uk. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
^"View registration - the Electoral Commission".
^Residents for Guildford and Villages Electoral Commission
^"Election results by party, 5 May 2023". Guildford Borough Council. 5 May 2023. Retrieved 6 May 2023.
^"Election results by party, 5 May 2023". Guildford Borough Council. 5 May 2023. Retrieved 6 May 2023.
^"Find Councillor". www.newcastle.gov.uk. 21 July 2020. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
^"View registration - the Electoral Commission".
^Booth, Martin (13 December 2021). "Longstanding Lib Dem Councillors' resignations throw party into turmoil". Bristol24-7. Retrieved 16 December 2021.
^Cork, Tristan (13 December 2021). "Bristol has a new political party after two councillors quit theirs to start one up". Bristol Post. Retrieved 16 December 2021.
^Ross, Alex (13 December 2021). "Two city councillors quit the Lib Dems to set up new party". Bristol World. Retrieved 16 December 2021.
^"Councillors by Party: City Independents". stoke.gov.uk. Retrieved 11 August 2022.
^"Hartlepool Borough Council - Find Councillors".
^Tyler, Marcus. "Benefit information for landlords". www.havering.gov.uk. Retrieved 7 January 2024.
^"West Dunbartonshire Community Party". www.west-dunbarton.gov.uk. Retrieved 7 January 2024.
^Collins, Matthew (8 February 2013). "Neo-Nazi former BNP members launch new far-right party". New Statesman. Retrieved 8 February 2013.
^"Zionism is a racist and antisemitic tool of imperialist policy in the middle east". The Communists. 24 November 2018.
^"Why British workers need a Brexit". CPGB-ML. 1 April 2016.
^Lynch, Whitaker & Loomes 2012, p. 733; Tournier-Sol 2015, pp. 141–42.
^Abedi & Lundberg 2009, p. 72; Jones 2011, p. 245; Dolezal 2012, p. 142; Liebert 2012, p. 123; Art 2011, p. 188; Driver 2011, p. 149.
^O'Reilly, Gerry (2019). Aligning Geopolitics, Humanitarian Action and Geography in Times of Conflict. Springer. p. 47.
^"Key Points About a Snap Election in Britain". New York Times. 18 April 2018. Archived from the original on 20 September 2018. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
^Schindler, Jörg (16 May 2019). "We Want Fundamental Political Change". Spiegel. Archived from the original on 21 May 2019. Retrieved 22 May 2019.
^Vlastimil Havlík; Vít Hloušek; Petr Kaniok (2017). Europeanised Defiance – Czech Euroscepticism since 2004. Verlag Barbara Budrich. p. 108. ISBN 978-3-8474-1085-0.
^Walker, Peter; Halliday, Josh (3 March 2019). "Revealed: Ukip membership surge shifts party to far right". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 21 March 2019. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
^Goodwin, Matthew (3 February 2019). "Angry Brexiteers are splitting into factions as Ukip is taken over by far-right extremists". The Times. Archived from the original on 21 March 2019. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
^"View registration - the Electoral Commission".
Sources
Abedi, Amir; Lundberg, Thomas Carl (2009). "Doomed to Failure? UKIP and the Organisational Challenges Facing Right-Wing Populist Anti-Political Establishment Parties" (PDF). Parliamentary Affairs. 62 (1): 72–87. doi:10.1093/pa/gsn036.
Art, David (2011). Inside the Radical Right: The Development of Anti-Immigrant Parties in Western Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-139-49883-8.
Driver, Stephen (2011). Understanding British Party Politics. Cambridge: Polity Press. ISBN 978-0-7456-4078-5.
Dolezal, Martin (2012). "Restructuring the European Political Space: The Supply Side of European Electoral Politics". In Kriesi, Hanspeter; Grande, Edgar; Dolezal, Martin; Helbling, Marc; Höglinger, Dominic; Hutter, Swen; Wüest, Bruno (eds.). Political Conflict in Western Europe. Cambridge University Press. pp. 127–150. ISBN 978-1-107-02438-0.
Liebert, Ulrike (2012). "Civil Society, Public Sphere and Democracy in the EU". In Eriksen, Erik Oddvar; Fossum, John Erik (eds.). Rethinking Democracy and the European Union. Abingdon: Routledge. pp. 112–42. ISBN 978-1-136-49090-3.
Lynch, Philip; Whitaker, Richard; Loomes, Gemma (2012). "The UK Independence Party: Understanding a Niche Party's Strategy, Candidates and Supporters". Parliamentary Affairs. 65 (4): 733–757. doi:10.1093/pa/gsr042. hdl:2381/28316.
Tournier-Sol, Karine (2015). "Reworking the Eurosceptic and Conservative Traditions into a Populist Narrative: UKIP's Winning Formula?". Journal of Common Market Studies. 53 (1): 140–156. doi:10.1111/jcms.12208. S2CID 142738345.
External links
"List of all parties standing at the 2005 election". Archived from the original on 9 March 2006.
"List of parties that stood candidates in the 2001 general elections". Archived from the original on 25 September 2006.
Electoral Commission: Database of Registers, includes Register of Political Parties
Links to UK political websites from the BBC
NSD: European Election Database – UK descriptions of main parties