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List of political parties in the United Kingdom

The Electoral Commission's Register of Political Parties[1] lists the details of political parties registered to contest elections in the United Kingdom, including their registered name. Under current electoral law, including the Registration of Political Parties Act 1998, the Electoral Administration Act 2006, and the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000, only registered party names can be used on ballot papers by those wishing to fight elections. Candidates who do not belong to a registered party can use "independent" or no label at all. As of 25 May 2024, the Electoral Commission showed the number of registered political parties in Great Britain and Northern Ireland as 393.[2]

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.

House of Commons chamber
House of Lords chamber

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.

Since 1997, proportional representation-based voting systems have been adopted for elections to the Scottish Parliament, the Senedd (Welsh Parliament), the Northern Ireland Assembly, the London Assembly and (until Brexit in 2020) the UK's seats in the European Parliament. In these bodies, other parties have had success.

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.

Defunct parties

Historical parties

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Including 43 as Lab Co-op.
  2. ^ 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.
  3. ^ Including 16 as Lab Co-op.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Including absent, suspended and temporarily disqualified members.
  5. ^ Including 11 as Lab Co-op.
  6. ^ Including 16 as Lab Co-op.
  7. ^ All 11 as Lab Co-op.
  8. ^ Sinn Féin's president is Mary Lou McDonald, who is a TD for Dublin Central in Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas (legislature of the Republic of Ireland). O'Neill is the party's vice president and leads the party in Northern Ireland.[10]
  9. ^ Sinn Fein operate a policy of abstentionism and do not take their Commons seats
  10. ^ Including absent, suspended and temporarily disqualified members.
  11. ^ 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.
  12. ^ The SDP-Liberal Alliance at dissolution was jointly led by Steel as the leader of the Liberal Party and Robert Maclennan as the leader of the SDP.
  13. ^ The SDP-Liberal Alliance at dissolution was jointly led by David Steel as the leader of the Liberal Party and Maclennan as the leader of the SDP.

References

  1. ^ "Party Finance – The Electoral Commission : Regulatory issues : Political parties : Registers: Register of political parties". Search.electoralcommission.org.uk. Retrieved 3 August 2015.
  2. ^ "Search – The Electoral Commission". electoralcommission.org.uk. Retrieved 25 May 2024.
  3. ^ "Whatever you think of Ukip or the Greens, our electoral system is robbing them". The Daily Telegraph. 14 May 2015. Retrieved 25 May 2015.
  4. ^ "Green party leader condemns first-past-the-post voting system". 9 May 2015. Retrieved 25 May 2015.
  5. ^ "General Election 2015: Sixty per cent of people want voting reform, says survey". The Independent. 25 May 2015. Retrieved 5 May 2015.
  6. ^ "Election 2015". Retrieved 25 May 2015.
  7. ^ Perraudin, Frances (18 May 2015). "Green party and Ukip join forces to demand electoral overhaul". Retrieved 25 May 2015.
  8. ^ 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.
  9. ^ "Open Council Data UK - compositions councillors parties wards elections emails". opencouncildata.co.uk. Retrieved 25 May 2024.
  10. ^ Black, Rebecca (12 July 2023). "O'Neill urges people burning effigies of politicians to 'catch themselves on'". The Independent. Retrieved 4 June 2024.
  11. ^ Mackintosh, Thomas (4 May 2024). "Green Party: Co-leaders hail highest number of councillors". BBC News. Retrieved 4 May 2024.
  12. ^ "Open Council Data UK - compositions councillors parties wards elections emails". opencouncildata.co.uk. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
  13. ^ "Open Council Data UK - compositions councillors parties wards elections emails". opencouncildata.co.uk. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
  14. ^ "Open Council Data UK - compositions councillors parties wards elections emails". opencouncildata.co.uk. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
  15. ^ "Open Council Data UK - compositions councillors parties wards elections emails". opencouncildata.co.uk. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
  16. ^ "Your Councillors". Green Party Northern Ireland. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
  17. ^ "Open Council Data UK - compositions councillors parties wards elections". opencouncildata.co.uk.
  18. ^ "Your Councillors". democracy.durham.gov.uk. 7 January 2024. Retrieved 7 January 2024.
  19. ^ "Open Council Data UK - compositions councillors parties wards elections emails". opencouncildata.co.uk. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
  20. ^ "View registration - the Electoral Commission".
  21. ^ Residents for Guildford and Villages Electoral Commission
  22. ^ "Election results by party, 5 May 2023". Guildford Borough Council. 5 May 2023. Retrieved 6 May 2023.
  23. ^ http://www.whitehillbordon.org.uk/ [bare URL]
  24. ^ "View registration - the Electoral Commission".
  25. ^ "Election results by party, 5 May 2023". Guildford Borough Council. 5 May 2023. Retrieved 6 May 2023.
  26. ^ "Find Councillor". www.newcastle.gov.uk. 21 July 2020. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
  27. ^ "View registration - the Electoral Commission".
  28. ^ Booth, Martin (13 December 2021). "Longstanding Lib Dem Councillors' resignations throw party into turmoil". Bristol24-7. Retrieved 16 December 2021.
  29. ^ 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.
  30. ^ Ross, Alex (13 December 2021). "Two city councillors quit the Lib Dems to set up new party". Bristol World. Retrieved 16 December 2021.
  31. ^ "Councillors by Party: City Independents". stoke.gov.uk. Retrieved 11 August 2022.
  32. ^ "Hartlepool Borough Council - Find Councillors".
  33. ^ Tyler, Marcus. "Benefit information for landlords". www.havering.gov.uk. Retrieved 7 January 2024.
  34. ^ "West Dunbartonshire Community Party". www.west-dunbarton.gov.uk. Retrieved 7 January 2024.
  35. ^ Collins, Matthew (8 February 2013). "Neo-Nazi former BNP members launch new far-right party". New Statesman. Retrieved 8 February 2013.
  36. ^ "Zionism is a racist and antisemitic tool of imperialist policy in the middle east". The Communists. 24 November 2018.
  37. ^ "Why British workers need a Brexit". CPGB-ML. 1 April 2016.
  38. ^ Lynch, Whitaker & Loomes 2012, p. 733; Tournier-Sol 2015, pp. 141–42.
  39. ^ 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.
  40. ^ O'Reilly, Gerry (2019). Aligning Geopolitics, Humanitarian Action and Geography in Times of Conflict. Springer. p. 47.
  41. ^ "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.
  42. ^ Schindler, Jörg (16 May 2019). "We Want Fundamental Political Change". Spiegel. Archived from the original on 21 May 2019. Retrieved 22 May 2019.
  43. ^ Vlastimil Havlík; Vít Hloušek; Petr Kaniok (2017). Europeanised Defiance – Czech Euroscepticism since 2004. Verlag Barbara Budrich. p. 108. ISBN 978-3-8474-1085-0.
  44. ^ 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.
  45. ^ 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.
  46. ^ "View registration - the Electoral Commission".

Sources

External links