UK Political Parties
[[Category:UK Political Parties]]
Template:Short description This article lists political parties in the United Kingdom. [[1]]
Brief history and overview
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 Right supported a smaller state with less influence on the lives of the public, and the Left advocated the opposite. 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 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[1][2][3] when UKIP and the Green Party of England and Wales received 4.9 million votes[4] (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, and the Green Party of England and Wales, together with its Scottish and Northern Ireland affiliated parties, the Scottish National Party and Plaid Cymru, delivered a petition signed by 477,000[5] people to Downing Street demanding electoral reform.Since 1997, proportional representation-based voting systems have been adopted for elections to the Scottish Parliament, the National Assembly for Wales, the Northern Ireland Assembly, the London Assembly and 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%).[6]
The start of political parties
The Electoral Commission's Register of Political Parties[7] lists the details of parties registered to fight elections in the United Kingdom, including their registered name. Under current electoral law, including the Registration of Political Parties Act, 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.
Template:As of the Electoral Commission showed the number of registered political parties in Great Britain and Northern Ireland as 492.[8]
Category:Parliamentary parties
Two parties dominate politics in the House of Commons. Each one operates throughout Great Britain (only the Conservative and Unionist Party stands candidates in Northern Ireland). Most of the British Members of the European Parliament, Scottish Parliament and the National Assembly for Wales represent one of these parties:
- Conservative and Unionist Party, centre-right (314 seats in the House of Commons)
- Labour Party, centre-left (246 seats)
- Co-operative Party (all Co-operative Party MPs are also Labour MPs as part of a long-standing electoral agreement)
Party descriptions
Local government
Principal authorities
Civil parishes and community councils
Party | Political Position | Leader | Councillors | |
---|---|---|---|---|
style="background-color: Template:Independents for Frome/meta/color" | | Independents for Frome | Localism | Mel Usher | 17[56] |
style="background-color: Template:Devizes Guardians/meta/color" | | Devizes Guardians | Conservationism, Localism | Nigel Carter | 11[57] |
style="background-color: Template:Official Monster Raving Loony Party/meta/color" | | Official Monster Raving Loony Party | Satire | Howling Laud Hope | 6 |
style="background-color: Template:Animal Welfare Party/meta/color" | | Animal Welfare Party | Animal welfare | Vanessa Hudson | 1 |
style="background-color: Template:Pirate Party UK/meta/color" | | Pirate Party | Pirate politics | Harley Faggetter | 1 |
Cornish Nationalist Party | Cornish Nationalism, Pan-Celticism | Androw Hawke | 1 |
No elected representation
Template:Refimprove section This is a list 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.
Miscellaneous minor parties
- Animal Welfare Party
- Democrats and Veterans (2018–present)
- Libertarian Party
- National Health Action Party
- Peace Party
- Pirate Party UK
- Populist Party (2015–present)
- Women's Equality Party (2015–present)
- Young People's Party UK
- Our Nation
Minor left-wing and far-left parties
- Socialist Party of Great Britain (1904–present)
- Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist) (1968–present)
- Workers' Revolutionary Party (1973–present)
- Revolutionary Communist Group (1974–present)
- New Communist Party (1977–present)
- Socialist Workers Party (1977–present)
- Revolutionary Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist) (1979–present)
- Socialist Equality Party (1986–present)
- Communist League (1988–present)
- Communist Party of Britain (1988–present)
- Communist Party of Great Britain (Provisional Central Committee) (1991–present)
- Independent Working Class Association (1995–present)
- Socialist Labour Party (1996–present)
- Socialist Party (England and Wales) (also main constituent of TUSC; has stood as "Socialist Alternative") (1997–present)
- Socialist Resistance (part of Left Unity) (2002–present)
- Alliance for Green Socialism (2003–present)
- Communist Party of Great Britain (Marxist-Leninist) (2004–present)
- TUSC (Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition) (2010–present)
- Left Unity (2013–present)
Minor right-wing and far-right parties
- National Front (1967–present)
- British National Party (1982–present)
- National Liberal Party (1999–present)
- Britannica Party[58][59][60] (2011–present)
- British Democratic Party (2013–present)
- For Britain (2017–present)
Minor centrist and pro-European parties
Minor religious parties
- Christian Peoples Alliance (1999–present)
- Christian Democratic Party (UK) (1999–present)
- The Common Good (2004–present)
- Christian Party (successor to Operation Christian Vote) (2005–present)
Minor English parties
Template:Main articleTemplate:See also
- Community Action Party; local centre-left party in Wigan.
- Community Group; local party in Doncaster.
- English Democrats; campaign for self-government for England.
- People's Democratic Party, a populist party focused on Northern England.
- The Republic Party, based in Pendlebury, Salford. Campaigning for the UK to become a Republic.[63]
- Roman Party.
- Wessex Regionalist Party, campaigning for devolution for Wessex.
Minor Scottish parties
- Borders Party
- Communist Party of Scotland
- Independent Green Voice
- RISE – Scotland's Left Alliance; electoral alliance formed by SSP and former ISG
- Scotland Against Crooked Lawyers
- Scottish Christian Party – the successor to Operation Christian Vote in Scotland.
- Scottish Democratic Alliance – the successor to Scottish Enterprise Party
- Scottish Libertarian Party, a libertarian, pro-independence and Eurosceptic party
- Scottish Senior Citizens Unity Party
- Scottish Socialist Party, a party campaigning for an independent, socialist and republican Scotland.
- Scottish Unionist Party, campaigns to prevent dissolution of the UK. Has strong links with the Orange Order.
- Socialist Party Scotland
- Solidarity, a split from the SSP in 2006.
Minor Welsh parties
- Abolish the Welsh Assembly Party
- Communist Party of Wales
- Cymru Sovereign
- Socialist Party Wales
- Welsh Christian Party – the successor to Operation Christian Vote in Wales.
Minor Northern Irish parties
- Cross-Community Labour Alternative
- Fianna Fáil
- Labour Party of Northern Ireland
- Republican Sinn Féin
- Socialist Party (Ireland)
- Workers' Party
Joke/satirical parties
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- ↑ John Marshall: Membership of UK political parties; House of Commons, SN/SG/5125; 2009, page 6. www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/briefings/snsg-05125.pdf Retrieved 5 January 2012
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- ↑ https://nation.cymru/news/plaid-cymru-see-25-membership-boost-following-adam-prices-leadership-victory/
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- ↑ Electoral commission. Statement of accounts for the year ended 31 December 2017. Retrieved 25 March 2019.
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- ↑ Your Councillors. Gwynedd Council. Retrieved 16 August 2017.
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- ↑ https://www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/local-democracy/about-your-county-councillor/
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- ↑ County Borough Council Elections 2017, Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council. Retrieved 2018-09-23.
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