Political parties of the United Kingdom

thumb|right|225px|Westminster Palace, where these parties hope to sit.
Ten political parties are represented in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, with quite a few more with representation at a local level. As elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom are operated under a 'first past the post system' and elections to the Parliament of the European Union were operated under a proportional representation system (PR), minor parties who have support spread throughout the country, but not enough concentrated support to win an entire constituency, can often find representation in the EU. For this reason, the United Kingdom Independence Party and the British National Party had MEPs but no MPs. Likewise, the Scottish and Welsh Parliaments have their own form of PR, and the Northern Irish Assembly is designed to reflect the complexity of NI viewpoints.
There are five legislative bodies in the United Kingdom which are made up of officials elected by residents of the United Kingdom who hold citizenship to the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, or any Commonwealth nation. The House of Commons, located in London, England, is the primary governing body in the United Kingdom responsible for creating and upholding national law, except for areas devolved to the constituent nations, and with the power to alter and repeal those brought into effect by its devolved counterparts. Elections to the House of Commons take place once every five years under a first-past-the-post system. Members of the House of Lords are unelected; rather, they are made Lords and Ladies for their services, or for otherwise being incredibly rich.
Members of the Scottish Parliament, the National Assembly for Wales, the London Assembly and the Northern Ireland Assembly can be voted for by the aforementioned citizens living within jurisdiction of the legislative body concerned, each devolved body using a variation of the proportional representation system. Elections to the devolved Parliament and Assemblies take place once every four years. 
==Major political parties of Great Britian==
===Labour Party===
:Members of the House of Commons: 404
:Members of the House of Lords: 177
:Scottish Parliament: 22
:Welsh Parliament: 30
The Labour Party is the current ruling party since its landslide victory in the 2024 general election. Founded as a socialist party, the Labour Party had a huge role in the creation of the Welfare State and the National Health Service. After nearly two decades of Conservative rule, the Labour Party moved much closer to the centre, stepping away from its socialist roots and becoming a "big tent" centrist party. This step clearly made them an electable opposition, as they won in a massive landslide in 1997, but it's now somewhat unclear exactly what they stand for other than "we're nicer and less right-wing than those bastard Tories". Former leader Jeremy Corbyn, while restoring self-belief among the party faithful, appeared less popular among the general public (mainly due to being seen as a huge antisemite and a quasi communist) - and they're the ones who decide elections. Notable Labour figures include Clement Attlee, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, Jeremy Corbyn, current Prime Minister Keir Starmer and a wealth of celebrity supporters.
===Conservative Party===
:Members of the House of Commons: 121
:Members of the House of Lords: 271
:Scottish Parliament: 31
:Welsh Parliament: 16
The Conservative Party, officially the "Conservative & Unionist Party", and commonly known as "The Tory Party" or "the Tories" is the other of the two largest political parties in the United Kingdom. Since World War Two, every Prime Minister has come from the Conservative Party or the Labour Party. Generally standing for lower taxation, a smaller state and lower welfare, the Conservative Party is the traditional right-wing party in the UK. It was most recently in power under various leaders from 2010 to 2024. Given that the Conservative Party vehemently opposed almost all of Blair's early manifesto promises and that the party leadership has now accepted many of them (minimum wage, Bank of England independence, civil partnerships, various anti-discrimination laws), the party can be quite fractured at times, with a significant minority being very much opposed to membership of the European Union. Notable figures include Winston Churchill, Margaret Thatcher, David Cameron, Theresa May, and Boris Johnson.
===Liberal Democrats===
:Members of the House of Commons: 72
:Members of the House of Lords: 78
:Scottish Parliament: 4
:Welsh Parliament: 1
The Liberal Democrats, frequently known as the Lib Dems, were traditionally the third party in the United Kingdom but severely reduced their MPs and popular vote in the 2015 General Election. Their predecessors the Liberal Party declined severely before World War Two as the Labour Party took over as the main left-wing party. The Liberals were not a strong serious force in British politics, but they merged with the Social Democrat Party (a splinter group of the Labour Party) in 1988 to form the Liberal Democrats. The Liberal Democrats were hugely popular among students and have often been the go-to 'protest vote' of the middle classes. They also maintain traditional support bases among the elderly, and in areas such as the West Country. Advocating progressive taxation, nuclear disarmament and electoral reform, the Liberal Democrats saw a large surge in support as they were the only major party to seriously oppose the Iraq War. In a weird twist, they formed a coalition government with the Conservative Party in 2010, with the idea of 'taking the edge' off the Tory spending cuts and making them fairer for the poor. Their complete failure to do this severely damaged their support among students, public sector workers, all those affected by the budget cuts; they lost them a lot of support at local government level, losing them control of many local councils. in the 2015 election they lost nearly two-thirds of their support, and lost nearly 50 MPs. In 2019, they gained popularity for their strong anti-Brexit stance, and in 2024 they got their best result ever, taking many seats in the traditionally Tory "blue wall." Notable figures include Nick Clegg, Charles Kennedy (the UK's favourite alcoholic), Vince Cable (leader from 2017 - 2019), Jo Swinson (leader from July - December 2019), the bizarre Lembit Opik and former leader Paddy Ashdown, who effectively Bosnia for a four year period.
===Reform UK (formerly the Brexit Party)===
:Members of the House of Commons: 5
The Brexit Party was established in early 2019, with the bulk of the original members coming from UKIP which it has supplanted. From 2019 - 2021 it's leader was Nigel Farage, the former leader of UKIP. The Party's main policy is to leave the European Union with a 'hard Brexit' on 31 October. The Brexit Party performed well in the May 2019 EU Elections, winning 29 of the UK's 73 seats.
Since Brexit, the party has had to redefine itself and focus on other issues, such as electoral reform and opposition to lockdowns, mask mandates and other COVID-19 restrictions.
===Green Party of England and Wales===
:Members of the House of Commons: 4
:Members of the House of Lords: 2
The Green Party are a left-wing party who advocate environmentalism, pacifism, eco-socialism and no-growth economics. They also take a very liberal approach to gay rights, electoral reform, drug policy and animal rights and a not so liberal attitude towards freedom of expression, religion and government control. Their roots as a political party go back to various campaign groups from the 1970s, back when it was known as the Ecology Party. From the 1990s onwards they began to achieve some limited electoral success at local government elections in a handful of England's middle class university towns (Oxford, Norwich, Brighton), and MEP seats in European elections. 
Tightening themselves up somewhat (including booting out loonies like David Icke, and decided at last to have a party leader, rather than simply a governing committee), they finally secured their first first seat in the House of Commons in the general election of 2010, when party leader Caroline Lucas took Brighton Pavillion. This was followed by the Greens forming a minority administration running Brighton & Hove City Council in 2011. Lucas stood down as leader in 2012, in an attempt to boost the profile of other colleagues. The Greens made a further breakthrough in 2024, taking several seats from Labour and the Conservatives and having multiple MPs for the first time. The party is notably more eurosceptic than almost all left-wing parties, although they wish to stay in a reformed Europe.EU policies:
*
*
It should be pointed out that Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own separate Green Parties (but not Wales). The SGP has enjoyed a more consistent success than its English sister party, due to the Scottish Parliament not using first past the post.
==Major Political parties of Scotland==
===Scottish National Party===
:Members of the House of Commons: 9
:Scottish Parliament: 63
The Scottish National Party is a centre-left party who advocate Scotland's independence and full membership of the European Union. They have 63 of the 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament, forming a minority government with the informal support of the Scottish Green Party. Their biggest electoral achievements were in 2011 winning 69 seats in the Scottish parliament, the only time any party has won a majority, and winning all but 3 Scottish Westminster seats in 2015 (but losing 21 in 2017) thanks to plummeting support for Labour. They advocate progressive taxation, free higher education, and are massive supporters of the National Health Service. As part of seeking to improve public health in Scotland by limiting alcohol consumption, the SNP has also pushed for minimum pricing for alcoholMinimum pricing will reduce deaths and cut crime, SNP's official website, 31/01/2012 and some limitations on availability (e.g. at footballThat's soccer to you Yanks. stadiumsExperts against alcohol sale at football stadiums, SNP's official website, 20/02/2015). The party is traditionally very anti-war, although it has supported NATO membership since 2012.Did the SNP support the UK government’s air strikes in Syria?, SNP websiteSNP members vote to ditch the party's anti-Nato policy, BBC, 19 Oct 2012 Notable figures include former First Ministers Alex Salmond, Nicola Sturgeon and Humza Yousaf, and current First Minister John Swinney. The SNP was for a time the second largest political party in the UK by membership, despite only occupying a small part of the UK.SNP membership overtakes Conservatives across UK, BBC, 3 Sep 2018
===Scottish Greens===
:Scottish Parliament: 7
Although working closely with the other Green Parties in the United Kingdom, the Scottish Green Party is fully independent and also wants an independent Scotland. The party previously held 7 seats in the Scottish Parliament, and came very close to gaining a seat in the European Parliament. Their co-leader is the first openly bisexual party leader in the UK.
===Alba Party===
:Scottish Parliament: 1
An SNP splinter group, with some notable members such as Alex Salmond and Tasmina Ahmed Sheikh, the Alba Party stood in the 2021 Scottish elections and won no seats. Their idea was to "hack" the D'Hondt electoral system used in Scottish elections and create an independence majority.
Their two main policies were Scottish independence and not-being-the-SNP. Particularly on the latter, given the SNP was recently divided on the rights of transgender people at the time of the party's founding, Alba sought out to sweep up pro-independence TERFs who couldn't abide that Nicola Sturgeon wasn't one of them.Alex Salmond’s Alba party takes on SNP over trans rights, The Times, December 28, 2021Washington Post opinion piece: A Scottish political party treated trans people like the Loch Ness Monster. It won't be the last time., June 1, 2021 Beyond that it was hard to ascertain anything.
"Alba" is the Gaelic name for Scotland.
==Major political parties of Wales==
===Plaid Cymru===
:Members of the House of Commons: 4
:Members of the House of Lords: 2
:Welsh Parliament: 12
Plaid Cymru (The Party of Wales in Welsh) is a left to centre-left party which advocates Welsh independence and big efforts to revive the Welsh language. They're quite a pro-environmental party, working closely with the Scottish National Party in the European Parliament. Welsh people, on the whole, don't want independence - and support for Welsh independence is significantly less in Wales than the support for Scottish independence in Scotland. This goes part of the way to explaining why they play a much smaller role in devolved government than their Scottish counterparts. Despite this, they were junior partner in a coalition with the Labour party, who hold 26 seats in the Welsh Assembly. Notable figures include former leader Leanne Wood, the only party leader with the guts to tell Nigel Farage where to get off. To his face.
==Major political parties of Northern Ireland==
Since the partitioning of Ireland and creation of Northern Ireland in 1922, Northern Irish politics has remained doggedly arranged on sectarian lines, with one set of parties being Unionist (and overwhelmingly Protestant), favouring continuation of the Union of Northern Ireland with Great Britain, and the other being Nationalist (and overwhelmingly Catholic) and campaigning for Northern Ireland to leave the UK and join with the Republic of Ireland in a 'United Ireland'. 
The mainstream British political parties have generally declined to field candidates in Northern Ireland. On the basis of their standing on a left wing/right wing axis, the Labour party regard the nominally socialist SDLP as their counterpart, the Conservatives likewise with the Ulster Unionist party, with the Liberals/LibDems paired against the Alliance party. This rather glosses over the Northern Irish parties' sectarian nature, although since the 1998 Good Friday Agreement the parties have been obliged to broaden their scope somewhat from their single-issue sectarian agendas.
===Sinn Féin===
:Members of Parliament: 7 (abstentionist)
:Northern Ireland Assembly: 27
Sinn Féin (Irish for "we ourselves") is the largest Irish nationalist party in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, advocating the secession of Northern Ireland from the Union and its unification with the Irish Republic. Its political positioning and ideology is considered to be left-wing nationalist, advocating varying forms of welfare and the establishment of an Irish equivalent to the British National Health Service. In the North, Sinn Féin was the "political wing" of the Provisional IRA (the "provos"), with several SF members holding convictions for IRA membership and terrorist offences. Despite Irish nationalism typically being closely associated with Roman Catholicism, the party has no specific links to the Catholic church in Ireland, as officially the church takes a rather dim view of murder, racketeering and so forth. Since 2018 the party has supported abortion rights, up to 12 weeks, which although not great is significantly better than the Pope.Sinn Féin votes to change abortion policy, BBC News, 16 Jun 2018 Notable figures include current party president Gerry Adams, and Martin McGuinness, a candidate for the 2011 Irish presidential election. Sinn Féin operates a policy of 'abstentionism' regarding the UK parliament in Westminster: it contests parliamentary seats in Northern Ireland, but if a candidate wins, they refuse to take their seat in the House of Commons, as they will not swear the necessary oath of allegience to the British Crown (see Sinn_Féin#Abstentionism). This does not stop them, however, from claiming parliamentary expenses, including having an office provided for their use in Westminster. This of course leaves their constituents without representation in the UK parliament, and costs them the chance to help defeat the government in parliamentary votes.
In 2022, Sinn Féin won the most seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly for the first time, entitling them to the position of First Minister for the first time. This was hailed in the foreign media as a major breakthrough for the party and republicanism. However, they only received this position because the Democratic Unionist Party lost seats, while their vote remained stable. Furthermore, the positions of First Minister and Deputy First Minister (which SF previously held) are considered equal in practice.For the first time, an Irish nationalist will lead Northern Ireland’s government, AP News, 3 Feb 2024
 
===Democratic Unionist Party===
:Members of the House of Commons: 5
:Members of the House of Lords: 6
:Northern Ireland Assembly: 25
The Democratic Unionist Party (or DUP) was founded in the 1970s, by Rev Ian Paisley. It was a split from the mainstream Unionist party, the Ulster Unionist Party. The iconoclastic Paisley had already formed his own church denomination, the Free Presbyterian Church, as a split from the Presbyterians. Like his church, the DUP tended to cater for the more fundamentalist, working class flavour of protestant bigot unionist. However following the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, the DUP grew to become larger than the Ulster Unionist Party it had split from. It is currently the largest party in the Northern Ireland assembly and the fourth largest in the United Kingdom Parliament. Contrary to Sinn Féin on not only constitutional matters, the DUP is viewed as a socially conservative right wing party, with strong links to Protestant churches. It is softly eurosceptic, has had several prolific members come out against homosexuality, and, most uncommonly in the United Kingdom, has also advocated the promotion of creationism in Northern Irish classrooms. Notable figures include founder Ian Paisley, current leader Peter Robinson, and his wife Iris Robinson. Iris was enveloped in a scandal in 2011 when it transpired she had been embroiled in a sexual relationship with a teenage orphan, whom she had known since he was nine, his late father being a family friend who had entrusted the boy to her care. She had also loaned five-figure sums of money to this lover, in business deals of dubious proprietary. Meanwhile she had been outspoken in her condemnation of homosexuality, referring her gay constituents for psychiatric treatment, and declaring in a House of Commons select committee that sodomy was a worse crime than paedophilia. Unsurprisingly, she has seen be forced to resign her Westminster seat and is said to be currently undergoing psychiatric care. DUP former "environment" minister Sammy Wilson is a trenchant climate denialist.
===Social Democratic and Labour Party===
:Members of Parliament: 2
:Northern Ireland Assembly: 7
The SDLP were formerly the largest Irish nationalist party in Northern Ireland and, along with the UUP, were instrumental in the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. They were overtaken by Sinn Féin in the 2003 Assembly Election, though they had a brief stint as the once again second largest party following the devastation of the UUP in the 2005 election and continued abstentionism by Sinn Féin. Nevertheless, they have been declining since then and continually place fourth in the Assembly Elections.
Unlike most Northern Irish parties, the SDLP has made an effort to be non-sectarian since the beginning, although its vote is traditionally with the Catholic middle class. Its founders came from both communities.
===Alliance Party===
:Members of Parliament: 1
:Northern Ireland Assembly: 17
Like the SDLP, the Alliance Party has attempted to push non-sectarian politics in NI and paid for it.
Formerly considered a party of moderate unionism, the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland have come to focus on nonsectarianism and pragmatic liberal policies, often focusing on concerns of social equality and the environment. They have become a significant political force in the Belfast area and have been steadily rising. They have had a significant effect on the diminishing support for the UUP in Belfast.
===Ulster Unionist Party===
:Members of the House of Commons: 1
:Members of the House of Lords: 2
:Northern Ireland Assembly: 9
Formerly the largest unionist party in Northern Ireland, the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) were overtaken by their erstwhile splitters the DUP in 2003, and devastated in the 2005 election. They have been in steady decline ever since. They are seen as more moderate than the DUP. However, they would not be considered 'real unionists' by quite a large portion of DUP voters. Much of this perception stems from the party's support for the Good Friday Agreement, which the DUP opposed to at the time, seeing it as a concession to Irish republican terrorism. 
The pre-split Unionist party was the dominant instrument of government in Northern Ireland following the partition of the island of Ireland in 1922. Although Catholic voters constituted well over 40% of the Northern Ireland electorate, Unionists used gerrymandering tactics to ensure they held the overwhelming number of seats in the Northern Irish parliament in Stormont. This, combined with institutionalised state discrimination against Catholics in housing, jobs and other areas let to increasing civil unrest as the decades went by, culminating in the eruption of 'The Troubles' in 1968. Unionist rule of Northern Ireland was suspended by the UK Government in 1972, who imposed direct rule from Westminster.
A notable defector to the Ulster Unionist party was Enoch Powell, who had been expelled from the UK Conservative party in 1968 over his notorious "Rivers of Blood" speech against immigration. Powell held a Westminster seat in South Down for the UUP until his death.
===Traditional Unionist Voice===
:Members of the House of Commons: 1
:Northern Ireland Assembly: 1
Split from the DUP because they thought the DUP were too moderate, making them in relation to the DUP what the DUP were to the UUP. Aside from their deep hatred of Sinn Fein, they're chiefly notable for their support for Torrens Knight, a former loyalist terrorist who was jailed for beating up two women in a bar. Nice people.TUV, Politics.co.uk
==Minor political parties of Great Britain==
===Britain First ===
Britain First is a minor, neo-fascist, British nationalist political partyBritain First The Electoral Comission and hate group founded by anti-abortion activist and former Calvinist minister Jim Dowson in 2011 as a split from the British National Party.CASE FILE: Britain First Hope Not Hate
=== British Democrats ===
The British Democratic Party (BDP) aka British Democrats is a minor fascist political partyBritish Democratic Party The Electoral ComissionBritish Democratic Party UK Parliament founded by then-British National Party MEP and former National Front leader Andrew Brons Andrew Henry William BRONS European Parliament as a BNP splinter in 2013 after he lost the 2011 party leadership election to Nick Griffin.CASE FILE: British Democrats Hope Not Hate Despite Bron's intention to offer a home for defectors and exiles, he failed to capitalise on the ensuing collapse of the BNP as members fled, instead, to the EDL and UKIP. Brons' "toxic gaggle of extremists"Insider's Blog: Andrew Brons MEP resigns from BNP by Matthew Collins (16 October 2012) Hope Not Hate was, rather, made up of, "hardcore Holocaust deniers and racists," "plus those previously, who could not stomach the party’s image changes."Neo-Nazi former BNP members launch new far-right party by Matthew Collins (8 February 2013) Hope Not Hate After a decade in complete obscurity, the BDP received a brief boost in membership, including it's only (to date) elected district councillors, Julian Leppert and Roger Robertson, following the 2022 deregistration of the far-right Islamophobic For Britain Movement. The BDPs electoral success has, otherwise, been limited to a handful of town and parish councils.
===British National Party===
The British National Party is the product of years of in-fighting, mergers and hissy fits from extreme-right 'politicians' and racists from the United Kingdom (including the National Front). It had a brief successful period in the first decade of the 21st century when it gained a few dozens seats in local government (mainly in areas of racial tension) and two seats in the European Parliament. They declined from this, with most councillors losing their seats in 2010 or 2011 and falling from 2 to no MEPs after 2014. Advocating an end to international aid and immigration, as well as deportation for recent immigrants, the party has had more than its fair share of controversies. Sickeningly, the party tries to claim Winston Churchill as their own. The judiciary recently ruled that their 'whites-only' membership policies are illegal. Notable figures include former leader Nick Griffin, whose leadership led them to short-lived national prominence (before he was expelled from the party in 2014), and party founder the late John Tyndall, an unabashed neo-Nazi who was replaced by Griffin in 1999. The future of the BNP includes the words "circling" and "drain." As is typical with such organisations, the BNP is in danger of becoming eclipsed by splitters, in this case in British Freedom and the English Defence League. They chiefly found themselves eclipsed by the rise of the more moderate Nationalist party, the UK Independence Party.
===Christian Party===
The Christian Party (aka Scottish Christian Party and Welsh Christian Party in those countries, and registered as Christian Party "Proclaiming Christ's Lordship" to avoid confusion with similarly named parties) is a minor, Eurosceptic, Christian political partyChristian Party "Proclaiming Christ's Lordship" The Electoral ComissionChristian Party, Proclaiming Christ's Lordship UK Parliament founded by pentecostal minister and former songwriter out of Scottish-based Christian Peoples Alliance splinter Operation Christian Vote in May 2004 to campaign for Brexit and fundamentalist Christian policies. Such policies include abolishing progressive tax and the NHS, 'Christian Education' including corporal punishment and "balanced teaching" of Creationism and evolution, removing the "satanic" red dragon from the Welsh flag, and increasing speed limits to 90mph. Fined and de-registered for failiure to pay fees in 2012, the party was re-registered by current leader Jeff Green in 2013. The proclomation of Christ's Lordship has, however, not resulted in any sort of electoral success.
===Christian Peoples Alliance===
The Christian Peoples Alliance is a minor, Christian democratic political partyChristian Peoples Alliance The Electoral ComissionChristian Peoples Alliance Party UK Parliament founded out of cross-party advocacy group the Movement for Christian Democracy in 1999 to take advantage of electoral reforms to use proportional representation for bodies like the London Assembly/Mayoralty and the European Parliament. Initially it was a centre-right party combining conservative views on marriage and sexuality with criticism of the arms trade and concern about poverty. Like many Christian parties, hpwever, it has always had an anti-LGBTQ+ bent and a clear persecution complex, mainly because it's not the 1950s anymore and general British society doesn't automatically defer to them in every way. More recently it has re-invented itself as a right-wing club for British Trump supporters.Symon Hill, The far-right are misusing Christianity for their warped ideology. There’s nothing Christian about them, Left Foot Forward, 6 August, 2024. Despite being the largest openly Christian party in Britain it's never had a victory above a town council and has lost every deposit in elections for Parliament.
===English Constitution Party===
The English Constitution Party is a minor far-right English nationalist political partyEnglish Constitution Party The Electoral CommissionEnglish Constitution Party UK Parliament and private limited companyENGLISH CONSTITUTION PARTY LTD Companies House founded in November 2021 by party leader Graham "Daddy Dragon"Case File: English Constitution Party Hope Not Hate Moore Graham MOORE Companies House and treasurer Valarie PhilipsValerie PHILLIPS Companies House as a one man split from the English Democrats with the stated aim of “self-determination of the English” from “British imperial, colonialist rule”State of Hate 2022: On The March Again Hope Not Hate and the ingenious slogan to "Make England Great Again" (MEGA). Moore's campaign for English independence is seemingly based on conspiracy theory and a misunderstanding of English common law which suggests it to be another Organised Pseudolegal Commercial Argument scheme.State of Hate 2023: Rhetoric, Racism and Resentment Hope Not Hate People associated with the party have recently engaged in migrant hunts and anti-immigrant protests, while Moore has been engaged in increasingly antisemitic rhetoric,State of Hate 2024: Pessimism, Decline and the Rising Radical Right Hope Not Hate starting the countdown to the inevitable proclamation of support for The Great Replacement conspiracy theory.
=== Heritage Party ===
The Heritage Party is a minor, Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political partyHeritage Party UK Parliament (registered in Great BritainHeritage Party The Electoral Comission and Northern Ireland)Heritage Party The Electoral Comission and private limited companyHERITAGE PARTY LIMITED Companies House founded by then-London Assembly Member and co-founder of Eurosceptic technical group the Brexit Alliance David Michael KURTEN Companies House in 2020CASE FILE: Heritage Party Hope Not Hate as a one-man UKIP splinter to repeal hate crime laws, curtail immigration, roll back
environmental legislation and foster national pride and "traditional family values".STATE OF HATE 2021 – Backlash, Conspiracies & Confrontation Hope Not Hate Despite actively promoting right-wing populist conspiracy theories about COVID-19, climate change and globalism; advertising in far-right conspiracy rag The Light; regular appearances on GB News; and speaking at anti-lockdown/anti-vax protest during the pandemic, Kurten lost his London assembly seat and his party has had no electoral success.
===Homeland Party===
The Homeland Party is a minor, fascist political partyHomeland Party The Electoral Comission and private limited companyHOMELAND PARTY ASSOCIATION LTD Companies House founded by Patriotic Alternative's then-National Administration Officer Kenneth Angus SMITH Companies House in April 2023 as a splinter.CASE FILE: The Homeland Party Hope Not Hate
===Independent Network===
:Local government: 4
The Independent Network is a minor, non-partisan, (not really a) political partyIndependent Network UK Parliament (registered in Great BritainIndependent Network The Electoral Comission and Northern Ireland)Independent Network The Electoral Comission and private limited companyINDEPENDENT NETWORK CAMPAIGN LTD Companies House founded in 2005 to support and advise independent candidates such as and It doesn't have policies (although it won't support anyone with discriminatory views), and so probably doesn't really count as a political party. It is, perhaps, most noteworthy for supporting the campaign of independent candidate who lost his son in the Iraq War, against Tony Blair in his constituency of Sedgefield during the 2005 elections.Soldiers' bereaved parents back Keys campaign by Matthew Tempest (22 April 2005) The Guardian
=== Liberal Party (1989) ===
:Local government: 5
The Liberal Party is a minor liberal political partyThe Liberal Party The Electoral ComissionLiberal UK Parliament founded in 1989 by a group of individuals within the original Liberal Party who disagreed with the merger with the Social Democratic Party to form the Liberal Democrats. They claim to be the legal continuation of the old Liberal Party (founded in 1859), resulting in them being jokingly referred to as the Continuity Liberal Party. In reality, traditional Liberals from decades ago would struggle to recognise the current party, which includes open Satanists and far-leftists. They have five local government councillors, and occasionally beat the Lib Dems in Parliamentary elections in Liverpool... In fact, their main political function seems to be to gain a few Lib Dem votes from the easily bewildered and short-sighted.
===Mebyon Kernow===
:Local government: 5https://www.cornwall.gov.uk/the-council-and-democracy/your-council/political-breakdown-of-the-council/
Mebyon Kernow – The Party for Cornwall (Cornish for "Sons of Cornwall") is a minor centre left Cornish nationalist political partyMebyon Kernow - The Party for Cornwall The Electoral ComissionMebyon Kernow - The Party for Cornwall UK Parliament formed as a pressure group by cultural activist in 1951 to push for the return of 's status as a distinct legal entity and win recognition and protection for the Cornish language. Support burgeoned in the 1960s through local opposition to increasing immigration from other parts of the UK, and it started fielding candidates in general elections in the 1970s. It has close links with similar Celtic parties in Scotland (Scottish National Party), Wales (Plaid Cymru), and Brittany (Breton Democratic Union), and it is a member of the left-leaning It has survived a number of splinters including the Cornish National Party in 1969 and the Cornish Nationalist Party in 1975, tends to do best in local council elections, and has even had mayors elected in towns such as Liskeard.
===National Front===
The National Front (NF) is a minor, fascist political partyNational Front The Electoral ComissionNational Front UK Parliament founded by disillusioned British Union of Fascists activist A. K. Chesterton in 1967, through a merger of his League of Empire Loyalists with the short-lived British National Party, to oppose non-white immigration from the Commonwealth. Neo-fascist political activist John Tyndall became chairman in 1972 with the merger of his Greater Britain Movement into NF. Under Tyndall's leadership NF engaged in populism and tried to appear more moderate, whilst still promoting white nationalism and attracting violent subcultures (e.g. football hooligans and racist skinheads). Despite achieving no electoral success beyond the local council level, the NF was briefly the fourth largest political party when its vote share peaked in the 1976 local elections.CASE FILE: The National Front Hope Not Hate
The NF collapsed and lost most its membership after the 1979 general election. By the mid-1980s the party had split into two ideological camps, with the self-styled Political Soldiers wanting to abandon contesting elections for Third Position ideas. The NF has never managed to shake its bovver boot image, but the British National Party led by Nick Griffin gave this up, "swapping bovver boots for sober suits"Who's afraid of the BNP?. BBC News. September, 2009. to gain electoral support. Today, the NF has very few members, and is little more than a drinkers-club.
=== National Health Action Party ===
The National Health Action Party is a minor political partyNational Health Action Party The Electoral ComissionNational Health Action Party UK Parliament founded by oncologist and retired consultant physician and independent MP in 2012, in responce to the of that year, to renationalise privatised parts of the NHS, reduce outsourcing, and improve NHS funding, service provision and staffing. Peedell had co-written a highly critical open letter to The Independent vowing to "form a coalition of healthcare professionals to take on coalition MPs at the next General Election, on the non-party, independent ticket of defending the NHS and acting in the wider public interest," whilst Taylor had previously been elected to Parliament in 2001 and 2005 for Independent Kidderminster Hospital and Health ConcernIndependent Kidderminster Hospital and Health Concern The Electoral ComissionIndependent Kidderminster Hospital and Health Concern UK Parliament which campaigned from 2000 to 2023 to reopen the Kidderminster Hospital casualty unit. Despite sufficiently widespread support to be ranked seventh in terms of vote share in England in the 2015 General Election, none of the party's candidates have yet to be elected to office at any level.
=== National Housing Party UK ===
The National Housing Party UK (NHPUK) is a minor, fascist political party (registered in Great BritainNational Housing Party UK The Electoral Comission and Northern Ireland)National Housing Party UK The Electoral Comission and private limited companyNATIONAL HOUSING PARTY UNITED KINGDOM LIMITED Companies House founded by London-based taxi driver and British National Party (BNP) activist Pat McGinnis Patrick MCGINNIS Companies House and Oldham-based window cleaner and Britain First activist John Lawrence John LAWRENCE Companies House in 2021 with the pledge to “a complete halt to permanent settlement immigration and to leave the 1951 UN Refugee Convention”.CASE FILE: National Housing Party UK Hope Not Hate To achieve these aims NHPUK has engaged in banner drops, small anti-migrant protests, and distributing Islamophobic and antisemitic propaganda to its tiny online audience. It has also claimed climate change and COVID-19 to be hoaxes. Despite this, NHPUK has had no electoral success, with a particular highlight being McGinnis receiving a single vote in the July 2022 Camden Council by-election.
=== Official Monster Raving Loony Party ===
The Official Monster Raving Loony Party is a minor novelty political partyThe Official Monster Raving Loony Party The Electoral ComissionOfficial Monster Raving Loony Party UK Parliament and private limited companyhttps://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/12101266 Companies House founded by musician in 1983 to satirise British politics, field joke candidates, and offer an alternative for protest votes in safe seats. Despite current party leader Alan "Howling Laude" Hope creating some division with his Eurosceptic stance, the party has established itself, alongside the Liberal Democrats, as the longest running joke in UK politics. Despite the deliberate absurdity of their manifesto a number of their policies have, eventually, become law, including all day opening hours for pubs, lowering the voting age to 18, passports for pets, licensing of commercial radio stations, and official government honours for the Beatles. They are also serious enough to have membership fees of £9.99 per annum, and to have appended the word official to their party name in order to distinguish themselves from all the other loonies on the ballot. Electoral success, beyond the town council and mayoral level, has, however, proven largely elusive.
===Patriots Alliance - English Democrats and UKIP===
The Patriots Alliance is a formal election pact (registered with the Electoral Commission) and private limited companyPATRIOTS ALLIANCE LTD Companies House formed in 2023 by two minor right-wing political parties:
*The English Democrats (ED) is a minor, far-right, Eurosceptic, English nationalist political partyEnglish Democrats The Electoral ComissionEnglish Democrats UK Parliament founded by wealthy solicitor in 1997 from the pressure group as a continuation of the defunct and reformed under its current name in 2002 following the formation of the Scottish Parliament, Welsh Parliament and Northern Ireland Assembly to push for a similarly devolved parliament for England.
*The UK Independence Party (UKIP), a minor, Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political partyUK Independence Party (UKIP) The Electoral ComissionUK Independence Party UK Parliament founded by LSE Professor in 1993 from his own cross-party to campaign for complete withdrawal from the European Union. The party peaked under the leadership of gobshite-for-hire Nigel Farage in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of parliament through defections, was classified as a major party, and, arguably, forced the Brexit referendum of June 2016. 
The once influential UKIP has been dubbed "Britain’s fastest-shrinking political party"UKIP and English Democrats move closer to hook-up (4 September 2024) Searchlight due to a catastrophic fall in fortunes since 2016 which has seen its vote share obliterated, factional infighting, numerous splits, and a rotating carrousel of short-lived leaderships.CASE FILE: Patriots Alliance (UKIP & English Democrats) Hope Not Hate Meanwhile, Tilbrook's vanity project, ED, has sort to opportunistically expand it's influence, absorbing vanity UKIP split in 2015 and co-running candidates with far-right, fascist, neo-Nazi and white nationalist hate group Patriotic Alternative in the 2024 UK general election. Anti-fascist researchers speculate that while this radical shift to the far-right might be acceptable to UKIP's unelected interim leader who is also COO for the violent far-right street gang Turning Point UK, the same may not be true for the more traditional anti-EU, anti-immigration, rank and file membership.
===Scottish Family Party===
The Scottish Family Party is a socially conservative Christian right political partyScottish Family Party The Electoral ComissionScottish Family Party UK Parliament launched in 2017 by former UKIP candidate Richard Lucas to campaign on anti-abortion and anti-LGBT policies.CASE FILE: Scottish Family Party Hope Not Hate
===Scottish Socialist Party===
The SSP had some success in the first and second Scottish Parliaments. Its former leader was Tommy Sheridan elected, and in the next election in 2003 they returned its best electoral result with 6 people elected into the Scottish Parliament. . Sheridan was later jailed for lying to court about his visits to swingers clubs and participating in other sexually interesting activities. This split the party and (former) members spent more time attacking one another than on anything else.
The SSP is what it says on the tin. In 2016 they were part of the RISE coalition of left-wing parties but failed to win any seats in the Scottish Parliament.
===Scottish Unionist Party===
Not to be confused with the "Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party" (the Tories' official name in Scotland), the SUP is a tiny party based in West Central Scotland (the Glasgow hinterland). It is essentially an unofficial political wing of the Orange Order (Protestant supremacists) in Scotland. They stand few candidates, but have managed to survive for a number of years. Most of their political narrative seems to be based around Northern Ireland, even the matter of Scottish indepebdence.
=== Socialist Labour Party ===
The Socialist Labour Party (SLP) is a socialist political partySocialist Labour Party The Electoral CommissionSocialist Labour Party UK Parliament founded by veteran trade unionist and then- President in 1996 following Labour Party leader Tony Blair's abandonment of common ownership as part of his New Labour reforms. The SLP supported Brexit, advocates for economic localism, and wants the coal mines reopened. The party has had no electoral success and its only councillors to date were Labour defectors who lost their seats at the subsequent elections.
=== Workers Party of Britain ===
:Local government: 5
The Workers Party of Britain is a minor, socially conservative, left-wing populist political partyWorkers Party of Britain The Electoral ComissionWorkers Party of Britain UK Parliament founded by carpet-bagging former leader of the defunct Respect Party George Galloway in 2019, after his dreams of rejoining the Labour Party were scuppered by their landslide defeat in the general election of that year and the subsequent resignation of party leader Jeremy Corbyn. Galloway's party has connections to tiny far-left splinter group the Communist Party of Great Britain (Marxist-Leninist), "defend[s] the achievements of the USSR, China, Cuba, etc," and praises the "positive historical legacy of the Soviet Union." Despite this, it has had some success in local elections and even won a parliamentary seat with Galloway's victory in the February 2024 Rochdale by-election, only to lose it five months later to Keir Starmer's Labour Party in the July 2024 general election.
=== Yorkshire Party ===
:Local government: 3
T'Yorkshire Party used to dream of livin' in a corridor is a regionalist party in t'historic county of Yorkshire. Their main policies are devolution for t'entire Yorkshire region in the form of a Yorkshire parliament similar to that of t'Welsh Assembly and Scottish Parliament. They also want more investment into Yorkshire, making sure when the U.K leaves the E.U Yorkshire trade will be protected and to protect the Yorkshire culture, tha knows.
==Minor political parties of Northern Ireland==
===The Workers Party & the Irish Republic Socialist Party (ISRP)===
In a series of splits which will strike a resonance with those familiar with Monty Python's Life of Brian, the "Provisional" IRA split from the Irish Republican Army in 1968, in protest at the latter's lack of interest in murdering people. The dormant rump of the Irish Republican Army then became known as the "Official" IRA. The Workers Party arose as the "political wing" of the Official IRA, a counterpart to Sinn Féin, the political wing of the Provisional IRA. 
The Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) were a further set of (particularly bloodthirsty) paramilitary splitters in the 1970s, and they in their turn had their own obligatory "political wing", the IRSP. 
Both the IRSP and Worker's Party tended to devote themselves to radical left-wing ideologies, along the lines of neo-Leninism or neo-Trotskyism. Neither of them ever achieved any degree of electoral success besides a handful of councillors in local government. 
With the coming of the 21st century, they appear to have largely shrivelled up and died. In any case, the INLA's numbers diminished greatly due to a murderous feud, which only ended when the last remaining member realised that to continue the killing would be suicide. A new breed of post-Good Friday Agreement dissident splitters have taken to the stage instead, including the Real IRA and the Continuity IRA, with their own inevitable political wings such as the '32 County Sovereignty Committee', whose mission is to non-consensually liberate the people of Ireland from their bipartisan decision not to murder each other, by murdering them.
===Green Party Northern Ireland===
The GPNI does everything one would expect it to on the environmental front. It is also very vocal about issues regarding sexuality and gender-identity. The colour "green" has connotations of Irish republicanism, but that does not seem to have won or lost them many votes.
==Defunct political parties of Great Britain and Northern Ireland==
The UK's political landscape is littered with the wreckage of former parties, some of which left a mark, or even a stain, on history. 
===British Union of Fascists===
Oswald Mosley's was seen as a serious menace in the 1930s, so much so that the government saw fit to ban it, and imprison Mosley, during World War II. Mosley attempted to return to politics after the war, capitalizing on anti-immigrant feeling, but was a spent force. However he remained a shadowy influence on the far right until his death in 1980. 
===Change UK===
Change UK was a short-lived failed experiment of a party created in 2019 by disgruntled Conservative and Labour MPs with the hopes of being a big-tent, pro-European party. After ten months of irrelevance and no electoral success, the party was dissolved after the 2019 general election when none of its MPs won their seats. Unlike the SDP which left a lasting impression on British politics, Change UK was a textbook example of how not to set up a party - they had a strong starting base but no one seemed to know what they stood for.
===The Chartists===
The Chartists were a 19th century party who campaigned for the right of the working class to vote. They were most powerful in the industrial cities, and they rioted in Wales, but had faded away long before the universal franchise came into being.
===Communist Party of Great Britain===
The Communist Party of Great Britain lasted from 1920 to 1991. It was largely succeeded by the similarly-named Communist Party of Britain.
=== For Britain Movement ===
The For Britain Movement was a minor Eurosceptic, far-right, Islamophobic political partyThe For Britain Movement The Electoral Comission founded by anti-Muslim activist Anne Marie Waters as a UKIP splinter following her failure in the Considering Islam incompatible with "British culture," For Britain's stated policies included banning the burqa, reducing Muslim immigration into the UK to near zero, and implementing a public awareness campaign to inform the British public "of the true teachings and practice of the Islamic religion." Despite receiving a boost in members from the dissolution of Liberty GB and the perpetual decline of the BNP, For Britain failed to achieve any electoral success. The party was mercifully deregistered on 2022, as Waters rejoined the increasingly radicalised UKIP with the intention of running once again for its leadership.
=== Liberal Party (1859) ===
The Liberal Party was for a long time one of the two big parties in the UK, but was then eclipsed by its offshoot the Labour Party. The Liberals returned a number of prime ministers such as David Lloyd George. They had a brief renaissance in the seventies, forming a coalition with Labour. Leader Jeremy Thorpe was also a great white hope in that period, before his success was destroyed in a bizarre gas sex scandal. In the eighties, the Liberals merged with the SDP to form the Liberal Democrats. The rump Liberal (not Lib Dem) Party owes almost nothing to the old Liberal Party (see above)
In 1981 the Labour Party, defeated at the previous election, decided to wallow in a left-wing version of Tea Party-style ideological orthodoxy. This caused a group of moderates led by the former foreign secretary David Owen to split off and form the . They then formed an electoral pact with the Liberals for the elections of 1983 and 1987. The main effect of this was to undermine an already unpopular Labour, giving the Tories a free hand to sell off Britain's industrial base to the highest bidder. Cheers, guys. In the end the SDP fizzled out after internecine squabbling with the liberals doomed their electoral chances. In 2013 Nigel Farage described Tony Blair as "an SDP Prime Minister."Ukip will change face of British politics like SDP, says Nigel Farage A rump SDP still exists.
===Natural Law Party===
The Natural Law Party was perhaps the most colourful party of the 1990s and alleviated the boredom of the political scene. Using up George Harrison's vast wealth They were essentially a front for Transcendental Meditation. Their election broadcasts included footage of people engaged in yogic flying, which they said helped reduce crime, and their economic spokesman was a Canadian magician who said he could make financial woes "disappear". They were totally mad, but strangely lovable, and many of the men sported anachronistic moustaches.
===Referendum Party===
Another anti-EU party, dating back to the 1990s, when it was formed by eccentric businessman James Goldsmith. Its celebrity supporters included former That's Life! presenter Gavin Campbell. After winning 0 seats in the 1997 General Election, it changed into a pressure group under James's wife Annabel.
===Respect Party===
The Respect Party was a socialist party whose driving force was George Galloway. The party de-registered in 2016 after 12 years of an existence that didn't go beyond being Galloway's personal soapbox.George Galloway's Respect Party deregisters, prompting speculation politician may rejoin Labour
===Veritas===
Robert Kilroy-Silk, former Labour Party shadow minister turned daytime TV host and tanning advocate, stood under the UKIP banner then decided he didn't really like UKIP, he decided to set up a party called "Veritas" (Latin for truth). It did even worse, although due to defectors from UKIP, it did have some seats in Brussels and in the London Assembly. After standing zero candidates in the 2010 general election, they are now mostly forgotten (sadly, thanks to reality TV show I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here, Kilroy-Silk has not been forgotten along with them).
===We Demand a Referendum Now===
A single-issue party whose goal was to force a referendum on the UK's membership in the EU. Founded by MEP Nikki Sinclaire in 2012, after she was expelled from UKIP for refusing to work with other far-right parties in the EFD group. It was disolved in 2014.
===Women's Equality Party===
Set up by broadcaster Sandi Toksvig and writer Catherine Mayer in 2015, it (naturally) filters its policies through the lens of feminism, but presents the issues that improve women's lot as something that will improve life in the UK in general. It prominently uses the suffragette tricolour of the WSPUThe Colors of Women's Suffrage which has been recently co-opted by TERFs, and it took until December 2022 for it to take a concrete pro-trans rights position, to avoid scaring said TERFs off.How the UK’s only feminist party came out in favour of gender self-ID - Alona Ferber, The New Statesman, December 1, 2022
===Others===
A number of defunct parties arose in Scotland during the first term of the Scottish Parliament in the late nineties, when they saw the success of the Socialists and Greens being elected. The Scottish Senior Citizens Unity Party fluked a seat (much to the surprise of its leader), but was always very vague about what it wanted other than "grey power", which meant it went into rapid decline when it lost its seat - it is a good example of a party getting influence and not knowing what to do with it. The Highlands & Islands Alliance was unsuccessful and also uninspiring - for a supposedly Highland party, it had surprisingly little to say on the Gaelic language question or land reform. Solidarity was Tommy Sheridan's vehicle after he left the SSP - it briefly had MSPs but lost them after elections. The Orkney and Shetland Movement (and its variants) had intermittent activity, and advocated for greater autonomy for the Northern Isles in the seventies. Going back much further, Protestant Action engaged in various anti-Catholic activities and was centered around John Cormack - it arguably stunted the growth of British Fascist parties in Scotland, such as Mosley's.
==See also==
*Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
*Political parties of Canada
*Political parties of Ireland
*Political parties of Germany
*Political parties of Hong Kong
*Political parties of Italy
==References==
*
Category:British politics
Category:United Kingdom
Category:Lists of political parties