List of political parties in the United Kingdom

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 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.

Scottish Parliament debating chamber

Since 1997, proportional representation-based voting systems have been adopted for elections to the Scottish Parliament, the 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%).[6]

There are a number of political parties in the United Kingdom that do not have representation in the House of Commons, but have elected representatives in the Scottish Parliament, Welsh Parliament, Northern Ireland Assembly, and/or the London Assembly. These are:

Party		Date of foundation	Political position	Ideology	Leader		House of Commons	Scottish Parliament	Welsh Parliament	Northern Ireland Assembly	London Assembly	Local Government	Membership	UK vote share % (2019 general election)
	Ulster Unionist Party	1905	Centre-right	British unionism Conservatism		Steve Aiken	N/A	N/A	N/A	10 / 90	N/A	72 / 20,649	Not published	0.3
	Scottish Greens	1990	Centre-left to left-wing	Green politics Scottish independence Scottish republicanism Pro-Europeanism		Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater (job share)	N/A	6 / 129	N/A	N/A	N/A	19 / 20,649 [9]	6,412[15]	0.1
	Green Party in Northern Ireland	1983	Centre-left	Green politics Nonsectarianism Pro-Europeanism		Clare Bailey	N/A	N/A	N/A	2 / 90	N/A	8 / 20,649 [16]	406[17] (May 2015)	Did not contest
	Abolish the Welsh Assembly Party	2015	Single-issue	Welsh Parliament abolition		Richard Suchorzewski	N/A	N/A	2 / 60	N/A	N/A	1 / 20,649	310 (2020)	Did not contest
	UK Independence Party	1993	Right-wing to far-right	Euroscepticism British nationalism Economic liberalism Right-wing populism National conservatism British unionism		Neil Hamilton	N/A	N/A	1 / 60	N/A	N/A	21 / 20,649 [18]	26,447[19] (as of 2019)	0.1
	Propel	2020	N/A	Welsh nationalism Welsh independence Localism Sovereignism Anti-nuclearism		Neil McEvoy	N/A	N/A	1 / 60	N/A	N/A	8 / 20,649	Not published	Did not contest
	Traditional Unionist Voice	2007	Right-wing	British unionism Social conservatism National conservatism Christian right Euroscepticism		Jim Allister	N/A	N/A	N/A	1 / 90	N/A	6 / 20,649	Not published	0.0
	People Before Profit	2005	Left-wing	Socialism Trotskyism Anti-capitalism Irish reunification		Eamonn McCann[Note 6]	N/A	N/A	N/A	1 / 90	N/A	5 / 20,649	Not published	0.0
	Heritage Party[20]	2020	Right-wing	Social conservatism		David Kurten	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	1 / 25 [21]	N/A	Not published	Before party creation
	Reform UK	2020	N/A	Populism Euroscepticism		Nigel Farage	N/A	1 / 129	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	115,000 (registered supporters)[22]	2.0

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.

• Campaign for Social Democracy (1973–1974).
• Liberal Unionist Party (1886–1912).
• National Democratic and Labour Party (1918–1923).
• National Liberal Party (1922–1923).
• National Liberal Party (1931–1968).
• New Party (1931) (1931–1932).
• Social Credit Party of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (1931–1951, 1965–1978).
• Women's Party (1917–1919).
• Anti Common Market and Free Trade Party (1967–1988).
• Social Democratic Federation (1884–1911).
• Independent Labour Party (1893–1975).
• Socialist Labour Party (1903–1980).
• British Socialist Party (1911–1920).
• Revolutionary Socialist Party (1912–1941).
• National Socialist Party (1916–1919).
• Communist Party of Great Britain (1920–1991).
• United Socialist Movement (1934–1965).
• Common Wealth Party (1942–1945).
• Revolutionary Communist Party (1944–1950).
• Revolutionary Workers' Party (1962–1990s).
• Committee to Defeat Revisionism, for Communist Unity (1963–c.1972).
• International Marxist Group (1968–1982). (Organised the electoral coalition Socialist Unity.)
• Working People's Party of England (1968–1986).
• British Fascisti (1920s–1930s).
• British Union of Fascists (1930s).
• British People's Party (1940s).
• Union Movement (1948–1973).
• National Labour Party (1957–1960).
• British National Party (1960–1967).
• National Democratic Party (1960s–1970s).
• British Movement (1968–1983).
• National Independence Party (1970s)
• United Country Party (1970s).
• National Party (1975–1977).
• Constitutional Movement (1979–1984).
• British Democratic Party (1979–1982).
• Flag Group (1980s).
• Official National Front (1986–1989).
• Vectis National Party (1970s) – Isle of Wight regionalist party.
• Crofters Party.
• Fife Socialist League (1950s–1960s).
• Highland Land League (1909–1920s).
• National Party of Scotland (1928–1934).
• Orkney and Shetland Movement.
• Progressives (Scotland) (1920s–1970s).
• Labour Party of Scotland (1973).
• Scottish Labour Party (1888–1893).
• Scottish Labour Party (1976–1981).
• Scottish Militant Labour (1990s).
• Scottish Party (1932–1934).
• Scottish Prohibition Party (1901–1935).
• Scottish Socialist Alliance.
• Scottish Socialist Federation.
• Scottish Voice.
• Scottish Workers' Representation Committee (1899–1909).
• Scottish Workers Republican Party.
• Unionist Party (Scotland) (1912–1965).
• Workers Party of Scotland.
• Communist Party of South Wales and the West of England.
• All-for-Ireland Party (1910–1918).
• British Ulster Dominion Party.
• Irish Independence Party.
• Irish Parliamentary Party.
• Irish Unionist Alliance.
• Labour Party of Northern Ireland.
• Nationalist Party (Northern Ireland).
• Ulster Liberal Party.
• Ulster Labour Unionists.

• Timeline of political parties in the United Kingdom
• List of political parties in the United Kingdom by representation
• List of political parties in the United Kingdom opposed to austerity
• Political make-up of local councils in the United Kingdom
• List of political parties by country
• Politics of the United Kingdom
• Political party affiliation in the United Kingdom
• Elections in the United Kingdom
• List of political parties in Northern Ireland
• List of political parties in Scotland
• List of political parties in Wales
• List of political parties in the Isle of Man (a British Crown dependency)
• List of political parties in Gibraltar (a British overseas territory)
• Index of UK party meta attributes

• "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