List of political parties in the United Kingdom

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Template:Politicsboxend Political parties in the United Kingdom lists political parties in the United Kingdom.

1 Brief history and overview
- 1.1 Register of Political Parties
2 Major political parties in the United Kingdom
- 2.1 Political parties with elected representation at a national or European level
  - 2.1.1 Note
3 Minor political parties in the United Kingdom
4 Defunct and historic parties in the United Kingdom
5 See also
6 External links

Brief history and overview

Prior to the mid-19th century British politics 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 were associated with the newly emerging moneyed industrial classes, and the Tories were associated with the landed gentry and the Anglican Church.

By the mid 19th century the Tories had evolved into the Conservative Party, and the Whigs had evolved into the Liberal Party.

These two parties 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 left-wing party by the newly emerging Labour Party, who represented an alliance between the Trade Unions and various socialist societies.

Since then the Conservative and Labour Parties have dominated British politics, and have alternated in government ever since. The UK is nearly but not quite a two-party system however. The Liberals merged with the Social Democrats because they had very similar views and became the Liberal Democrats which are now a sizeable third party whose electoral results have improved in recent years.

The UK's First Past the Post electoral system leaves small parties disadvantaged on a national scale. It can, however, allow parties with concentrations of supporters in the constituent countries to flourish. Other than the Respect coalition and Health Concern, the only minor parties represented in the House of Commons are based in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

In recent years, 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, minor parties have had some amount of 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.

Party	Representation					Comments
Party	UK House of Commons	Scotland	Wales	Northern Ireland	Europe	Comments
Labour Party	355	50	29	N/A	19	Traditionally left-wing, allied to Trade unions; more neo-liberal policies in recent years
Conservative Party	198	17	11	0	27	Centre-right party who were in government for about three-quarters of the 20th century
Liberal Democrats	63	17	6	N/A	12	The 'third party', moderate pro-Europeans, opposed to the Iraq war
Democratic Unionist Party	9	N/A	N/A	33	1	More hardline Unionist party in Northern Ireland.
Scottish National Party	6	26	N/A	N/A	2	Centre-left party in favour of Scottish independence.
Sinn Féin	5	N/A	N/A	18	1Template:Ref	Republican party in Northern Ireland. Do not take their seats in the British House of Commons.
Plaid Cymru - Party of Wales	3	N/A	12	N/A	1	Centre-left party in favour of Welsh independence.
Social Democratic and Labour Party	3	N/A	N/A	18	0	Constitutional nationalist party in Northern Ireland.
Ulster Unionist Party	1	N/A	N/A	24	1	Unionist party in Northern Ireland.
Respect Coalition	1	N/A	N/A	N/A	0	Left wing party active in England and Wales.
Independent Kidderminster Hospital and Health Concern	1	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	Local party based in Kidderminster.
Scottish Green Party	0	7	N/A	N/A	0	Environmentalist party in favour of Scottish independence.
Scottish Socialist Party	0	6	N/A	N/A	0	Far left party in favour of Scottish independence.
Scottish Senior Citizens Unity Party	0	1	N/A	N/A	0
Forward Wales	0	N/A	1	N/A	0	Socialist party in Wales.
Alliance Party of Northern Ireland	0	N/A	N/A	6	0	Party in Northern Ireland which is neutral on the region's constitutional status, allied to the Liberal Democrats
Progressive Unionist Party	0	N/A	N/A	1	0	Unionist party in Northern Ireland.
UK Unionist Party	0	N/A	N/A	1	0	Unionist party in Northern Ireland.
UK Independence Party	0	N/A	N/A	N/A	10	Eurosceptic and generally Thatcherite party.
Green Party of England and Wales	0	N/A	0	N/A	2	Generally centre-left, environmentalist party.

List of political parties in the United Kingdom

From Free net encyclopedia

Contents

Brief history and overview

Register of Political Parties

Major political parties in the United Kingdom

Political parties with elected representation at a national or European level

Note

Minor political parties in the United Kingdom

Minor English political parties

Minor Scottish political parties

Minor Welsh political parties

Minor Northern Ireland political parties

Minor far left political parties in the United Kingdom

Minor far right political parties in the United Kingdom

Joke political parties in the United Kingdom

Minor religion-based political parties in the United Kingdom

Minor single-issue political parties in the United Kingdom

Miscellaneous minor political parties in the United Kingdom

Defunct and historic parties in the United Kingdom

English political parties

Scottish political parties

Welsh political parties

Irish political parties

Defunct far left and communist political parties in the United Kingdom

Defunct British far right and fascist political parties

Miscellaneous British political parties

See also

External links

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