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. The whigs were associated with the newly emerging moneyed industrial classes, whereas the Tories were associated with the landed gentry.
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 internal divisions caused the Liberal Party to fall apart. It was replaced as the main left-wing party by the newly emerging Labour Party, who represented the mass working classes.
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 in their new incarnation as the Liberal Democrats are a sizeable third party whose electoral performance has improved in recent years.
The UK's First Past the Post electoral system leaves small parties disadvantaged. The only minor parties represented in Parliament are regionally-based.
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 organisation with no official recognition by the state. The Registration of Political Parties Act 1998 changed that by creating a register of parties.
The following political parties are active in the United Kingdom:
Major Parties
Three parties dominate politics in the House of Commons. They all operate throughout Great Britain, and also comprise most of the British Members of the European Parliament, the Scottish Parliament, and the Welsh Assembly.
Minor Parties
Parties with representation in the House of Commons
- Sinn Féin (do not take seats as do not take oath of allegiance)
- Scottish Green Party - (Environmentalist/for Scottish independence)
- Scottish National Party - (Centre left/for Scottish independence)
- Scottish Senior Citizens Unity Party
- Scottish Socialist Party - (far left/for Scottish independence)
Parties with representation in the Welsh Assembly
- Plaid Cymru - (Centre left/ Welsh nationalist party)
- Forward Wales - (socialist party that evolved from the John Marek Independent Party)
Unionist
Republican/Nationalist
Neutral on the Constitutional Status
Other parties with representation in the European Parliament
- Green Party of England and Wales Generally centre-left
- UK Independence Party, eurosceptic, generally Thatcherite
Other parties
Far left parties
- Alliance for Workers Liberty
- Communist Party of Britain
- Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist)
- Communist Party of Great Britain (PCC)
- Independent Working Class Association
- International Socialist Group
- New Communist Party of Britain
- RESPECT Unity Coalition
- Revolutionary Communist Group
- Socialist Alliance
- Socialist Appeal
- Socialist Labour Party
- Socialist Party of England and Wales
- Socialist Party of Great Britain
- Socialist Workers Party
- Spartacist League
- Workers Power
Regional parties
Far right parties
Joke parties
Religion-based parties
Single-issue parties
- Legalise Cannabis Alliance
- Prolife Alliance
Miscellaneous parties
- Countryside Party
- Democratic Party
- Humanist Party
- Liberal Party (Former members of the historic Liberal Party who refounded themselves as the Liberals when they felt that the old party had been lost in the merger with the SDP)
- The Consensus
- Third Way (UK)
- UK Social and Countryside Party
Defunct Parties
Far left parties
- British Socialist Party (1911-20)
- Communist Party of Great Britain (1920-1991)
- Independent Labour Party (1893-1975)
- International Marxist Group (1968-1981)
- Labour Party of Scotland (1973)
- Revoutionary Communist Party (1944-50)
- Revolutionary Socialist League (1938-1944)
- Scottish Militant Labour
- Scottish Republican Socialist Party (1982-98)
- Scottish Socialist Party (1987-1990)
- Scottish Workers Republican Party
- Social Democratic Federation (1884-1911)
- Socialist Labour Party (1903-1980)
- Socialist League (1886-1903)
- Workers International League (1937-1944)
- Workers Socialist Federation (1914-1921)
- Workers Revolutionary Party (1950-1988)
Regional parties
Far right and fascist parties
Religion-based parties
Single-issue parties
- Scottish Prohibition Party
Miscellaneous parties
See also
British politics, List of political parties in Scotland, List of political parties in Northern Ireland, List of political parties in the Isle of Man (a British crown dependency), List of political parties in Gibraltar (a British Overseas Territory)
External links