List of political parties in the United Kingdom:

Prior to the mid-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 were associated with the newly emerging moneyed industrial classes, and 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.

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 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 since a third party (recently, the Liberal Democrats) can prevent 50% of the votes/seats from going to a single party. The Liberals merged with the Social Democrats because they had very similar views and became the Liberal Democrats which is now a sizeable party whose electoral results have improved in recent years.

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.

The Electoral Commission's Register of Political Parties^[1] lists the details of parties registered to fight elections, and their registered name, in the United Kingdom. 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.

As of 14 December 2009 it shows the number of registered political parties as 337 in Great Britain,^[2] and 44 in Northern Ireland.^[3]

Major political parties in the House of Commons

Political parties with elected representation at a national or international level

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

Other minor political parties in the United Kingdom

Defunct and historic parties in the United Kingdom

English political parties

Scottish political parties

Welsh political parties

Northern 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

List of political parties in the United Kingdom

Contents

Brief history and overview

Register of Political Parties