Editing Politics of the United Kingdom (section)

===Non-Parliamentary political parties===

Other [[List of political parties in the United Kingdom#Minor parties in the United Kingdom|political parties]] exist, but struggle to return MPs to Parliament.

The [[UK Independence Party]] (UKIP) had one MP and 24 seats in the [[European Parliament]] as well as a number of local councillors. UKIP also had a MLA in the [[Northern Ireland Assembly]]. UKIP had become an emerging alternative party among some voters, gaining the third-largest share of the vote in the [[2015 United Kingdom general election|2015 general election]] and the largest share of the vote of any party (27%) in the [[2014 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom|2014 European elections]]. In 2014 UKIP gained its first ever MP following the defection and re-election of [[Douglas Carswell]] in the [[2014 Clacton by-election]]. They campaign mainly on issues such as reducing [[Modern immigration to the United Kingdom|immigration]] and [[Brexit|EU withdrawal]]. They no longer have any MPs.

The [[Respect Party|Respect]] party, a [[left-wing]] group that came out of the [[anti-war movement]] had a single MP, [[George Galloway]] from 2005 to 2010, and again between 2012 and 2015.<ref>{{cite news|last=Duggan|first=Emily|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/george-galloway-facing-defeat-as-tactics-backfire-in-bradford-10234486.html|title=George Galloway defeated by Labour's Naz Shah as tactics backfire in Bradford|work=The Independent|date=8 May 2015|access-date=15 July 2016|archive-date=4 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160804213913/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/george-galloway-facing-defeat-as-tactics-backfire-in-bradford-10234486.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[Change UK]] was a political party formed and disbanded in 2019. It had five MPs, four of whom were elected as Labour MPs, and one as Conservative MPs.

Following the [[2021 Scottish Parliament election]] the [[Scottish Greens]] have 8 MSPs in the [[Scottish Parliament]] and are the junior partner in the SNP/Green coalition. They also 35 local councillors.

The [[Green Party in Northern Ireland]] has previously had MLAs in the [[Northern Ireland Assembly]]. They currently have 8 local councillors.

The [[Scottish Socialist Party]] (SSP) won its first seat in the Scottish Parliament in the [[1999 Scottish Parliament election]]. In the [[2003 Scottish Parliament election]] the party increased their number of seats to 6. The party built up its support through opposing the war in Iraq and fighting for policies such as free school meals and an end to prescription charges. In the [[2007 Scottish Parliament election]] it lost all of its MSPs but remains politically active and continues to contest elections.<ref>{{cite news |date= 13 April 2011 |title= Scottish election: Scottish Socialist Party profile |url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-12997087 |publisher= BBC News |access-date=13 November 2021}}</ref>

The [[British National Party]] (BNP) became the official opposition in the [[2006 Barking and Dagenham Council election]], won a seat in the [[2008 London Assembly election]], two seats in the [[2009 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom|2009 European elections]], and received the fifth-highest share of votes in the [[2010 United Kingdom general election|2010 general election]]. At their peak they had 58 local councillors. However, the early 2010s saw the BNP's support collapse and became fractured, resulting in them losing all elected representation by 2018.<ref>{{cite news |last= Pidd |first= Helen |date= 2 May 2018 |title= As the BNP vanishes, do the forces that built it remain? |url= https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/may/02/bnps-last-district-councillor-bows-out-but-insists-party-will-rise-again |work= The Guardian |access-date= 23 April 2019}}</ref>

The [[British Democratic Party]] (BDP) was founded in 2013 by [[Andrew Brons]], one of the British National Party's two MEPs. In 2022, following the collapse of the BNP, a plethora of prominent ex-BNP members rapidly began coalescing around the British Democrats. It is currently the only far-right UK political party with any elected representation.

The [[Aspire (political party)|Aspire Party]] has 24 out of the 45 seats in the Tower Hamlets council.

The [[Women's Equality Party]] (WEP) was founded in 2015. The party gained its first elected representation in the [[2019 United Kingdom local elections]], winning one local councillor seat on [[Congleton Town Council]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Congleton Town Council East Ward Results 2019|url=https://www.cheshireeast.gov.uk/council_and_democracy/voting_and_elections/elections/parish-council-election-2019/calveley-to-faddiley/congleton-east.aspx |publisher=[[Cheshire East Council]] |date=2 May 2019 |access-date=28 May 2019}}</ref> The party has no other elected representation at any other level of governance.

The [[Libertarian Party (UK)|Libertarian Party]] was founded in 2008 and has contested several local elections and parliamentary constituencies. It has no elected representatives at any level of governance.

The [[English Democrats]] was founded in 2002 and advocates England having its own parliament. The party's candidate was elected mayor of Doncaster in 2009, before resigning from the party in February 2013.<ref>{{cite news |date= 5 February 2013 |title= Doncaster mayor quits English Democrats 'because of BNP' |url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-21335384 |publisher= BBC News |access-date= 26 April 2019}}</ref>

Other parties include: the [[Socialist Labour Party (UK)]], the [[Socialist Party of Great Britain]], the [[Communist Party of Britain]], the [[Socialist Party (England and Wales)]], the [[Socialist Workers Party (UK)|Socialist Workers Party]], the [[Liberal Party (UK, 1989)|Liberal Party]], [[Mebyon Kernow]] (a Cornish nationalist party) in Cornwall, the [[Yorkshire Party]] in Yorkshire, and the [[National Health Action Party]]. The [[Pirate Party UK]] existed from 2009 to 2020, before being relaunched in 2023.

Several local parties contest only within a specific area, a single county, borough or district. Examples include the Better Bedford Independent Party, which was one of the dominant parties in [[Bedford Borough Council]] and led by Bedford's former Mayor, [[Frank Branston]]. The most notable local party is [[Health Concern]], which controlled a single seat in the British Parliament from 2001 to 2010.

The [[Jury Team]], launched in March 2009 and described as a "non-party party", is an umbrella organisation seeking to increase the number of independent MPs.<ref name=Independant8Mar09>{{cite news | last = Gourlay  | first = Chris | title = Tycoon finances 'X Factor' party to clean up politics | newspaper = [[The Sunday Times]] | date = 8 March 2009 | url = http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article5864530.ece | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090316004542/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article5864530.ece | url-status = dead | archive-date = 16 March 2009 | access-date = 10 May 2009 | location=London}}</ref>

The [[Official Monster Raving Loony Party]] (OMRLP) was founded in 1983. The OMRLP are distinguished by having a deliberately bizarre [[manifesto]], which contains things that seem to be impossible or too absurd to implement – usually to highlight what they see as real-life absurdities. It is effectively regarded as a [[political satire|satirical political party]].