In the 2005 general election, numerous minor or single issue candidates stood for election. Due to the first past the post electoral system, national fourth parties are rarely successful in achieving representation in the House of Commons. A notable exception is the case of regional parties, such as the

Scottish National Party The Scottish National Party (SNP; sco, Scots National Pairty, gd, Pàrtaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic political party in Scotland. The SNP supports and campaigns for Scottish independence from ...

or Plaid Cymru, who have gained a number of seats. The impact of minor parties should not be underestimated. The success of the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...

in the 1980s led to environmentalism becoming a key issue for the three main parties, while the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) is now one of the largest British parties in the Europe Parliament and has greatly advanced the issue of euroscepticism. Parties listed below are organised firstly by the nations and regions in which they are standing, then the number of MPs elected in the 2001 general election, then by number of candidates standing in the 2005 election, and finally alphabetically. As a result, parties attracting more support will tend to appear higher in each list than fringe parties.

Parties standing in England and Wales

There are well over 500 seats in England and Wales, with the Labour Party and

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

standing in every one, and the Liberal Democrats standing aside only against Health Concern. UKIP also contested the majority of seats, while Plaid Cymru stood in every seat in Wales. Thirty further parties stood in more than one seat, while others contested a single constituency. Parties that won seats in 2001 * Labour Party (569 candidates in 2005) *

(569) * Liberal Democrats (568) * Plaid Cymru (40) * Independent Kidderminster Hospital and Health Concern (1) - Often abbreviated to Health Concern. Other parties * United Kingdom Independence Party (475 candidates in 2005) * Green Party of England and Wales (182) * British National Party (117) * Veritas (66) * Socialist Labour Party (SLP) (40) *

RESPECT The Unity Coalition The Respect Party was a left-wing to far-left, socialist political party active in the United Kingdom between 2004 and 2016. At the height of its success in 2007, the party had one Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons and nineteen ...

(26) * English Democrats Party (25) *

Legalise Cannabis Alliance Cannabis Law Reform (CLEAR), formerly the Legalise Cannabis Alliance, is a United Kingdom lobby group which campaigns to end the prohibition of cannabis. The group was founded in 1997 and reformed as CLEAR in 2011. It campaigned in a number of ele ...

(20) * Official Monster Raving Loony Party (20) *

Vote For Yourself Rainbow Dream Ticket Make Politicians History was a minor United Kingdom political party that advocated the abolition of Parliament in favour of devolution to city-states and decision-making by referendum. Its leader was Ronnie Carroll. Since the 1980s, the group sto ...

(17) * Socialist Alternative (17) * Liberal Party (13) * National Front (13) * Workers' Revolutionary Party (10) * Christian Peoples Alliance (9) * Alliance for Green Socialism (5) * Communist Party of Britain (5) * Forward Wales (5) *

Community Action Party The Community Action Party was a minor political party in the United Kingdom, mostly active in Greater Manchester and Merseyside. It advocated free health care and education provision, a managed public transport infrastructure free to all at th ...

(4) * Mebyon Kernow (4) * Alliance for Change (3) * Clause 28 Children's Protection Christian Democrats (3) * Peace and Progress (3) * People's Choice Making Politicians Work (3) * Progressive Democratic Party (3) * UK Community Issues Party (3) * Democratic Socialist Alliance (2) * Peace Party (2) * S-O-S! Voters Against Overdevelopment of Northampton (2) * Senior Citizens Party (2) * Socialist Unity (2) * Third Way (2) * Your Party (2). (January 2004–April 2006). Founded by four dotcom entrepreneurs, the party sought to canvass ideas from online "participants" before formulating a set of policies, a form of

direct democracy Direct democracy or pure democracy is a form of democracy in which the Election#Electorate, electorate decides on policy initiatives without legislator, elected representatives as proxies. This differs from the majority of currently establishe ...

. It contested two seats at the 2005 general election, then deregistered in April 2006. * Alternative Party (politics) (1) * Baths Party (1) * Bean Party (1) * Blair Must Go Party (1) * Bridges Party (1) * British Public Party (1) * Burnley Party (1) * Campaigning for Real Democracy (1) * Church of the Militant Elvis Party (1) * Community Group (1) * Community Party (1) * Civilisation Party (1) * Croydon Pensions Alliance (1) * Death, Dungeons and Taxes Party (1) * Democratic Labour Party (1) * English Independence Party (1) * English Parliamentary Party (1) * Families First UK (1) * Fit for Integrity and Trust (1) * Forum Party (1) * Freedom Party (1) * Get Britain Back (1) * Good Party (1) * Honesty Party (1) * Imperial Party (1) * Iraq War, Not In My Name (1) *

Independent Working Class Association The Independent Working Class Association (IWCA) is a minor working-class political party in the United Kingdom that aims to promote the political and economic interests of the working class, regardless of the consequences to existing political ...

(1) * Islam Zinda Baad Platform (1) * Justice Party (1) * Local Community Party (1) * Max Power Party (1) * Millennium Council (1) * Motorcycle News Party (1) * Newcastle Academy With Christian Values Party (1) *

New England Party The English Democrats is a right-wing to far-right, English nationalist political party active in England. A minor party, it currently has no elected representatives at any level of UK government. The English Democrats were established in 200 ...

(1) * Northern Progress For You (1) * People's Justice Party (1) * Personality And Rational Thinking? Yes! Party (1) * Protest Vote Party (1) * Removal of Tetra Masts in Cornwall (1) * Resolutionist Party (1) * St Albans Party (1) * Save the National Health (1) * Seeks A Worldwide Online Participatory Democracy (1) * Silent Majority Party (1) *

Socialist Party of Great Britain The Socialist Party of Great Britain (SPGB) is a socialist political party in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1904 as a split from the Social Democratic Federation (SDF), it advocates using the ballot box for revolutionary purposes and oppos ...

(1) * Telepathic Partnership (1) * Their Party (1) * Tigers Eye the Party for Kids (1) * UK Pathfinders Party (1) * UK Pensioners Party (1) * Xtraordinary People Party (1) *

Wessex Regionalist Party The Wessex Regionalists are a minor English regionalist political party in the United Kingdom. It seeks a degree of legislative and administrative home rule for Wessex, an area in the south and south-west of England loosely based on the Anglo-Sax ...

(1) Notes # The previously elected UK Parliamentary representative of this party (

George Galloway George Galloway (born 16 August 1954) is a British politician, broadcaster, and writer who is currently leader of the Workers Party of Britain, serving since 2019. Between 1987 and 2010, and then between 2012 and 2015, Galloway was a Member o ...

) was elected under the banner of the Labour Party. # Stood as part of the English Democrats Alliance.

Parties standing in Northern Ireland

There are eighteen seats in Northern Ireland, and four parties stood in every seat. These parties do not stand in the rest of the UK; although the Democratic Unionist Party has briefly held a mainland Westminster seat due to a defection, and Sinn Féin also stands in the Republic of Ireland. Three other Northern Ireland-only parties stood, while the

and

also put up candidates. Parties that won seats in 2001 * Ulster Unionist Party (18 candidates in 2005) - Unionist *

Democratic Unionist Party The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is a unionist, loyalist, and national conservative political party in Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1971 during the Troubles by Ian Paisley, who led the party for the next 37 years. Currently led by J ...

(18) - Unionist * Sinn Féin (18) - Republican * Social Democratic and Labour Party (18) - Nationalist Other parties * Alliance Party of Northern Ireland (12 candidates in 2005) *

(6) * Workers' Party (6) *

(3) *

Socialist Environmental Alliance People Before Profit ( ga, Pobal Roimh Bhrabús, PBP) is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left Trotskyist political party formed in October 2005. It is active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Histo ...

(1)

Parties standing in Scotland

There are fifty-nine seats in Scotland. The SNP stood in every one, while Labour, the Conservatives and Lib Dems did not contest the Speaker's seat and the SSP did not stand against the independent candidate Rose Gentle. Several other parties stood in a smaller selection of constituencies. Parties that won seats in 2001 * Labour Party (58 candidates in 2005) * Liberal Democrats (58) *

(59) *

Conservative and Unionist Party The Conservative Party, officially the Conservative and Unionist Party and also known colloquially as the Tories, is one of the Two-party system, two main political parties in the United Kingdom, along with the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party. ...

(58) * Speaker (1) Other parties * Scottish Socialist Party (58 candidates in 2005) * UK Independence Party (21) * Scottish Green Party (20) *

Operation Christian Vote The Christian Party (also the Scottish Christian Party and Welsh Christian Party ()) is a minor political party in Great Britain. History The party originated as Operation Christian Vote, founded by George Hargreaves, a Pentecostal minister an ...

(10) * Socialist Labour Party (SLP) (10) * Free Scotland Party (3) * British National Party (2) *

Scottish Senior Citizens Unity Party The Scottish Senior Citizens Unity Party (SSCUP), later the All-Scotland Pensioners Party from March 2011, was a Scottish political party. It was formed on 3 February 2003, in time to contest that year's elections to the Scottish Parliament. The l ...

(2) * Communist Party of Britain (1) * Death, Dungeons and Taxes Party (1) * Independent Green Voice (1) *

(1) * Liberal Party (1) * Pride in Paisley Party (1) * Publican Party (1) * Scottish Independence Party (1) * Scottish Pensioners Party (1) * Scottish Unionist Party (1)

References

External links

Composition of Parliament
at the official Parliament website.

{{United Kingdom general election, 2005A 2005 United Kingdom general election *