The Anti Common Market and Free Trade Party was a British political party that opposed Britain's membership of the European Union and fought a number of

by-elections A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

in the 1970s and 1980s. It was also known as the Free Trade Liberal Party and All Party Anti-Common Market. Among its members were

Arthur Seldon Arthur Seldon, (29 May 1916 – 11 October 2005) was joint founder president, with Ralph Harris, of the Institute of Economic Affairs, where he directed editorial affairs and publishing for more than thirty years. He is the father of po ...

and

Oliver Smedley Major William Oliver Smedley (19 February 1911 – 16 November 1989) was an English businessman involved in classical liberal politics and pirate radio.''The Times'' (18 November 1989), p. 12. Early life Smedley was born in Godstone, Surrey, on ...

. It saw itself in the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

tradition and its members were often involved with the free market

Institute of Economic Affairs The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) is a right-wing pressure group and think tank registered as a UK charity Associated with the New Right, the IEA describes itself as an "educational research institute", and says that it seeks to "further t ...

. By-elections contested included: *

1967 Walthamstow West by-election The Walthamstow West by-election of 21 September 1967 was held after the death of Labour Member of Parliament (MP) Ted Redhead on 15 April of that year. The seat was gained by the Conservative Party by just 62 votes. Results The elec ...

1972 Sutton and Cheam by-election The Sutton and Cheam by-election of 7 December 1972 was held after Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) Richard Sharples was appointed Governor of Bermuda. In a defeat for Edward Heath's government the seat was won by Liberal Liberal or libera ...

1973 Lincoln by-election The Lincoln by-election of 1 March 1973 saw the re-election of Dick Taverne as Member of Parliament for Lincoln as a Democratic Labour representative, after Taverne's pro-Common Market views saw him repudiated by the Lincoln Constituency Labour ...

(As Democratic Conservative) *

1977 Saffron Walden by-election The Saffron Walden (UK Parliament constituency), Saffron Walden by-election of 7 July 1977 was held after the death of Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) Sir Peter Michael Kirk, Pe ...

1979 South West Hertfordshire by-election The 1979 South West Hertfordshire by-election was a parliamentary by-election held on 13 December 1979 for the British House of Commons constituency of South West Hertfordshire. Previous MP The seat fell vacant when the constituency's Conse ...

1980 Southend East by-election The Southend East by-election of 13 March 1980 was held after the death of Conservative Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries ...

1981 Croydon North West by-election The Croydon North West by-election took place on 22 October 1981. It was caused by the death of Conservative Member of Parliament Robert Taylor on 18 June 1981. The Conservative Party selected John Butterfill, then vice-chairman of Guildford C ...

1983 Bermondsey by-election A by-election was held in the Bermondsey constituency in South London, on 24 February 1983, following the resignation of Labour MP Bob Mellish. Peter Tatchell stood as the candidate for the Labour Party, and Simon Hughes stood for the Liberal P ...

1988 Kensington by-election The Kensington by-election, in Kensington, on 14 July 1988 was held after the death of Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) Brandon Rhys-Williams. Normally a relatively safe Conservative seat, it was narrowly won by Dudley Fishburn, who would ...

References

Defunct political parties in the United Kingdom Liberal parties in the United Kingdom Eurosceptic parties in the United Kingdom {{UK-party-stub