The Heritage Party is a

Eurosceptic Euroscepticism, also spelled as Euroskepticism or EU-scepticism, is a political position involving criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration. It ranges from those who oppose some EU institutions and policies, and seek refor ...

right-wing populist Right-wing populism, also called national populism and right-wing nationalism, is a political ideology that combines right-wing politics and populist rhetoric and themes. Its rhetoric employs anti-elitist sentiments, opposition to the Establi ...

and

socially conservative Social conservatism is a political philosophy and variety of conservatism which places emphasis on traditional power structures over social pluralism. Social conservatives organize in favor of duty, traditional values and social institution ...

political party in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

founded in October 2020 when then

London Assembly The London Assembly is a 25-member elected body, part of the Greater London Authority, that scrutinises the activities of the Mayor of London and has the power, with a two-thirds super-majority, to amend the Mayor's annual budget and to reject ...

Member David Kurten left the

UK Independence Party The UK Independence Party (UKIP; ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of Parliament and was the largest par ...

(UKIP) to form the party. Kurten was also a member of the Brexit Alliance, a Eurosceptic

technical group In politics, a technical group or mixed group is a heterogenous parliamentary group composed of elected officials from political parties of differing ideologies (or independent of any party) who are not numerous enough to form groups on their ow ...

he formed in 2018 with fellow former UKIP member Peter Whittle.

History

In January 2020, Kurten announced he would be running as an independent candidate in the upcoming London mayoral and London Assembly elections (then scheduled for May 2020, but both elections were postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic). Kurten founded the Heritage Party, and it was registered with the Electoral Commission that October. In December 2020, Kurten rejected a

COVID-19 vaccine A COVID19 vaccine is a vaccine intended to provide acquired immunity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2), the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID19). Prior to the COVID19 pandemic, an e ...

, for which he was denounced by the

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey, who saw this as irresponsible for an elected politician. Lockdowns in response to the

coronavirus pandemic in the United Kingdom The COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom is a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In the United Kingdom, it has resulted in confirm ...

have been condemned by Kurten. Kurten has been criticised for spreading anti-COVID-19 vaccine misinformation.https://www.standard.co.uk/news/health/david-kurten-anti-vaccine-covid-london-assembly-b533448.html

Elections

May 2021 London elections

Kurten came 15th in the

2021 London mayoral election The 2021 London mayoral election was held on 6 May 2021 to elect the mayor of London. It was held simultaneously with elections for the London Assembly, other local elections across England and Wales, and devolved elections in Scotland an ...

with 0.4% of the vote. Heritage came 13th in the Assembly election with 0.5% of the vote. Kurten thus lost his seat in the Assembly (to which he had been elected second on the UKIP list at the 2016 election).

Parliamentary by-elections

The party has stood in six

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 use ...

so far:

London Assembly

Northern Ireland Assembly

References

{{reflist UK Independence Party breakaway groups Political parties established in 2020 Eurosceptic parties in the United Kingdom Conservative parties in the United Kingdom Right-wing populist parties Social conservative parties 2020 establishments in the United Kingdom