The Libertarian Party, also known as the Libertarian Party UK (LPUK), is a

libertarian Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's e ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

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 North ...

. Adam Brown has been the party's leader since August 2015."Adam Brown is Elected New Party Leader for Libertarians UK"
Retrieved 6 October 2015. The LPUK only stood candidates in England, Wales and Northern Ireland because a legal agreement with the

Scottish Libertarian Party , headquarters = 49 John Finnie StreetKilmarnockKA1 1NN , party_articletitle = , logo = , leader1_title = Deputy Leader , leader1_name = Calum “Caz” Paul , colours = Buff and blue , seats3_title ...

, and was also known as the LPoEWNI (England, Wales and Northern Ireland) so not to mislead voters into thinking it represents the whole of the United Kingdom. According to the agreement, after the Scottish Libertarian Party was statutorily deregistered by the Electoral Commission in November 2022, it can now stand candidates in Scotland.

History

The party was founded in January 2008 under the leadership of Patrick Vessey, having registered the party with the

Electoral Commission An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...

in November 2007. In May 2008, ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'' leader writer Alex Singleton claimed the founders should have set up a pressure group rather than a party. Singleton believed the new party would reduce the influence of libertarianism. On 17 September 2008, Vessey resigned as party leader and was replaced by Ian Parker-Joseph. The party claimed a membership of 1,000 and hoped in the wake of the parliamentary expenses scandal "to establish themselves in the media landscape with a couple of robust performances". He said the party wanted much smaller government and would initially cut taxation to 10% before removing it altogether. On 28 November 2010, Andrew Withers was elected as party leader. He was one of the signatories of the agreement with the

, and reluctantly signed despite his displeasure of conceding ground to the new Scottish branch of the party. Following an internal ballot on 15 August 2015, party members elected Adam Brown as the party leader."Adam Brown is Elected New Party Leader for Libertarians UK"
Retrieved 6 October 2015. During the 2018 local elections, the party was described as on "the fringes of mainstream British politics". In October 2018, MEP

Bill Etheridge William Milroy Etheridge (born 18 March 1970) is an English politician who was previously a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the West Midlands region. He was elected in 2014 as a UK Independence Party (UKIP) candidate, but left the pa ...

, a former member of 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 ...

, joined the party and became its deputy chairman. Etheridge continued as a member of the

Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy (EFDD or EFD²) was a Eurosceptic and populist political group in the European Parliament. The EFDD group was a continuation for the Eighth European Parliament of the Europe of Freedom and Democracy (EFD) g ...

parliamentary group in the European Parliament. However, he then left to join the

Brexit Party Reform UK is a Right-wing populism, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. It was founded with support from Nigel Farage in November 2018 as the Brexit Party, advocating hard Euroscepticism and a no-deal Brexit, and was bri ...

in February 2019.

Electoral performance

General elections

The party did not field parliamentary candidates at the 2015 general election, describing it as a "waste of time and funds".

By-elections

; 54th Parliament ; 57th Parliament

References

External links