The Libertarian Party, also known as the Libertarian Party UK (LPUK), is a libertarian political party in the United Kingdom. The party believes in having a written constitution for the UK which "holds the individual to be above the State." Martin Day is the party's leader. The LPUK stands candidates in only England, Wales and Northern Ireland because of a legal agreement with the Scottish Libertarian Party, and was also known as the LPoEWNI (England, Wales and Northern Ireland) so not to mislead voters into thinking it covered 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 could then stand candidates in Scotland. The Scottish Libertarian Party re-registered with the Electoral Commission in January 2023, so once again it can no longer 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 in November 2007. In May 2008, The Daily Telegraph 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. In November 2008 the party sent every sitting MP a copy of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, inscribed with the admonition: "this book was a warning, not a blueprint." On 28 November 2010, Andrew Withers was elected as party leader. He was one of the signatories of the agreement with the Scottish Libertarian Party 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. During the 2018 local elections, the party was described as on "the fringes of mainstream British politics". A party spokesperson said "This alludes to the fact that this party is the ONLY party to have been constant about the need to reduce taxation and government expenditure." In October 2018, MEP Bill Etheridge, a former member of the UK Independence Party (UKIP), joined the party and became its deputy chairman. Etheridge continued as a member of the Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy parliamentary group in the European Parliament. However, he then left to join the Brexit Party in February 2019.

List of leaders

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