The Register of Local Parties for Local People
The Register of Political Parties is maintained by the Electoral Commission and was introduced by the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 . A listing on the register is a requirement if you want your party name to appear on the ballot paper when standing in national and local elections in the UK. For reasons, there are two separate registers, one for Great Britain and one for Northern Ireland, plus a register for "minor parties" (those who only contest parish-level elections). As of 10th February 2021, there are 339 parties on the GB register - some of which stand thousands of candidates each year and some which have apparently never (yet) appeared on a ballot paper. There are large "broad church" parties like Labour and the Conservatives, campaigning organisations like the National Health Action Party, and small esoteric and extremist parties (not to mention one-person parties such as the semi-religious Church of the Militant Elvis). But there a