General Election

Political Parties

When you cast your ballot for an individual candidate you are also giving support to a political party.  Virtually all candidates belong to political parties, and will be promoting their policies at the election.  When your MP is elected they will represent your constituency but because they are likely to belong to a political party, the agenda of that party is crucial to deciding who to vote for.  This page will help you learn about the different parties competing for your vote.

Below are a selection of the main parties standing in the General Election, different parties will stand in different areas of the country and there may be some who are independent and do not belong to any party.  After the election the party with the most seats will be invited to form a Government, if they have more than half the seats they can do this on their own.  If they do not have an overall majority they may need to form a coalition with other parties in order to pass legislation.

Look at the parties below to find out more about the key policies they are promoting.  You may decide that local issues, or the character of the candidates standing are more important in deciding how to vote.  Even then it is important to consider the national programme that they would support if their party formed the Government. 

The pages below will be updated during the election campaign.  The party profiles and policy summaries offer an introduction to the parties and do not contain any analysis of their respective merit or constitute guidance on how to vote.