Leaders of political parties in the United Kingdom

Last updated

This article lists the Leaders of political parties in the United Kingdom to provide insight into the politics of the United Kingdom. It contains details including which party the leader belongs to, the leader's seat, and which form of leadership that person holds.

Contents

Leaders in the House of Commons

National party leaders are usually members of parliament. Some (including Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish parties) designate a separate leader in the House of Commons, or their leader is absent from the House of Commons and holds membership of a devolved body.

Official portrait of Keir Starmer crop 2.jpg Official Portrait of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak (cropped).jpg
Keir Starmer
Leader of the Labour Party
Rishi Sunak
Leader of the Conservative Party
LeaderPartyLeader's seatNumber of seats [1] Leader since
Keir Starmer Labour Party Holborn and St Pancras 411 4 April 2020
Rishi Sunak Conservative Party Richmond (Yorks) 121 24 October 2022
Ed Davey Liberal Democrats Kingston and Surbiton 72 27 August 2020
Stephen Flynn [a] Scottish National Party Aberdeen South 96 December 2022 [2]
N/A [c] Sinn Féin N/A7 [c]
Nigel Farage Reform UK Clacton 53 June 2024
Gavin Robinson [b] Democratic Unionist Party Belfast East 529 March 2024 [3]
Carla Denyer and
Adrian Ramsay
Green Party of England and Wales Bristol Central (Carla Denyer)
Waveney Valley (Adrian Ramsay)
41 October 2021
Liz Saville Roberts [d] Plaid Cymru Dwyfor Meirionnydd 414 June 2017 [4]
Colum Eastwood Social Democratic and Labour Party Foyle 214 November 2015
Sorcha Eastwood Alliance Party of Northern Ireland Lagan Valley 14 July 2024
Robin Swann Ulster Unionist Party South Antrim 14 July 2024
Jim Allister Traditional Unionist Voice North Antrim 14 July 2024
^a Leads the party in the House of Commons. The leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP), John Swinney has been a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) since 1999.
^b Interim leader following the resignation of Jeffrey Donaldson.
^c In accordance with the party's policy of abstentionism, no elected Sinn Féin members of parliament have ever sat in the House of Commons.
^d Leads the party in the House of Commons. Plaid Cymru's leader, Rhun ap Iorwerth, has sat as a member of the Senedd (Welsh Parliament) for Ynys Môn since 2 August 2013.

Leaders in the House of Lords

LeaderPartyMembers [5] Leader since
Nicholas True, Baron True Conservative Party 27714 July 2016
Baroness Smith of Basildon [6] Labour Party 17227 May 2015
Lord Newby [7] Liberal Democrats 7913 September 2016

Leaders in the Scottish Parliament

LeaderPartyLeader's seatNumber
of seats
Leader since
John Swinney Scottish National Party Perthshire North 64 8 May 2024
Douglas Ross Scottish Conservatives Moray (as an MP)31 5 August 2020
Anas Sarwar Scottish Labour Glasgow (region)22 27 February 2021
Patrick Harvie Scottish Greens Glasgow (region)722 September 2008
Lorna Slater Lothian (region) 1 August 2019
Alex Cole-Hamilton Scottish Liberal Democrats Edinburgh Western 4 20 August 2021

Leaders in the Senedd

LeaderPartyLeader's seatNumber
of seats
Leader since
Eluned Morgan Welsh Labour Mid and West Wales (region)30 24 July 2024
Andrew RT Davies Welsh Conservatives South Wales Central (region)16 24 January 2021
Rhun ap Iorwerth Plaid Cymru – Party of Wales Ynys Môn 13 16 June 2023
Jane Dodds Welsh Liberal Democrats Mid and West Wales (region)1 3 November 2017

Leaders in the Northern Ireland Assembly

LeaderPartyLeader's seatNumber
of seats
Leader since
Michelle O'Neill Sinn Féin Mid Ulster 2723 January 2017
N/A [f] Democratic Unionist Party Belfast East (as an MP)251 May 1997
Naomi Long Alliance Party of Northern Ireland Belfast East 17October 2016
Doug Beattie Ulster Unionist Party Upper Bann 917 May 2021
N/A [g] Social Democratic and Labour Party Foyle (as an MP)812 December 2019
Jim Allister Traditional Unionist Voice North Antrim 17 December 2007
Collective leadership People Before Profit N/A1N/A
^f The interim leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), Gavin Robinson has sat in the House of Commons as an MP for Belfast East since 2015.
^g The leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), Colum Eastwood has sat in the House of Commons as an MP for Foyle since 2019.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Politics of the United Kingdom</span> Political structure of the United Kingdom

The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy which, by legislation and convention, operates as a unitary parliamentary democracy. A hereditary monarch, currently King Charles III, serves as head of state while the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, currently Sir Keir Starmer since 2024, serves as the elected head of government.

Plaid Cymru is a centre-left to left-wing, Welsh nationalist political party in Wales, committed to Welsh independence from the United Kingdom. It campaigns on a platform of social democracy and civic nationalism. The party is a strong supporter of the European Union and is a member of the European Free Alliance (EFA). The party holds 4 of 32 Welsh seats in the UK Parliament, 12 of 60 seats in the Senedd, and 202 of 1,231 principal local authority councillors. Plaid was formed in 1925 under the name Plaid Genedlaethol Cymru and Gwynfor Evans won the first Westminster seat for the party at the 1966 Carmarthen by-election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elfyn Llwyd</span> Welsh barrister and politician (born 1951)

Elfyn Llwyd PC is a Welsh barrister and politician. He was a Member of Parliament, representing Meirionnydd Nant Conwy in the House of Commons from 1992 to 2010 and Dwyfor Meirionnydd from 2010 to 2015. Llwyd was Plaid Cymru's Westminster parliamentary group leader.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adam Price</span> Welsh politician and former Plaid Cymru leader

Adam Robert Price is a Welsh politician who served as Leader of Plaid Cymru from September 2018 to May 2023. He has been the Member of the Senedd (MS) for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr since 2016, having previously been a Member of Parliament (MP) for the same Westminster constituency from 2001 to 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dafydd Wigley</span> Welsh politician (born 1943)

Dafydd Wynne Wigley, Baron Wigley, is a Welsh politician who served as the leader of Plaid Cymru from 1981 to 1984 and again from 1991 to 2000. He served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Caernarfon from 1974 to 2001 and as the Member of the Welsh Assembly for Caernarfon from 1999 to 2003. In 2010, Wigley was granted life peerage, taking his seat in the House of Lords in 2011.

In British politics, a Lib–Lab pact is a working arrangement between the Liberal Democrats and the Labour Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dafydd Elis-Thomas</span> Welsh politician (born 1946)

Dafydd Elis Elis-Thomas, Baron Elis-Thomas,, is a Welsh politician who served as the leader of Plaid Cymru from 1984 to 1991 and represented the Dwyfor Meirionnydd constituency in the Senedd from 1999 to 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2010 United Kingdom general election</span>

The 2010 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 6 May 2010, to elect Members of Parliament to the House of Commons. The election took place in 650 constituencies across the United Kingdom under the first-past-the-post system. The election resulted in a large swing to the opposition Conservative Party led by David Cameron similar to that seen in 1979, the last time a Conservative opposition had ousted a Labour government. The governing Labour Party led by the prime minister Gordon Brown lost the 66-seat majority it had previously enjoyed, but no party achieved the 326 seats needed for a majority. The Conservatives won the most votes and seats, but still fell 20 seats short. This resulted in a hung parliament where no party was able to command a majority in the House of Commons. This was only the second general election since the Second World War to return a hung parliament, the first being the February 1974 election. This election marked the start of Conservative government for the next 14 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Williams (politician)</span> Former Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats

Mark Fraser Williams is a British politician who served as leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats from 2016 to 2017. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Ceredigion constituency, between 2005 and 2017. He sat on the Welsh Affairs Select Committee, and in 2006 he became a Shadow Minister for Wales under Menzies Campbell.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Welsh Liberal Democrats</span> Welsh branch of the Liberal Democrats

The Welsh Liberal Democrats are a branch of the United Kingdom Liberal Democrats that operates in Wales. The party is led by Jane Dodds, who has served as an MS for Mid and West Wales since May 2021. The party currently has one elected member in the Senedd and one Welsh seat in the UK House of Commons. It also has several members of the House of Lords. The party had 69 local councilors serving in principal authorities as of the 2022 local authority elections, up 10 from 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2015 United Kingdom general election</span>

The 2015 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 7 May 2015 to elect 650 Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons. It was the first of three general elections to be held under the rules of the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 and was the last general election to be held before the United Kingdom voted to end its membership of the European Union (EU) in June 2016. Local elections took place in most areas of England on the same day and is to date the most recent general election to coincide with local elections. The governing Conservative Party, led by Prime Minister David Cameron, won an unexpected victory; opinion polls and political commentators had predicted that the results of the election would cause a second consecutive hung parliament whose composition would be similar to the previous Parliament, which was in effect from the previous national election in 2010. However, opinion polls underestimated the Conservatives, as they won 330 of the 650 seats and 36.9 per cent of the votes, giving them a majority of ten seats.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2017 United Kingdom general election</span>

The 2017 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 8 June 2017, two years after the previous general election in 2015; it was the first since 1992 to be held on a day that did not coincide with any local elections. The governing Conservative Party led by the prime minister Theresa May remained the largest single party in the House of Commons but lost its small overall majority, resulting in the formation of a Conservative minority government with a confidence and supply agreement with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) of Northern Ireland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2019 Brecon and Radnorshire by-election</span> UK parliamentary by-election

A by-election was held in the UK Parliament constituency of Brecon and Radnorshire on 1 August 2019 after Chris Davies, who had held the seat for the Conservatives since the 2015 general election, was unseated by a recall petition. The by-election was won by Jane Dodds of the Liberal Democrats.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2019 United Kingdom general election in Wales</span> United Kingdom general election held in Wales

The 2019 United Kingdom general election was held on 12 December 2019 to elect all 650 members of the House of Commons, including the 40 Welsh seats.

The Climate and Nature Bill, formerly promoted as the Climate and Ecology Bill, is a private member's bill before the Parliament of the United Kingdom aimed at tackling the climate crisis and environmental disaster.

References

  1. "State of the parties - MPs and Lords - UK Parliament". members.parliament.uk. Retrieved 4 May 2024.
  2. Sim, Philip (6 December 2022). "Stephen Flynn elected as new SNP leader at Westminster". BBC News. Retrieved 7 January 2023.
  3. "DUP: Gavin Robinson appointed interim leader by party officers". BBC News. 29 March 2024. Retrieved 13 April 2024.
  4. "Liz Saville Roberts new Plaid Cymru leader in Commons". BBC News. 14 June 2017. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
  5. "Lords membership - MPs and Lords - UK Parliament". members.parliament.uk. Retrieved 4 May 2024.
  6. "Parliamentary career for Baroness Smith of Basildon - MPs and Lords - UK Parliament". members.parliament.uk. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  7. "Dick Newby is new Lib Dem Lords leader". Lib Dem Voice.