$Unique_ID{bob00518}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{United Kingdom
Appendix 1.   Principal Minor Parties}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Embassy of the United Kingdom, Washington DC}
$Affiliation{Embassy of the United Kingdom, Washington DC}
$Subject{party
co-operative
labour
candidates
communist
elected

}
$Date{1990}
$Log{}
Title:       United Kingdom
Book:        Organisation of Political Parties in Britain
Author:      Embassy of the United Kingdom, Washington DC
Affiliation: Embassy of the United Kingdom, Washington DC
Date:        1990

Appendix 1.   Principal Minor Parties

     This appendix covers parties which gained approximately 1 per cent of the
total vote in the constituencies they contested at the general election of
June 1987.

Co-operative Party

     The Co-operative Party was formed in 1917 and its first MP was elected
in 1918, joining the Parliamentary Labour Party in the House of Commons. In
1927 the Co-operative Party reached a formal understanding with the Labour
Party, and Co-operative Party branches became eligible for affiliation to
constituency Labour parties. In 1946 an agreement was reached whereby
sponsored Co-operative candidates were to run formally as Co-operative and
Labour candidates, and in 1959 it was agreed that the number of Co-operative
parliamentary candidates should be limited to 30. In the 1987 general election
the Co-operative Party fielded 19 candidates, nine of whom were elected as
MPs.

Green Party

     The Green Party (known as the Ecology Party up to 1985) was founded in
1973 after the publication of Blueprint for Survival, a work published by the
editors of the Ecologist magazine, which offered radical solutions to
environmental problems.

     In the 1987 general election the Green Party fielded 133 candidates who
together polled 89,753 votes, an average of over 1 per cent.

Communist Party

     The Communist Party of Great Britain was founded in 1920. In its early
years it sought to affiliate with the Labour Party but was turned down, and
since 1924 the Labour Party has ruled that no member of the Communist Party
can be an individual member of the Labour Party. Throughout its history the
Communist Party of Great Britain has returned four members of Parliament: one
member was elected for Motherwell, Scotland, in 1922 and another was elected
for North Battersea, London, in 1924. Another Communist was elected for West
Fife, Scotland, in 1935 and again in 1945, and a fourth was elected for the
Mile End division of Stepney in east London in 1945.

     In the 1987 general election the Communist Party fielded 19 candidates
who between them polled 6,078 votes and gained an average 0.8 per cent of the
vote.

     A party congress is scheduled for early 1991 at which changes to the name
of the party and its rules are likely to be considered.