Before you register

Before you register, you need to set up your political party. 

You should make sure you have a constitution, and that your financial processes are in place.

You also need to think about where your party intends to stand candidates. This will affect which register you will need to apply to be included on.

Your intention to stand candidates

Your party must intend to field at least one candidate in at least one election in the UK. 

If you intend to contest elections in both Great Britain and Northern Ireland, you will need to register two separate political parties, one on each register. They are two separate parties for the purposes of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 (PPERA).

You can register parties on both registers in a single application.

You must ensure the financial affairs of both parties are conducted separately and this must also be reflected in each party’s financial scheme. The reason the registered parties must be legally separate is that your NI and GB parties will have separate financial reporting requirements.

If you register on the GB register, you must specify if you wish to contest elections in England, Scotland and/or Wales. Please remember you will only be able to field candidates as a party in those parts of the UK your register entry specifies. 

As part of the application process we may ask you what the party has done or will do to realise its intention to contest elections. One way of doing this is to outline what specific elections your party intends to contest in your party’s constitution.

Minor parties

Minor parties can only register in Great Britain and must also specify if they intend to field candidates at English parish council elections, Welsh community elections or both.

Making changes

If your party is registered and later wishes to change where it intends to field candidates, you can make an application to amend these details. An application to change your registration from a minor party to a political party requires a £150 application fee.

Last updated: 24 November 2022