You must submit your party’s constitution as part of your application to register a political party.
Political parties must have a written constitution that sets out the structure and organisation of their party. This should set out the arrangements for your party’s governance and the rules for carrying out its business. The constitution must show that the party can comply with the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 (PPERA) – i.e., nothing in it can contradict legal requirements.
It is possible that your party’s constitution will comprise more than one document. For example, your party may have a set of Rules and Standing Orders for meetings. Any document which determines the party’s structure and organisation will be part of the party’s constitution under PPERA and must also, therefore, be provided to us as part of the application.
It is important your financial scheme and constitution correspond and do not conflict with each other. For example, the two documents should agree on how your accounts are signed off, who is responsible for the accounts and who can authorise campaign expenditure at elections.
Your constitution must include sufficient information about the structure and organisation of your party for your application to be approved.
A party does not need to be registered as a company so that it can register with us. If your party is structured in this way then the constitution should include details of how the company registration impacts on, or interacts with, the party’s structure and organisation. Any relevant information should also be reflected in the processes outlined in the party’s financial scheme.
Minor parties are not required to have a constitution or submit one as part of their application.
Equalities law
You must ensure that your constitution and how your party operates complies with equalities law. In particular, you should ensure that your constitution does not unduly discriminate against persons with protected characteristics from becoming party members. Otherwise, your constitution will not be lawful and your application will be refused. You should read the guidance for political parties produced by the Equality and Human Rights Commission which is available on their website.
As with the other requirements for registration, the fact that your application must be compliant with equalities law does not mean that your party cannot campaign on policies to change the law.