The UK Independence Party, better known as UKIP, is a far-right party that played a leading role in pushing for the UK to leave the European Union. Founded in 1993 as a single-issue Eurosceptic campaign group, the party began to perform well in local and national elections under the leadership of Nigel Farage, and it was their growing popularity in the years leading up to the 2015 general election that prompted then-Prime Minister David Cameron to promise a referendum on the UK’s membership of the EU if given another term.

However, the party has since faced a catastrophic fall in fortunes, with their vote share and income dwindling to the point of oblivion. It faced relentless infighting and ten changes of leadership between the resignation of Nigel Farage in 2016 and the election of current leader Neil Hamilton in 2021.

Hamilton’s leadership has brought much-needed stability to the party, but has done nothing to reverse its drift towards far-right obscurity. Its candidates receive woeful results in local and national elections, with a particular low-point being the 61 votes pulled in by Deputy Leader Rebecca Jane in the July 2023 Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election.

In September 2023 the party announced a merger with the English Democrats, an even less politically significant far-right force that calls for greater autonomy for England. The two will now be referred to on ballot papers as the “Patriots Alliance”, although this is unlikely to move the dial in any significant way. In January 2024, it was announced that Hamilton would be stepping down as leader of the party and a leadership election would take place in the weeks ahead.