Libertarianism in the United Kingdom

Libertarianism in the United Kingdom can either refer to a political movement synonymous with anarchism, left-libertarianism and libertarian socialism, or to a political movement concerned with the pursuit of propertarian right-libertarian ideals in the United Kingdom which emerged and became more prominent in British politics after the 1980s neoliberalism and the economic liberalism of the premiership of Margaret Thatcher, albeit not as prominent as libertarianism in the United States in the 1970s and the presidency of Republican Ronald Reagan during the 1980s.[1]

Currently, the most explicitly libertarian party in the United Kingdom is the Libertarian Party.[according to whom?] However, there has also been a long-standing right-libertarian faction of the mainstream Conservative Party that espouses Thatcherism.[2] UK voters have tended to vote more in line with their position along the traditional 'left-right’ division rather than along libertarian-authoritarian lines, and so libertarians in the United Kingdom have supported parties across the political spectrum.[3]

  1. ^ Walsh, Jason (7 April 2006). "Libertarianism limited". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 26 February 2008.
  2. ^ Heppell, Timothy (June 2002). "The ideological composition of the Parliamentary Conservative Party 1992–97". British Journal of Politics and International Relations. 4 (2): 299–324. doi:10.1111/1467-856X.t01-1-00006. S2CID 144304577.
  3. ^ Curtice, John; Simpson, Ian. "British Social Attitudes 35: Voting: The 2017 Election: New divides in British politics?" (PDF). NatCen Social Research. Retrieved 10 July 2020.