Libertarianism in the United Kingdom

Libertarianism in the United Kingdom is a political movement concerned with the pursuit of propertarian libertarian ideals in the United Kingdom. While not as prominent as libertarianism in the United States, after the 1980s and the economic liberalism of the premiership of Margaret Thatcher, the libertarian movement became more prominent in British politics. In addition to the recently-founded Libertarian Party, there is a libertarian faction of the mainstream Conservative Party that espouses Thatcherism.

Political parties

Libertarian parties

The Liberal Party was formed in 1989 from those opposed to the merger between the Liberal Party and the Social Democrat Party and claims 25 councillors. The Libertarian Party UK is a political party founded on 1 January 2008. SInce 2012, there have been attempts to form new parties. The Independent Libertarian Network was founded by Gavin Webb with a "minimal party" strategy and a focus on local government. The Pro Liberty Party was launched in September 2012 with a focus on awareness raising. The Scottish Libertarian Party was formed as a separate party in 2013 and officially registered in 2014.

Relationship with the Conservative Party

Jason Walsh, in an opinion piece, held that the 1980s economic liberalism of Margaret Thatcher was "libertarianism-lite", compared to minimal state views of more modern libertarians, which were becoming more popular after ten years of New Labour's "increasingly authoritarian policies". The Austrian-British libertarian and classical liberal philosopher, Friedrich Hayek, is considered by some to be one of the most important economists and political philosophers of the twentieth century.

The Conservative Party libertarian advocacy group, the Conservative Way Forward, is led by Alan Duncan.

Relationship with the UKIP

The leader of the Eurosceptic UK Independence Party (UKIP), Nigel Farage, has, since the mid-2000s, sought to broaden the public perception of UKIP beyond being a party solely seeking to withdraw the United Kingdom from the European Union, to one of being a party broadly standing for libertarian values and reductions in government bureaucracy. The party describes itself as a "libertarian, non-racist Eurosceptic party". Whilst Farage denied in 2007 that the party's strategy was "targeting David Cameron as such", political scientist Chris Robinson opines that Farage may well have been hoping that this expansion of the party platform would attract voters disenchanted with Cameron and thinking him "too Tony Blair-like". In 2010, UKIP's call to ban the burkha in public places was criticised by Shami Chakrabarti as contrary to libertarianism.

Libertarian think tanks

There are a number of think tanks that are explicitly libertarian or espouse libertarian views. Educational charity the Libertarian Alliance is the oldest and most explicitly libertarian think tank, existing "[to explain] the benefits of political and economic freedom and of toleration in the sense put forth by such philosophers as John Locke, David Hume, Adam Smith, Edmund Burke, John Stuart Mill, F.A. von Hayek, Karl Popper, and many others in the British liberal tradition." Politically neutral, it has united classical liberals, minarchists, anarcho-capitalists and even social anarchists. The Libertarian Alliance's founder, Chris Tame, was also the director of FOREST, the smokers' rights organisation. The more conservative Society for Individual Freedom, from which the Libertarian Alliance originally split, is its sister organisation.

The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) is the oldest free-market think tank in the United Kingdom, and a progenitor of a large network of neoliberal think tanks around the world, as well as greatly shaping the Thatcher government's economic policies. The Centre for Policy Studies was set up by Thatcher and Keith Joseph for the purpose of advancing classical liberalism, while their Adam Smith Institute largely promotes free market regulatory and welfare reforms.

There are a few libertarian student societies at British universities, including Oxford, Cambridge, the London School of Economics (the Hayek Society), University College London, King's College London, St Andrews, York, Sheffield, Loughborough, Durham, Queen's University Belfast and Warwick.

The UK Liberty League is a network for libertarian-leaning students while Conservatives for Liberty is a campaign group promoting the libertarian-leaning Thatcherite wing of the party within Conservative Future.

Prominent libertarians

Main category: British libertarians

Prominent British libertarians have included:

• Sean Gabb (born 1960) Present director of the Libertarian Alliance
• Richard Branson (born 1950), businessman
• Peter Thomas Bauer (1915–2002), developmental economist and 2002 winner of the Cato Institute's Milton Friedman Prize.
• Alan Duncan (born 1957), Conservative politician
• Daniel Hannan (born 1971), Conservative politician
• Andrew Marr, (born 1959), journalist and political commentator
• Friedrich Hayek (1899–1992), economist and author
• Herbert Spencer (1820–1903), philosopher
• Chris Tame (1949–2006), leader of the Libertarian Alliance
• Steve Baker (born 1971), Conservative politician
• Douglas Carswell (born 1971), UK Independence Party politician

See also

• Anarchism in the United Kingdom
• Classical liberalism
• Diggers
• Levellers
• Libertarianism in South Africa
• Libertarianism in the United States
• Radicalism (historical)