The Heritage Party is a right-wing political party in the United Kingdom, founded in October 2020 when then-London Assembly Member David Kurten left the UK Independence Party (UKIP) to form the party. Kurten was also a member of the Brexit Alliance, a Eurosceptic technical group he formed in 2018 with fellow former UKIP member Peter Whittle.
History
In January 2020, Kurten announced he would be running as an independent candidate in the upcoming London mayoral and London Assembly elections (then scheduled for May 2020, but both elections were postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic). Kurten founded the Heritage Party, and it was registered with the Electoral Commission that October.
In December 2020, Kurten rejected a COVID-19 vaccine, for which he was denounced by Conservative mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey, who saw this as irresponsible for an elected politician. Lockdowns in response to the coronavirus pandemic in the United Kingdom were condemned by Kurten.
In March 2025, the party gained representation in local government, when Becki Bruneau, a Kent County Councillor for Tunbridge Wells, defected from the Conservatives.
Elections
Parliamentary by-elections The party has stood in eight by-elections so far: By-electionCandidateVotesTurnoutPercentagePlaceCandidates NotesReferences2021 Hartlepool by-electionClaire Martin46829,9331.64th162021 Batley and Spen by-electionSusan Laird3337,7860.116th162021 Old Bexley and Sidcup by-electionDavid Kurten11621,7330.59th112021 North Shropshire by-electionJames Elliot7938,0930.210th142022 Southend West by-electionBen Downton23615,9421.66th9Held due to the murder of previous MP David Amess on 15 October 2021. The major parties thus did not stand.2022 Tiverton and Honiton by-electionJordan Donoghue-Morgan16742,7070.47th82023 Selby and Ainsty by-electionGuy Phoenix16235,8860.510th132023 Mid Bedfordshire by-electionAlberto Thomas6340,7200.511th13
2021 elections May 2021 London elections Kurten came 15th in the 2021 London mayoral election with 0.4% of the vote. Heritage came 13th in the Assembly election with 0.5% of the vote. In addition to his Mayoral loss, Kurten lost his seat in the Assembly (to which he had been elected second on the UKIP list at the 2016 election).
London Assembly ElectionVotesShare of votesSeatsNote(s) 2021 13,534 0.52% #13
2022 Northern Ireland Assembly ElectionFirst Preference VoteShare of votesSeatsNote(s) 2022 128 0.0% #16
2023 UK local elections +CouncilCandidatesElectedVotesPercentageBournemouth, Christchurch and Poole 181 0.1Tonbridge and Malling770.1South Staffordshire860.4
2024 elections UK local elections +CouncilCandidatesElectedVotesPercentageWest Oxfordshire 99 0.1
London Assembly ElectionVotesShare of votesSeatsNote(s) 2024 4,431 0.18% #14
General election The party's candidates stood in 41 constituencies in the 2024 United Kingdom general election on 4 July 2024: 34 in England, 1 in Scotland, 6 in Wales. These candidates received a total of 6,597 votes, and none of them were elected. Election year Leader # of total votes % of overall voteCandidates # of seats won Outcome 2024 David Kurten 6,597 0.0%
2026 elections The Heritage Party stood 18 candidates across 13 local authorities in England's local elections, 4 candidates in the South Scotland electoral region for the Scottish parliamentary election and 1 candidate in every Senedd constituency (with 2 in ) for the Senedd election. These candidates received a total of 5,474 votes, and none of them were elected.
References