British Unionist Party

A Better Britain – Unionist Party was formed by activists from the Better Together campaign who opposed the devolution process, and who felt that the mainstream unionist parties had abandoned unionist values in calling for more powers for the Scottish Parliament. It was launched on 31 December 2015, and one of its co-founders, Steven Gordon, conducted an interview with Andrew Neil on the BBC's Daily Politics in early January. Candidates of the party have since stood in the 2016 Scottish parliamentary elections and local elections in 2017 and 2022. In January 2019, the party changed its name to the British Unionist Party, in order to further highlight their British Unionist credentials. The party was also registered as the British Union & Sovereignty Party until February 2020. They took one seat in Fortissat in North Lanarkshire from the Scottish Conservatives in the 2022 local elections. ==Policies==

Unionism The BUP opposes the devolution process, and believes that the new powers granted to the Scottish Parliament on the basis of the Smith Commission go too far. It also opposes any further referendums on Scottish independence, and has called for both the British and Scottish parliaments to work together to pursue closer union. In addition to this, it proposes several pro-UK cultural policies such as flying the Union Flag from council buildings in Scotland, and reversing what it sees as the nationalist re-branding of the Scottish Government by restoring its logo to the Scottish version of the royal coat of arms as used by the Labour–Lib Dem Scottish Executive. The party also calls for the protection of UK institutions in Scotland, and has opposed the absorption of the British Transport Police into Police Scotland, and called for Trident & Faslane Naval Base to be retained at their current location on the Scottish west coast. Social democracy The BUP has stated its opposition to the extent of cuts to public services under the Conservative government, Civil liberties The party has been particularly critical of several pieces of SNP legislation which it regards as an infringement on civil liberties. It has criticised the Named Person Scheme as a "totalitarian state invasion into family life", and the Offensive Behaviour at Football Act for "criminalising ordinary football fans". It has called for both pieces of legislation to be scrapped. ==Electoral performance==

The party contested the 2016 Scottish parliamentary elections, standing on the regional ballot for the Glasgow region. The BUP won 2,453 votes (1.0%), failing to win a seat. In September 2017, at a local by-election in North Lanarkshire's Fortissat ward, John Jo Leckie ran as the BUP's candidate for the seat. Though not elected, he finished second to the successful Labour candidate, Clare Quigley, with 23.3% of first-preferences. The party did not run candidates in the 2021 Scottish Parliament election. John Mortimer, a founding member and then leader of the BUP, set up the single-issue Abolish the Scottish Parliament Party to contest the election instead, which saw candidates stand unsuccessfully in all eight of the regional lists. The BUP took 859 first-preference votes (18.8%) in Fortissat at the 2022 Scottish local elections, enough to see John Jo Leckie win one of the four seats in the ward. This was the party's first ever representation at any level in Scottish politics. At the 2024 general election, the BUP stood two candidates: John Jo Leckie in Airdrie and Shotts and John Ferguson in Motherwell, Wishaw and Carluke. They took 1.2% and 0.4% of votes in their respective constituencies, and were not elected. Billy Acheson stood for the party at the Fortissat by-election in October 2024, coming fourth with 241 first-preferences (10.9%). The BUP have stated their intention to field candidates at the 2026 Scottish Parliament election. ==See also==