Abstract The 2024 general election underscored how significantly the British political party system is changing. It produced the most fragmented party system in the history of British democracy, with thirteen political parties sending at least one MP to Westminster and a record number of independent MPs. The huge disparity between Reform UK's 14 per cent share of the popular vote and its five MPs has been ammunition for protests around the minimal rights given to them in the Commons, particularly their lack of any places on select committees. It has cast a stronger spotlight on the lack of rights given to smaller parliamentary groups and independents, something that the new Modernisation Committee has committed to examining further. This article highlights the opacity of small‐party rights and how they are often based on informal negotiation with key parliamentary players rather than on the Standing Orders. Moreover, it demonstrates how the reluctance to integrate smaller parties fully into parliamentary procedures reinforces a democratic and representational deficit and suggests three ways in which this could be remedied.
Louise Thompson (Mon,) studied this question.