The Wessex Regionalists is a small English regionalist political party in the United Kingdom. It seeks a degree of legislative and administrative home rule for Wessex, an area in the south and south-west of England based loosely on the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the same name.
The party has contested a small number of Wessex-area parliamentary constituencies in most elections since it was established, but without success.
History
Speaking at a tourism industry conference in 1969, the then Viscount Weymouth suggested Wessex as a regional identity for tourism purposes. He later wrote letters to the press, objecting to Wessex not being given the same opportunities as Scotland or Wales in the Kilbrandon Report. Lord Weymouth subsequently stood as the first Wessex Regionalist parliamentary candidate for Westbury in the February 1974 general election, It pulled out of the 1987 general election and advocated that its supporters voted for the Liberal/SDP Alliance on the basis that they were a close second in many Wessex seats and were the most supportive of regional government.
Lord Weymouth (who succeeded as The 7th Marquess of Bath in June 1992) was the first president of the party, later defecting to the Liberal Democrats Subsequent presidents have included the activist John Banks and the former architect Colin Bex. In 2010, during his term as President, Bex advocated for a 100% tax rate on the top 10% of earners, with the revenue passed to parish councils.
During the 2015 general election, then-leader Colin Bex cast doubt on the official version of events of the 2001 September 11 attacks. He described immigration as a "peaceful invasion", describing "people from all over the world" as "infiltrating" national institutions.
In the 2024 general election, the Regionalists endorsed the campaign of independent candidate George Wright, standing in the constituency of Maidenhead. Wright received 791 votes, a 1.6% share. In 2025, he wrote to the Maidenhead Advertiser that he had become an active member of the party, and argued for a confederal model for Europe as opposed to the "quasi-federal" status quo involving Article 50.
In 2026, James Edward Crabb was put forward as candidate for Hampshire County Council in Winchester Eastgate, campaigning for "better scrutiny of the infrastructural and ecological effects of urban development", and questioning the government's approach to local government reorganisation. Crabb placed 6th of 6 candidates, with 49 votes. though an earlier study of regionalist and nationalist parties in Britain reached the opposite conclusion, saying that "For regionalism, the legitimacy of the state as a whole is not usually in question; the challenge is to its territorial organisation. This is in contrast to ethnic nationalism (for example, that advocated for Wales), which suggests that the state is not legitimate because it contains different nations." Its platform is based on the creation of a devolved assembly for the region it defines as Wessex. The assembly has variously been described as having a rotating location in the style of the Anglo-Saxon Witenagemot and as being based in Winchester, which had been the capital of the ancient kingdom of Wessex. The assembly would take power from Parliament in Westminster rather than from local authorities. It defines this culture as including morris dancing, cider, and the works of various local writers.
Electoral performance
Local elections
{| class="wikitable" style="clear:both;"
! Election
! Candidate
!Local authority
! Division / Ward
!Ward
! Votes
! %
|-
|2016
|Nick Xylas
|Bristol City Council
|n/a
|Eastville
|62
|0.85
|-
| 2026
| James Edward Crabb
|Hampshire County Council
| Winchester
|Winchester Eastgate
| 49
| 0.79
|}
Parish and town council elections
{| class="wikitable" style="clear:both;"
! Election
! Candidate
!Town / parish council
!Ward
! Votes
! %
|-
| 2023
| Nick Xylas
| Patchway
| Coniston
| 152
| 3.97
|}
General elections
{| class="wikitable" style="clear:both;"
! Election
! Candidate
! Constituency
! Votes
! %
|-
| 1974 (February)
| Alexander Thynn
| Westbury
| 521
| 0.85
|-
| rowspan="7" | 1979
| Colin Bex
| Windsor and Maidenhead
| 251
| 0.39
|-
| Henrietta Rous
| North Devon
| 50
| 0.08
|-
| Gwendoline Ewen
| West Dorset
| 192
| 0.43
|-
| Michael Mahoney
| Winchester
| 395
| 0.58
|-
| Alexander Thynn
| Wells
| 155
| 0.26
|-
| Anthony Mockler
| Devizes
| 142
| 0.22
|-
| Tom Thatcher
| Westbury
| 1,905
| 3.00
|-
| rowspan="10" | 1983
| Anthony Mockler
| Wantage
| 183
| 0.37
|-
| Colin Bex
| Windsor and Maidenhead
| 68
| 0.12
|-
| Henrietta Rous
| Torridge and West Devon
| 113
| 0.21
|-
| David Fox
| Dorset North
| 294
| 0.57
|-
| Simon Winkworth
| Winchester
| 155
| 0.28
|-
| Adam Stout
| Wansdyke
| 213
| 0.41
|-
| David Robins
| Woodspring
| 177
| 0.32
|-
| Gwendoline Ewen
| Devizes
| 234
| 0.38
|-
| Maya Kemp
| Salisbury
| 182
| 0.34
|-
| John Banks
| Westbury
| 131
| 0.22
|-
| 1997
| Colin Bex
| Portsmouth North
| 72
| 0.16
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2001
| Colin Bex
| Wells
| 167
| 0.33
|-
| Henrietta Rous
| Winchester
| 66
| 0.11
|-
| 2005
| Colin Bex
| South Dorset
| 83
| 0.17
|-
| 2010
| Colin Bex
| Witney
| 62
| 0.11
|-
| 2013(b)
| Colin Bex
| Eastleigh
| 30
| 0.07
|-
| 2015
| Colin Bex
| Witney
| 110
| 0.19
|-
| 2017
| Jim Gunter
| Devizes
| 223
| 0.44
|}
European Parliament elections
{| class="wikitable" style="clear:both;"
!Election
!Candidate
!Constituency
!Votes
!%
|-
|
1979
| Alexander Thynn
| Wessex
| 1,706
|0.83
|-
| 1984
| Henrietta Rous
| Devon
| 659
|0.33
|-
| rowspan=3 | 1989
| Gwendoline Ewen
| Bristol
| 1,017
|0.46
|-
| Henrietta Rous
| Devon
| 385
|0.17
|-
| Anthony Mockler
| Somerset and Dorset West
| 930
|0.39
|}
References
Sources
External links
- Wessex Regionalists Party papers 1975–1996 University of Bristol Library Special Collections