Republicanism in the United Kingdom

Republicanism in the United Kingdom is a movement that seeks to replace that country's monarchy with a republic. For those who want a head of state, the method by which one should be chosen is not agreed upon, with some favouring an elected president, some an appointed head of state with little power. Others support something akin to the Swiss model, without a head of state at all.

A republican government was briefly established in the mid-17th century, after the Parliamentarian victory in the English Civil War.

The main lobby group that campaigns for the abolition of the monarchy is Republic.

Within Britain, republican sentiment has largely focused on the abolition of the British monarch, rather than the dissolution of the British Union or independence for its constituent countries.

In Northern Ireland, the term "republican" is usually used in the sense of Irish republicanism. While also against monarchical forms of government, Irish republicans are against the presence of the British state in any form in Ireland and advocate re-creating a united, all-island state, comprising the whole of Ireland. Unionists who support a British republic also exist in Northern Ireland.

There are republican members of the Scottish National Party (SNP) in Scotland and Plaid Cymru in Wales who advocate independence for those countries as republics. The SNP's official policy is that the British monarch would remain head of state of an independent Scotland, unless the people of Scotland decided otherwise. Plaid Cymru have a similar view for Wales. The Scottish Socialist Party and the Scottish Green Party both support an independent Scottish republic.

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