The Democrats and Veterans Direct Democracy Party (DVDDP) was a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. It became the 5 Star Direct Democracy Party. The party was founded in 2018 by former

UKIP The UK Independence Party (UKIP; ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of Parliament and was the largest pa ...

member and

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...

veteran Gavin Felton and other ex-servicemen of the

British Armed Forces The British Armed Forces, also known as His Majesty's Armed Forces, are the military forces responsible for the defence of the United Kingdom, its Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies. They also promote the UK's wider interests, s ...

. John Rees-Evans, previously a UKIP leadership candidate, was announced as the first party leader, and Gavin Felton named as chairman. The party considers itself to be "broadly

libertarian Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's e ...

in character". Its platform includes complete withdrawal from the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

direct democracy Direct democracy or pure democracy is a form of democracy in which the Election#Electorate, electorate decides on policy initiatives without legislator, elected representatives as proxies. This differs from the majority of currently establishe ...

, and stronger support for veterans.

Electoral history

In January 2018, the party said it had 321 candidates "ready to fight seats throughout the country." It stated that it would target voters in

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

. The party stood candidates in the May 2018 English local elections, but did not win any seats. The party fielded Massimo DiMambro as a candidate in the

2018 Lewisham East by-election A by-election was held in the UK Parliament constituency of Lewisham East on 14 June 2018, following the resignation of Labour MP Heidi Alexander. It was the second by-election held during the 57th UK Parliament, which was elected in June 2017 ...

, who lost his deposit, having received under 5% of the vote. The party took second place in a Barnsley local by-election in July 2018; took third in a by-election for a seat on Denbighshire Council in September 2018; They won their first two seats on

Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council is the local authority of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley in South Yorkshire, England. It is a metropolitan district council, one of four in South Yorkshire and one of 36 in the metropolitan counties of ...

in May 2019. Cllr Victoria Felton received 1236 votes taking the Monk Bretton seat from Labour after 22 years. However, as of October 2020 the council website shows that of the two elected Democrats and Veterans councillors, one, Trevor Smith, has defected to the Labour Party whilst the other, Victoria Felton, is listed as Independent. In the 2019 general election, Felton ran in

Barnsley Central Barnsley Central is a constituency in South Yorkshire represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2011 by Dan Jarvis of the Labour Party. Constituency profile Barnsley Central is generally an urban seat and has a large m ...

for the

Brexit Party Reform UK is a Right-wing populism, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. It was founded with support from Nigel Farage in November 2018 as the Brexit Party, advocating hard Euroscepticism and a no-deal Brexit, and was bri ...

, finishing second. In

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

, the party stood two candidates in the 2019 local elections gaining 527 votes, the highest amongst the three new parties in the election. The year before, in October 2018, it ran in the

Carrick Castle Carrick Castle is a 14th-century tower house on the west shore of Loch Goil on the Cowal peninsula in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It is located between Cuilmuich and Carrick, south of Lochgoilhead. The castle stands on a rocky peninsula, and ...

by-election and came fourth in what is the most prominent unionist consistency in NI.

Summary

References

{{reflist Political parties in the United Kingdom 2018 establishments in the United Kingdom Political parties established in 2018 Eurosceptic parties in the United Kingdom Direct democracy parties UK Independence Party breakaway groups