The Senior Citizens Party 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 ...

from 2004–2014, which focused on the rights of people over the age of 50,

senior citizen Old age refers to ages nearing or surpassing the life expectancy of human beings, and is thus the end of the human life cycle. Terms and euphemisms for people at this age include old people, the elderly (worldwide usage), OAPs (British usage ...

s. They claimed a membership of several thousand. The party was founded in January 2004 by Grahame Leon-Smith, formerly the party leader, and Terry Pattinson. They claim that they had previously been lifelong

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

and Labour Party voters respectively, Leon-Smith serving as a councillor for 6 years, but had become disillusioned by the breaking of the link between

pensions A pension (, from Latin ''pensiō'', "payment") is a fund into which a sum of money is added during an employee's employment years and from which payments are drawn to support the person's retirement from work in the form of periodic payments ...

and average earnings by the Conservatives and Labour's failure to restore it. They also campaigned against

council tax Council Tax is a local taxation system used in England, Scotland and Wales. It is a tax on domestic property, which was introduced in 1993 by the Local Government Finance Act 1992, replacing the short-lived Community Charge The Community C ...

, proposing a

local income tax Several political parties have advocated a local income tax in Scotland as an alternative to the Council Tax, as part of funding for local authorities. Various proposals were promoted during the 2007 Scottish Parliament election, 2007 general elect ...

, and campaign for free personal care for the elderly, free off-peak travel, and free

television licence A television licence or broadcast receiving licence is a payment required in many countries for the reception of television broadcasts, or the possession of a television set where some broadcasts are funded in full or in part by the licence f ...

s. The party won 42,861 votes in the

South East The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...

in the European Parliament election, 2004 and stood candidates against

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...

and

Michael Howard Michael Howard, Baron Howard of Lympne (born Michael Hecht; 7 July 1941) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from November 2003 to December 2005. He previously held cabinet posi ...

in the 2005 UK general election. Leon-Smith received 151 votes (0.3%) in Folkestone and Hythe, and Pattinson received 97 votes (0.2%) in

Sedgefield Sedgefield is a market town and civil parish in County Durham, England. It had a population of 5,211 as at the 2011 census. It has the only operating racecourse in County Durham. History Roman A Roman 'ladder settlement' was discovered by C ...

. In the run up to the 2005 General Election the Senior Citizens Party had meetings discussing an

electoral alliance An electoral alliance (also known as a bipartisan electoral agreement, electoral pact, electoral agreement, electoral coalition or electoral bloc) is an association of political party, political parties or individuals that exists solely to stand ...

with the

English Democrats The English Democrats is a right-wing to far-right, English nationalist political party active in England. A minor party, it currently has no elected representatives at any level of UK government. The English Democrats were established in 2 ...

. In May 2006, Leon-Smith and Pattinson stood for the party in the Runnymede Borough Council election, receiving 261 votes between them. According to their

Electoral Commission An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...

registration, the leader, nominating officer and treasurer was Leon-Smith, whilst Pattinston is Campaigns Officer. Their accounts filed for the years 2004 and 2007 indicate that they had "approximately 4,000 members and associate members". The annual membership fee was £12, but associate members do not pay anything. The ratio of full to associate members was not specified. The Senior Citizens Party merged with

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 ...

in March 2014, as announced by Leon-Smith at the UKIP conference.

References

External links

Grey panthers
Interview with Leon-Smith on

BBC Breakfast ''BBC Breakfast'' is the BBC television Breakfast television, breakfast news programme. Produced by BBC News, the programme is broadcast on BBC One and the BBC News (TV channel), BBC News channel. The simulcast is presented live, originally from ...

in July 2004 (Real Audio Media).
Archived website in December 2004
{{Authority control Political parties established in 2004 Defunct political parties in the United Kingdom Pensioners' parties Old age in the United Kingdom 2004 establishments in the United Kingdom Political parties disestablished in 2014 2014 disestablishments in the United Kingdom

See also

References

External links