Volt UK (officially: Volt United Kingdom) is a

pro-European Pro-Europeanism, sometimes called European Unionism, is a political position that favours European integration and membership of the European Union (EU).Krisztina Arató, Petr Kaniok (editors). ''Euroscepticism and European Integration''. Politi ...

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 ideological or p ...

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 European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. It is the British branch of

Volt Europa Volt Europa (frequently abbreviated as Volt) is a pro-European and European federalist political movement that also serves as the pan-European structure for subsidiary parties in several EU member states. Volt candidates stood on a common, pan- ...

, a political movement that operates on a European level.

History

Volt UK was founded in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

on 6 January 2020, with Philipp Gnatzy as its first leader.

2021 Elections

In the 2021 local elections, the party stood one candidate for election to a local authority, Luis Perdigao in Cubbington & Leek Wootton Ward in

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Av ...

. He campaigned in particular for improvements in the transport sector and public transport, in addition to avoiding damage from Brexit. In

, Volt backed Richard Hewison, Rejoin EU's candidate for

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

, and the two parties stood a joint list for the London-wide

Assembly Assembly may refer to: Organisations and meetings * Deliberative assembly, a gathering of members who use parliamentary procedure for making decisions * General assembly, an official meeting of the members of an organization or of their representa ...

seats. Hewison received 1.1% of the mayoral vote, while the two parties received 49,389 votes (1.91%) for the Assembly and thus did not win a seat. The party also stood in the

Scottish Parliament election Scotland has elections to several bodies: the Scottish Parliament, the United Kingdom Parliament, local councils and community councils. Before the United Kingdom left the European Union, Scotland elected members to the European Parliament. ...

on a joint list with Renew Scotland.

2022

In May 2022, the party contested the

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

City Council elections A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

. Volt received 4.1% of the first-preference vote in the Pollokshields ward, falling short of winning one of the four seats.

Ideology and policies

The party supports the 5+1 fundamental challenges (1. Smart state, 2. Economic renaissance, 3. Social equality, 4. Global balance, 5. Citizen empowerment, +1 European reform) defined by

. In addition to the pan-European policies of Volt, the British branch has some additional policies including

electoral reform Electoral reform is a change in electoral systems which alters how public desires are expressed in election results. That can include reforms of: * Voting systems, such as proportional representation, a two-round system (runoff voting), instant-r ...

, rejoining the EU, action to address climate change, and reform of political campaigns.

Volt Scotland

Volt Scotland is the Scottish branch of Volt UK. It participated in the

2021 Scottish Parliament election The 2021 Scottish Parliament election took place on 6 May 2021, under the provisions of the Scotland Act 1998. All 129 Members of the Scottish Parliament were elected in the sixth election since the parliament was re-established in 1999. The e ...

with two candidates standing on Renew Scotland's party list. For the Scottish Parliament elections, Volt endorsed a multiple-choice

referendum A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of a ...

on the issue of Scottish independence like its Renew counterparts. Renew Scotland contested five regions and no constituencies in the election, receiving 493 votes nationwide.Glasgow

egion Aigio, also written as ''Aeghion, Aegion, Aegio, Egio'' ( el, Αίγιο, Aígio, ; la, Aegium), is a town and a former municipality in Achaea, West Greece, on the Peloponnese. Since the 2011 local government reform, it is part of the municipalit ...

BBC News; retrieved 8 May 2021Lothian

BBC News; retrieved 8 May 2021Mid Scotland and Fife

BBC News; retrieved 8 May 2021North East Scotland

BBC News; retrieved 8 May 2021West of Scotland

ic BBC News; retrieved 8 May 2021 The party also stood one candidate at the

2022 Scottish local elections The 2022 Scottish local elections were held on 5 May 2022, as part of the 2022 United Kingdom local elections. All 1,226 seats across all 32 Scottish local authorities were up for election and voter turnout was 44.8%. Compared to the previous ...

, with their candidate garnering 4.06% of first preference votes in the four-member Pollokshields ward.

Electoral performance

Scottish Parliament

'' Renew Scotland contested in five regions and no constituencies in the

.''

References

{{Volt Europa 2020 establishments in the United Kingdom Liberal parties in the United Kingdom Political parties established in 2020 Pro-European political parties in the United Kingdom Progressive parties Social liberal parties