The Peace Party is a minor political party 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 ...

, founded in Surrey in 1996, campaigning mainly for pacifist and environmentalist issues. Its leader John Morris had stood at every general election since 1997.

History

The party was founded in 1996 as the Pacifist Campaign by a group of activists, including Quakers, in Guildford, Surrey. In 2001 it became the Pacifist Party and it was registered with the

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 ...

in 2003 as "The Peace Party - Non-violence, Justice, Environment". The leader, retired geography teacher John Morris, has as of 2019 stood for the party in every general election since the party was founded, and though he expects to lose he says "Standing at election time means the word peace and some of the other words we use get put in front of everybody who is of voting age. It's worth the lost deposit - it's £500 well spent." The party stood one candidate, John Morris, in the

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

and 2001 general elections in the Guildford constituency, and two in the 2005 election with Caroline O'Reilly also standing in

Brighton Kemptown Brighton Kemptown, often referred to as Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven by local political parties, is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2017 by Lloyd Russell-Moyle, a Labour Co-op MP. The constit ...

. It fielded nine candidates in the South East England constituency during the 2004 European election, gaining 12,572 votes. This was equivalent to 0.6% of the votes cast in the South East and more than three other parties. The party has also stood in a number of local elections in Dartford, Kent, Horsham, West Sussex and Guildford. The party fielded three candidates in the 2010 general election, who gained a total of 737 votes. The Peace Party gained its first councillor in Bradford in November 2012 when Imdad Hussain joined after being suspended from the Labour Party for failing to declare a company directorship. He stood for the party in the

2012 Middlesbrough by-election The Middlesbrough by-election was a by-election for the Parliament of the United Kingdom's House of Commons constituency of Middlesbrough. The by-election was caused by the death of its Member of Parliament, Sir Stuart Bell. It was held on 29 N ...

achieving the Peace Party's first saved deposit with 1,060 votes (6.3%), only three votes fewer than the

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 in ...

candidate. However, Hussain lost his council seat in the 2014 local election, coming second to Labour. They also stood in the South East region for the 2014 European Parliament elections. The party fielded four candidates in the 2015 general election, including Morris, Tommy Holgate, previously Comedy Editor for ''The Sun'' newspaper, Jim Duggan, and Tania Mahmood, who together received a total of 957 votes. There were two Peace candidates in the 2017 general election who gained a total of 438 votes. The party stood in two constituencies at the 2019 general election and won 960 votes.

Policies

The Peace Party seeks to promote a society that is compassionate and respectful, and that values cooperation over competition. They support

conflict resolution Conflict resolution is conceptualized as the methods and processes involved in facilitating the peaceful ending of conflict and retribution. Committed group members attempt to resolve group conflicts by actively communicating information abo ...

demilitarisation Demilitarisation or demilitarization may mean the reduction of state armed forces; it is the opposite of militarisation in many respects. For instance, the demilitarisation of Northern Ireland entailed the reduction of British security and militar ...

, drug legalisation,

felony disenfranchisement Disfranchisement, also called disenfranchisement, or voter disqualification is the restriction of suffrage (the right to vote) of a person or group of people, or a practice that has the effect of preventing a person exercising the right to vote. D ...

, and

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...

References

External links

Peace Party websitePeace - Journal of the UK Peace Party, Autumn 2013
(PDF) {{British political parties 1996 establishments in the United Kingdom Environmentalism in the United Kingdom Pacifist parties in the United Kingdom Political parties established in 1996