Something New (political party)
Something New | |
---|---|
Syncretic | |
Colours | Black and white[1] |
Slogan | Bringing British democracy into the 21st century |
Website | |
www.somethingnew.org.uk | |
Something New was a political party in the United Kingdom,
The party stood two candidates at the 2017 general election in Horsham and Ross, Skye and Lochaber, winning 0.6% and 0.5% of the vote respectively.
The party voluntarily deregistered with the Electoral Commission on 5 November 2020.[5]
History
Something New was founded in 2013,[6] and was revived in October 2014. The party was registered with the Electoral Commission on 12 March 2015, naming Dr Raymond James Smith as its Leader, Alexander Hilton as its Treasurer and Paul Robinson as its Nominating Officer.[1] Hilton had been the Treasurer and Nominating Officer for the first incarnation of Something New in 2013.[6]
At the
Something New also stood a candidate in
In the run-up to the 2015 general election, Something New formed party alliances with the
In the course of the election campaign, both Smith and Robinson attended several pre-election
James Smith stated that he wished to beat the Green Party candidate in Horsham, as the Green Party received only 570 votes at the 2010 general election with very little campaigning.[25] However, Smith only received 375 votes whereas the Green Party candidate received 2,151. Paul Robinson came 7th in South West Surrey, winning 320 votes or 0.6% of the vote.[26] He also came 4th in the Waverley Borough Council election in the Godalming Central and Ockford Ward, winning 485 votes.[27]
Following the 2015 general election, Something New stood a candidate, Jessie Macneil-Brown, in a by-election in the Stepney Green Ward on
OpenPolitics Project
The OpenPolitics Project was launched in August 2013.[32] It was an open-source manifesto, in that anyone was free to contribute a policy that was then discussed and subject to consensus or scrapped.[33] It combines elements of open-source governance and also direct democracy and consensus democracy. The project was organised on GitHub and the contribution process is operated in a way similar to Wikipedia's.[34][35]
The manifesto was supported by a base of active contributors, numbering roughly 25.[32] Any candidates are open to stand on the OpenPolitics Manifesto, however only Something New and their two candidates for the 2015 general election have pledged to stand on the policies.[36]
James Smith has said, on behalf of Something New, that the three policies that he would prioritise would be to "change the voting system to three-member single transferable vote, tackle off-shoring of profits, and target of no new fossil-fuel vehicles by 2030."[35] Smith has also described the Manifesto as "never 'finished,' never 'published.' It's a living document, always being updated and improved."[37]
On behalf of Something New and the OpenPolitics Project, Smith wrote an essay that was included in the Design Commission's report on "Designing Democracy." The essay appeared on pages 67 and 68 of the report in Section 4: The Stuff of Democracy. The inquiry was headed by Dr Richard Simmons and John Howell and the report was launched on 23 March 2015.[37] Smith concluded his essay with the line, "The Open Revolution is here to change everything."[38]
Party leaders
# | Leader | Tenure | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1 | James Smith | 2014–2020 | Stood in Horsham in 2015. |
Electoral performance
Parliamentary elections
Election year | # of total votes | % of overall vote | # of seats won |
---|---|---|---|
2015 | 695 | 0.002% | 0 |
2017 | 552 | 0.002% | 0 |
General Election 2015
Something New stood two candidates in the 2015 general election, but also endorsed candidates from other parties and recommended several candidates in constituencies where it did not nominate a candidate. It recommended that people voted for all the Pirate Party UK candidates and several independent candidates in several constituencies where it was not standing. Something New also endorsed "Allied Candidates" from the Whig Party and Rebooting Democracy.[18]
Candidate | Constituency | Votes | % |
---|---|---|---|
James Smith | Horsham | 375 | 0.7 |
Paul Robinson | South West Surrey | 320 | 0.6 |
Total | 695 |
General Election 2017
Candidate | Constituency | Votes | % |
---|---|---|---|
James Smith | Horsham | 375 | 0.6 |
Stick Sturrock | Ross, Skye and Lochaber | 177 | 0.5 |
Total | 552 |
Local elections
Local elections 2015
Something New stood one candidate in the
Candidate | Ward | Council | Votes | % |
---|---|---|---|---|
Paul Robinson | Godalming Central and Ockford | Waverley Borough Council
|
485 | 12.54 |
Stepney Green by-election (2015)
In a by-election in
Candidate | Ward | Council | Votes | % |
---|---|---|---|---|
Jessie Macneil-Brown | Stepney Green
|
Tower Hamlets London Borough Council | 40 | 1.03 |
Local elections 2017
Candidate | Ward | Council | Votes | % |
---|---|---|---|---|
Philip John | Lichfield City North | Staffordshire County Council | 175 | 5 |
Philip John | Stowe | Lichfield City Council | 101 | 7 |
James Smith | Holbrook | West Sussex County Council | 199 | 6 |
See also
References
- ^ Electoral Commission PEF entity registration search[permanent dead link].
- ^ View Registration Something New Electoral Commission Register of Political Parties
- ^ Thornberry, Charlie; Smith, James (7 January 2015). "Episode C: What The Dickens". Open Revolution (Podcast). Open Revolution. PodOmatic. Event occurs at 12:20. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
We're trying to go forwards from that to take the best parts from all the political thinking so far, from all of the ways we've tried to do things so far, and move forward. So, we might take the social conscience stuff which more traditionally belongs on the left, with the ideas of decentralisation and so on that come from the right perhaps.
- ^ "Our Values". Something New. Retrieved 29 May 2015.
- ^ "Party deregistered". search.electoralcommission.org.uk. Retrieved 12 May 2023.
- ^ Electoral Commission PEF entity registration search[permanent dead link].
- ^ a b Williams, Andrew (15 October 2014). "Something New for Politics?". Institute of Opinion. Retrieved 15 February 2015.
- ^ "Father of two launches bid to be Horsham's next MP". West Sussex County Times. 9 July 2014. Retrieved 15 February 2015.
- ^ Mason, Rowena (1 February 2015). "Francis Maude to step down as MP after three decades in parliament". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 February 2015.
- ^ "Election hopeful to hold series of ward meetings". West Sussex County Times. 15 January 2015. Retrieved 17 February 2015.
- ^ "Elect Something New for Horsham". Crowdfunder. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
- ^ Ratty, Jess; Smith, James (7 April 2015). "Crowdfunding Politics – a word from the front line…". Crowdfunder.co.uk. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
- ^ Powling, Joshua (7 April 2015). "Horsham election candidate takes part in Leaders' Debate". West Sussex County Times. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
- ^ Smith, James (3 April 2015). "Something New Joins the ITV Leaders' Debate" (Press release). Something New. Retrieved 9 April 2015.
- ^ Powling, Joshua (7 April 2015). "Horsham election candidate takes part in Leaders' Debate". Portsmouth News. Retrieved 5 May 2015.
- ^ Robinson, Paul (1 October 2014). "Offering Residents in Godalming Central and Ockford Something New" (Press release). Something New. Retrieved 9 April 2015.
- ^ Bodkin, Henry; Taylor, Becca (21 April 2015). "Election 2015: Meet your South West Surrey constituency candidates". getSURREY. Retrieved 5 May 2015.
- ^ a b c d e "Candidates". Something New. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
- ^ "Party Alliances". Something New. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
- ^ "James Smith – Something New, Horsham". My MP 2015. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
- ^ "Paul Robinson – Something New, South West Surrey". My MP 2015. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
- ^ "General Election candidate for Horsham signs County Times Free Speech Charter". West Sussex County Times. 9 October 2014. Retrieved 16 February 2015.
- ^ "21 March 2015: Countryside… or Concrete?". CPRE Sussex. Retrieved 5 May 2015.
- ^ Taylor, Becca (1 May 2015). "Election 2015: South West Surrey constituency candidates make their final pitches". getSURREY. Retrieved 5 May 2015.
- ^ Tamplin, Harley (8 May 2015). "Something New candidate: 'I want to beat Green Party in Horsham'". West Sussex County Times. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
- ^ "Results for the UK Parliamentary Election 2015 (South West Surrey)". Waverley Borough Council. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
- ^ "Borough election results 2015: Godalming Central and Ockford". Waverley Borough Council. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
- ^ a b "Election results for Stepney Green". Tower Hamlets. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
- ^ Smith, James (11 May 2015). "May 2015 Election Results" (Press release). Something New. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
- ^ Hilton, Alexander (14 May 2015). "New Era's Lindsey Garrett to Seek London Mayoralty" (Press release). Something New. Retrieved 14 May 2015.
- ^ Williams, Andrew (30 November 2015). "Rebooting Something New". Retrieved 30 November 2015.
- ^ a b Gilley, Matthew (27 March 2015). "Digital democracy". Positive News. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
- ^ Butler, Nik (27 February 2015). "Open ended promises". The District Post. Horsham. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
- ^ Bluer, Jordan (2 March 2015). "OpenPolitics: 'Wikipedia-like' manifesto lets YOU decide the agenda". Mancunian Matters. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
- ^ a b Gilley, Matthew (20 February 2015). "Open Source Politics, with James Smith from the Something New party". Parties on the Fringe. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
- ^ Williams, Andrew. "Time for Something New?". Whippersnapper. Retrieved 15 February 2015.
- ^ a b "Essay Collection: Designing Democracy". All-Party Parliamentary Design and Innovation Group. 6 January 2015. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
- ^ Smith, James (23 March 2015). "Designing a better democracy" (Press release). Something New. Retrieved 9 April 2015.