People Demand Democracy (PDD) is a British

activist Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived common good. Forms of activism range from mandate build ...

group that campaigns for

electoral reform Electoral reform is a change in electoral systems that alters how public desires, usually expressed by cast votes, produce election results. Description Reforms can include changes to: * Voting systems, such as adoption of proportional represen ...

, including the replacement of the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

with a "permanent

citizens' assembly Citizens' assembly is a group of people selected by lottery from the general population to deliberate on important public questions so as to exert an influence. Other names and variations of deliberative mini-publics include citizens' jury, ci ...

" called the "House of Citizens" and

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to any electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to political divisions (Political party, political parties) amon ...

in elections for the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

. The group is best known for a protest on 10 October 2023, in which a member of the group poured glitter onto Labour Party Leader

Keir Starmer Sir Keir Rodney Starmer (born 2 September 1962) is a British politician and lawyer who has served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom since 2024 and as Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party since 2020. He previously ...

at the

Labour Party Conference The Labour Party Conference is the annual conference of the British Labour Party (UK), Labour Party. It is formally the supreme decision-making body of the party and is traditionally held in the final week of September, during the party conferen ...

, and is associated with

Just Stop Oil Just Stop Oil (JSO) was a British environmental activist group primarily focused on the issue of Climate change, human-caused climate change. The group aimed to force the British government to commit to ending new Energy in the United Kingdom, f ...

Views

People Demand Democracy opposes the

, and has stated that it wants to replace it with a "House of Citizens," which it states would be a "permanent

". A statement on the PDD website reads that: Furthermore, the group campaigns for

in elections, which would replace the United Kingdom's current

first-past-the-post First-past-the-post (FPTP)—also called choose-one, first-preference plurality (FPP), or simply plurality—is a single-winner voting rule. Voters mark one candidate as their favorite, or First-preference votes, first-preference, and the cand ...

system.

Labour Party Conference protest

In September 2023, the group sent open letters to both the Conservative Party and Labour Party, demanding they commit to holding "new national elections with a proportional voting system" and to "set up a House of Citizens within six months of getting into office", and that if they did not do so by 30 September, the group would "take proportionate action". The Labour letter also noted that the party's members had voted in favour of proportional representation in 2022, which had been rejected by Starmer. At 3pm on the day of the protest, the group had only 40 followers on Twitter. On 10 October 2023, during Labour Party leader

's speech at the

, 28 year-old Yaz Ashmawi, who wore a "People Demand Democracy" t-shirt, stormed the stage and poured

glitter Glitter is an assortment of flat, small, reflective particles that are precision cut and come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and colors. Glitter particles resemble confetti, sparkles and sequins, but somewhat smaller. Since prehistoric times ...

over Starmer. Ashmawi stated that "true democracy is citizen-led" that “politics needs an update, we demand a people’s house," and "we are in crisis - our whole future is in jeopardy.” Following the action, the protester was removed from the stage by conference security. Starmer stated directly following the incident that "if he thinks that bothers me, he doesn’t know me. Protest or power, that’s why we changed our party." Ashmawi was removed from the conference building through a rear exit by two police officers after shouting "democracy first." He was arrested on suspicion of S39

assault In the terminology of law, an assault is the act of causing physical harm or consent, unwanted physical contact to another person, or, in some legal definitions, the threat or attempt to do so. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may ...

breach of the peace Breach of the peace or disturbing the peace is a legal term used in constitutional law in English-speaking countries and in a public order sense in the United Kingdom. It is a form of disorderly conduct. Public order England, Wales and Norther ...

and causing

public nuisance In English criminal law, public nuisance is an act, condition or thing that is illegal because it interferes with the rights of the general public. In Australia In ''Kent v Johnson'', the Supreme Court of the ACT held that public nuisance is ...

, and was driven away from the site in a police van. Following his speech, Starmer made the decision not to walk off the stage and through the crowd, as was usually the norm for party leader speeches at the conference. ''

The Big Issue ''The Big Issue'' is a United Kingdom–based street newspaper founded by John Bird and Gordon Roddick in September 1991 and published in four continents. ''The Big Issue'' is one of the UK's leading social businesses and exists to offer ho ...

'' noted that

had distributed information to journalists about the group in a press release.

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://peopledemanddemocracy.com 2023 establishments in the United Kingdom Direct action Electoral reform groups

Views

Labour Party Conference protest

See also

References

External links