The Yorkshire Party is a regionalist political party in

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

, a historic county of

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. Founded in 2014, it campaigns for the establishment of a

devolved Devolution is the statutory delegation of powers from the central government of a sovereign state to govern at a subnational level, such as a regional or local level. It is a form of administrative decentralization. Devolved territories ...

Yorkshire Parliament within the UK, with powers over education, environment, transport and housing. It describes itself as a

centrist Centrism is a political outlook or position involving acceptance or support of a balance of social equality and a degree of social hierarchy while opposing political changes that would result in a significant shift of society strongly to the ...

party built on

social-democratic Social democracy is a Political philosophy, political, Social philosophy, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocati ...

principles and believes that "changing the way the UK political system works is the best way to address the everyday issues faced by people living in Yorkshire". The party has parish, town, district, and county councillors, stood 21 candidates at the 2017 general election, and secured 8.6% of the vote in the 2018 Sheffield City Region mayoral election. The party nominated 28 candidates for the 2019 general election. In the

2021 West Yorkshire mayoral election The inaugural West Yorkshire mayoral election was held on Thursday 6 May 2021 to elect the Mayor of West Yorkshire. It took place simultaneously on the same day as other local elections across the United Kingdom, including council elections in ...

, it received nearly 60,000 votes (nearly 10% of the vote share) in the first round and third overall, behind Labour and the Conservatives. The party came third behind Labour and the Conservatives in the first round of the

2022 South Yorkshire mayoral election The 2022 South Yorkshire mayoral election took place on 5 May 2022 to elect the Mayor of South Yorkshire, the leader of the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority. It took place alongside other local elections across the United Kingdom. Th ...

, with a higher vote share of 13.4%, only 3.1% away from beating the Conservatives into the second round.

History

The party was founded as Yorkshire First in 2014 by the businessmen Stewart Arnold and Richard Honnoraty, and the management consultant Richard Carter. Carter was the party's first leader. The party's launch was welcomed by a spokesperson for Mebyon Kernow. Contesting the 2014 European Parliamentary elections in the

Yorkshire and the Humber Yorkshire and the Humber is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. The population in 2011 was 5,284,000 with its largest settlements being Leeds, Sheffield, Bradford, Hull, and York. It is ...

constituency, the Yorkshire Party received 19,017 votes (1.5%). Arnold, its lead candidate, described this as "a hugely significant result". In 2015, the party fought its first general election, standing 14 candidates. The party also gained its first town and parish council seats. Internationally, the party was granted observer status in the European Free Alliance grouping and has since become a full member. In 2016, the party contested 17 candidates across six local authorities, and also fought the Sheffield Brightside & Hillsborough by-election. In July, Arnold took over from Carter as leader of the party, with Chris Whitwood becoming deputy leader. The party joined the Make Votes Matter Alliance for Proportional Representation. In May 2017, the Yorkshire Party stood in Doncaster for the first time, contesting the mayoral election and saving its deposit. In addition, the party stood seven candidates for council elections. In June that year, the party stood 21 candidates in the

general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

, coming third in three constituencies. This resulted in the Yorkshire Party becoming the sixth most voted for party in England and one of only three parties to increase its vote share on 2015. In 2018, the party's Rotherham candidate, Mick Bower, was selected to contest the Sheffield City Region mayoral election. Securing 8.6% of the vote, gaining fourth place of the seven parties standing, the party also came third in three of the four participating council areas, beating the Liberal Democrats and Greens in Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham. The 22,318 votes gained was also the largest ever individual tally gained by the party. In summer 2018, the party gained its first district and county level councillors when the former mayor of Northallerton and

Hambleton District Hambleton is a local government district in North Yorkshire, England. The administrative centre is Northallerton, and the district includes the outlying towns and villages of Bedale, Thirsk, Great Ayton, Stokesley, and Easingwold. The ...

councillor, Claire Palmer, and the senior

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 ...

councillor on

Selby District Council Selby is a market town and civil parish in the Selby District of North Yorkshire, England, south of York on the River Ouse, with a population at the 2011 census of 14,731. The town was historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire u ...

and North Yorkshire County Council, Mike Jordan, defected. Jordan said that he was joining the Yorkshire Party because he believed the government was "not doing Yorkshire the justice it deserves". In March 2019, Whitwood became party leader and Laura Walker took on the role of deputy. Whitwood expressed his optimism at the positive role the Yorkshire Party could play in the politics of people's everyday lives, describing the period as a golden opportunity where "small parties can make a huge difference and carry a huge amount of influence". In April 2019, with the fifth anniversary of the party's formation, it fielded a record number of candidates in that year's local elections, more than double the previous record. The party fielded six candidates in the 2019 European elections. None were elected. They fielded 28 candidates in the 2019 general election: none were elected, but with 29,201 votes, they received the third highest number of votes of any party that did not get an MP elected, after

The Brexit Party Reform UK is a right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. It was founded with support from Nigel Farage in November 2018 as the Brexit Party, advocating hard Euroscepticism and a no-deal Brexit, and was briefly a significant p ...

and the

Ulster Unionist Party The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland. The party was founded in 1905, emerging from the Irish Unionist Alliance in Ulster. Under Edward Carson, it led unionist opposition to the Irish Home Rule m ...

. In May 2020, Bob Buxton, a teacher, was elected to serve a two-year term as leader following the resignation of Whitwood. In June 2020, a Shipley businessman, Darren Longhorn, was appointed interim party chairman. At the end of August 2020, Councillor George Derx of the Stainforth and Barnby Dun ward in

Doncaster Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...

defected from the Labour Party and joined the Yorkshire Party. He said that he believed that the party had the "right policies for our region". As a result of this defection, the Yorkshire Party is now represented by eight councillors in local government.

Ideology

The party advocates regional devolution for Yorkshire in the form of a democratically elected assembly as "the best way to achieve a stronger Yorkshire in a fairer United Kingdom". The party's argument for regional devolution is said to be founded on the principle of

subsidiarity Subsidiarity is a principle of social organization that holds that social and political issues should be dealt with at the most immediate or local level that is consistent with their resolution. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' defines subsidi ...

– the belief that matters ought to be handled by the smallest, lowest or least centralised competent authority. The party promotes a range of policies covering education, environment, transport and housing it describes as economically

and underpinned by

social democratic Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote so ...

principles.

Electoral performance

In 2014, the party started by fielding candidates for the EU Parliament election in the Yorkshire and the Humber constituency, winning 1.5% of the vote with just over 19,000 votes. In the 2015 general election the party contested 14 constituencies, winning 6,811 votes and an average vote share of 1.04%. The party increased its number of candidates in the 2017 snap election to 21, winning 20,958 votes, a huge increase from the previous election. The party also increased its average vote share in seats it contested to 2.1% of the vote. While contesting seats only within Yorkshire the party, received enough votes to become the sixth most popular party in England. The party won its first principal authority elections at the 2019 local elections, taking seats on

and East Riding of Yorkshire Council. In the

2019 European Parliament election The 2019 European Parliament election was held between 23 and 26 May 2019, the ninth parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979. A total of 751 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) represent more than 512 million peop ...

in the

constituency it received over 50,000 votes (4% of the vote share). It was the only non-parliamentary party to out poll Change UK. In the 2019 general election, the party further increased its number of candidates to 28 and secured 29,201 votes in total — its best electoral performance in a general election. The party's average vote share remained constant at 2.1%, with a slight increase of 0.07%. In the

s, it received nearly 60,000 votes (nearly 10% of the vote share) in the first round - third overall, behind Labour and the Conservatives. The Yorkshire party contested the 2022 local elections, fielding 37 candidates across Yorkshire, with the Barnsley environmentalist and entrepreneur Dr Simon Biltcliffe running as the party's candidate for the South of Yorkshire Mayoral election. Biltcliffe finished third with 13.4% of first choice votes. The Yorkshire Party contested the 2022 Wakefield by-election with David Herdson, who lives in the constituency, as candidate. It came fourth with 4.3% of the vote.

Elected representatives

In the 2019 local elections the Yorkshire Party won four seats on

and two on East Riding of Yorkshire Council. When taken alongside the two seats the party holds on the North Yorkshire County Council and Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council due to defections, the party has eight principal authority councillors in Yorkshire. The party is also represented on town and parish councils across the region.

References

External links