The Pirate Party UK (often abbreviated PPUK; in ) is a
political party
A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...
in the United Kingdom. The Pirate Party's core policies are to bring about reform to copyright and patent laws, support privacy, reduce surveillance from government and businesses, and support
freedom of speech
Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The rights, right to freedom of expression has been r ...
and freedom of expression.
The party was established in July 2009. The first
leader
Leadership, is defined as the ability of an individual, group, or organization to "", influence, or guide other individuals, teams, or organizations.
"Leadership" is a contested term. Specialist literature debates various viewpoints on the co ...
of the party was Andrew Robinson, who stepped down in August 2010.
Laurence "Loz" Kaye was elected to replace him in September 2010, and served until after the
2015 general election, when he stepped down.
Following Kaye's resignation, a leadership election was held, with Cris Chesha being elected leader and David A Elston being elected the party's first deputy leader.
The party announced that it had voted to dissolve on 7 October 2020,
and was de-registered as a political party by 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 ...
on 9 November 2020.
In August 2023, the Electoral Commission was considering an application to register the re-formed party as part of its assessment process, which it approved on 14 December.
History
Following
The Pirate Bay trial
The Pirate Bay trial was a joint criminal law, criminal and civil law (legal system), civil prosecution in Sweden of four individuals charged for promoting the copyright infringement of others with the torrent tracker, torrent tracking website T ...
, a large surge in Pirate Party interest occurred around the world. After the success of the
Swedish Pirate Party in the summer
2009 European elections, there was a sudden growth of Pirate Party organisations across Europe (notably in Germany and France) and beyond. Forum membership soared. The official formation of the Pirate Party in the UK followed shortly after the European elections and the Pirate Party UK was officially registered on 30 July 2009.
In August 2009, it was claimed that Pirate Party UK was undergoing rapid growth similar to one the Swedish Pirate Party had enjoyed in early 2009. It was reported that it had been flooded with enquiries and at its peak around 100 people an hour were signing up to become party members. Donations had been coming in so fast that
PayPal
PayPal Holdings, Inc. is an American multinational financial technology company operating an online payments system in the majority of countries that support E-commerce payment system, online money transfers; it serves as an electronic alter ...
was concerned it was a fraudulent site.
On 30 March 2010, the party declared its intent to stand ten candidates across England and Scotland. However, to do so, further party funding would be required. On 27 April 2010, the party announced that it had nine official candidates on the ballot papers, as Mark Sims had missed the deadline because of the
air travel disruption after the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption
In response to concerns that volcanic ash ejected during the 2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland would damage aircraft engines, the controlled airspace of many European countries was closed to instrument flight rules traffic, resulti ...
. Following the resignation of first party leader Andrew Robinson, the composer and lecturer
Laurence "Loz" Kaye was elected as the new leader on 26 September 2010. In a message sent to members, Kaye stated his key aim as "building the political structure of the party". Previously, Kaye had been the election agent for candidate Tim Dobson who stood for Pirate Party UK in
Manchester Gorton.
In the run-up to the
2015 general election, the Pirate Party
crowdsourced
Crowdsourcing involves a large group of dispersed participants contributing or producing goods or services—including ideas, votes, micro-tasks, and finances—for payment or as volunteers. Contemporary crowdsourcing often involves digit ...
its
manifesto
A manifesto is a written declaration of the intentions, motives, or views of the issuer, be it an individual, group, political party, or government. A manifesto can accept a previously published opinion or public consensus, but many prominent ...
using
Reddit
Reddit ( ) is an American Proprietary software, proprietary social news news aggregator, aggregation and Internet forum, forum Social media, social media platform. Registered users (commonly referred to as "redditors") submit content to the ...
. The process ran until 21 March 2015. The Party stood a total of six candidates in the 2015 General Election, including leader Loz Kaye in
Manchester Central, who won the largest share of the vote in his constituency with 0.8%.
Following the 2015 general election in May, Kaye stepped down as leader.
With the role of deputy leader also being vacant, George Walkden, the party's nominating officer, was approved by the board of governors to serve as an interim leader until the party elected a new leader. Following the leadership election, Cris Chesha was elected leader of the party and David Elston was elected the first deputy leader. Six new governors were elected, with six governors being re-elected. Rebecca Rae was elected to the role of campaigns officer on the NEC.
On 18 June,
Andrew Norton stepped down as chair of the board, and was replaced by the deputy chair of the board, Andrew Robinson, the leader of the party from 2009 to 2010. On 29 July 2015, Will Tovey was elected as the next deputy chair of the board to replace Robinson. Will Tovey subsequently became chair of the board, and Adrian Farrel replaced him on 14 December 2016. The party's extended period without an elected NEC caught the attention of larger media outlets in October 2016 where Kaye and Elston gave comment.
In June 2017, when the
snap general election was called, the Pirate Party UK was under the acting leadership of deputy leader David Elston, the position of party leader being vacant following Chesha's resignation in November 2015. The party launched its manifesto for the 2017 general election on 17 May 2017 in Vauxhall, the home constituency of its lead candidate Mark Chapman, in front of the MI6 building. A crowdfunding campaign, dubbed "Operation Doubloons", was also launched in June to help the party cover the costs of candidate deposits and election materials.
The party subsequently stood ten candidates in the 2017 election, the highest number in the history of the party. These included Elston in
Vale of Glamorgan
The Vale of Glamorgan ( ), locally referred to as ''The Vale'', is a Principal areas of Wales, county borough in the South East Wales, south-east of Wales. It borders Bridgend County Borough to the west, Cardiff to the east, Rhondda Cynon Taf t ...
, Chapman in
Vauxhall
Vauxhall ( , ) is an area of South London, within the London Borough of Lambeth. Named after a medieval manor called Fox Hall, it became well known for the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens.
From the Victorian period until the mid-20th century, Va ...
and the party's nominations officer, Jason Winstanley, in
Gower
The Gower Peninsula (), or simply Gower (), is a peninsula in the south-west of Wales. It is the most westerly part of the historic county of Glamorgan, and is now within the City and County of Swansea. It projects towards the Bristol Channel ...
. The largest share of the vote was won by Des Hjerling, standing in
New Forest West, who received 1% of the vote. Following the election, Elston wrote in a Leader's Update that "Pirates were one of the few parties to make gains" in the election, highlighting the fact that the party had increased its overall share of the vote and more than doubled the number of votes it gained across all candidates compared with the 2015 general election results.
On 29 October 2019, the Pirate Party UK issued a General Election Statement stating that it would not be fielding candidates in the December 2019 general election because of concern that its candidates could split the vote in a "single-issue election" and thus increase the likelihood of the election of candidates whose opinions regarding the UK's future relationship with the EU were incompatible with those of the PPUK.
In 2020, following a period of stagnation attributed to the challenges of the
first-past-the-post voting
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, and the candidate with more first- ...
electoral system (the party declared its support for
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 ...
for all elections in the UK in its 2017 manifesto), the focus of political debate on
Brexit
Brexit (, a portmanteau of "Britain" and "Exit") was the Withdrawal from the European Union, withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU).
Brexit officially took place at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February ...
, and the pressures of the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
, the party held a vote on whether or not to disband. The vote to dissolve the party passed with 73% of votes cast in favour of closing down the party. The result of the votes was announced by the party on 7 October 2020 and were as follows:
[
The party was re-started in 2023 and submitted an application to the Electoral Commission on 10 August 2023] which was approved on 14 December. As part of its re-launch it has committed itself to supporting transgender rights
The legal status of transgender people varies greatly around the world. Some countries have enacted laws protecting the rights of transgender individuals, but others have criminalized their gender identity or expression. In many cases, transg ...
.
Since August 2023, the Pirate Party UK has considered joining Pirate Parties International
Pirate Parties International (PPI) is an Political international, international Nonprofit organization, non-profit and non-governmental organization with headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. Formed in 2010, it serves as a worldwide organizati ...
.
Aims and policies
The Pirate Party UK states its aims are "copyright and patent law reform, supporting privacy, reducing surveillance by governments and businesses, and championing freedom of speech and expression".
Policies
The party believes that Internet access is a universal and basic right. As such the party supports increasing access to the internet and making it more affordable.
The party advocates for the protection of online privacy and associated rights. In response to the Online Safety Bill (now Online Safety Act 2023
The Online Safety Act 2023 (c. 50) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom to regulate online content. Designed to protect children and adults online, it passed on 26 October 2023 and gives the relevant Secretary of State the power, s ...
), the Pirate Party stated that it is opposed to "mass surveillance and he undermining ofthe fundamental right to private conversations", the introduction of backdoors and the weakening of encryption on "sensitive data" and has been outspoken in its opposition to the use of the Clipper chip. As such, the PPUK campaigns for limiting communications monitoring to "cases where there is clear evidence of criminal activity" and ensuring that the integrity of end-to-end encryption is not compromised by opposing the use of backdoors and weakened encryption.
The party has expressed its support of transgender rights, and has been outspoken in its belief that "a person's gender identity is a deeply personal matter" and that "it is not a decision that can or should be imposed upon someone by external parties, even if those parties happen to be their parents". It has stated its support of the implementation of increased digital literacy education. The party's policy on gender identity self-determination is extended to children choosing "their preferred names, pronouns, and gender presentations" in school.
The party advocates increased judicial review and the increased involvements of external technical experts in the technological field.
In response to a "leaked report from 2016 by official drug advisers", the party has announced that it supports the decriminalisation of drug possession.
The party supports rent controls
Rent regulation is a system of laws for the rental market of dwellings, with controversial effects on affordability of housing and tenancies. Generally, a system of rent regulation involves:
*Price controls, limits on the rent that a landlord ...
and improved support for first-time home buyers.
The party supports a universal basic income
Universal basic income (UBI) is a social welfare proposal in which all citizens of a given population regularly receive a minimum income in the form of an unconditional transfer payment, i.e., without a means test or need to perform Work (hu ...
(UBI) that would replace multiple welfare programs, including Jobseeker's Allowance and child benefits.
Organisation
Leadership
Deputy Leadership
Branches
The Pirate Party UK had branches in many places around the United Kingdom. These included London, York
York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...
, Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Cheshire to the south, and Merseyside to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Manchester. ...
, Sheffield
Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...
and Bury.
Pirate Party Wales
Pirate Party Wales () was a branch of the Pirate Party UK that covered the entirety of Wales and was founded in 2014 by David Anthony Elston. Pirate Party Wales supported increased recognition of the Welsh language
Welsh ( or ) is a Celtic languages, Celtic language of the Brittonic languages, Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people. Welsh is spoken natively in Wales by about 18% of the population, by some in England, and in (the Welsh c ...
, including reform of the Welsh Language Act 1993
The Welsh Language Act 1993 (c. 38) () is an Act of Parliament, Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which put the Welsh language on an equal footing with the English language in Wales.
Act
Background
After the S4C, Welsh language c ...
and free Welsh courses for all Welsh nationals. It also supported further devolution
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 territori ...
to Wales and increased powers for the Welsh Assembly
The Senedd ( ; ), officially known as the Welsh Parliament in English and () in Welsh, is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Wales. A democratically elected body, Its role is to scrutinise the Welsh Government and legislate on devolve ...
. The only candidate to have stood in Wales for the party was Elston who stood in Bridgend
Bridgend (; or just , meaning "the end of the bridge on the Ogmore") is a town in the Bridgend County Borough of Wales, west of Cardiff and east of Swansea. The town is named after the Old Bridge, Bridgend, medieval bridge over the River Og ...
in the 2015 general election.
International affiliation
On 25 February 2015, the Pirate Party UK announced its withdrawal from its international affiliation, Pirate Party International. This announcement, consolidated by a vote of the board, followed Pirate Party Australia's decision to leave earlier in the same month.
Membership
Election results
It has previously been noted by Robinson, the first Pirate Party UK leader, that the Pirate Party UK's chances of getting a candidate elected to the UK parliament
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of ...
are "pretty much close to zero", because of the 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 for electing MPs to Parliament. Instead, its immediate aim is to raise awareness among voters and politicians in the other political parties.
The Pirate Party UK contested its first election in 2010, standing nine candidates in the 2010 general election. The party also stood candidates in the 2011 Oldham East and Saddleworth and 2012 Manchester Central by-elections. The party also contested several local government
Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state.
Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of a higher-level political or administrative unit, such a ...
elections and the 2011 Scottish Parliament election
The 2011 Scottish Parliament election was held on Thursday, 5 May 2011 to elect 129 members to the Scottish Parliament.
The election delivered the first majority government since the opening of Holyrood, a remarkable feat as the Additional M ...
. The party stood six candidates in the 2015 general election, and ten in the 2017 snap general election. In general elections, none of its candidates has ever received more than one per cent of the vote.
See also
* Open Rights Group
The Open Rights Group (ORG) is a UK-based organisation that works to preserve digital rights and freedoms by campaigning on digital rights issues and by fostering a community of grassroots activists. It campaigns on numerous issues including ma ...
References
External links
*
Official Pirate Party of the United Kingdom website
(Historical, 2009 to 2020 website)
Official Pirate Party of the United Kingdom 2017 manifesto
General election 2017: Pirate Party plans for web surveillance
Mark Chapman of the Pirate Party UK on the ''Daily Politics
''Daily Politics'' is a BBC Television programme which aired between 6 January 2003 and 24 July 2018, presented by Andrew Neil and Jo Coburn. ''Daily Politics'' took an in-depth review of the daily events in both Westminster and other areas a ...
''.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pirate Party UK
UK
2009 establishments in the United Kingdom
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Intellectual property activism
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Political parties established in 2009
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