Free England Party
Encyclopedia
The Free England Party was a centrist political party in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, which campaigned for English independence
English independence
English independence is a political ideal advocated by some English people that England, the largest and most populous country within the United Kingdom, should secede from the UK and become an independent sovereign state, separate from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland...

. Founded in 2008, and registered with the Electoral Commission in February of that year, it was at the time the largest English Civic Nationalist
English nationalism
English nationalism refers to a nationalist outlook or political stance applied to England. In a general sense, it comprises political and social movements and sentiment inspired by a love for English culture, language and history, and a sense of pride in England and the English people...

 party in the United Kingdom. The Party disbanded in 2009 after some of the leadership tried to force the party in an ethnic nationalist direction.

Formation

The Free England Party was formed in 2008, by Andrew Constantine and Richard Aitkins, both former English Democrats. The party was formed due to the alleged "appalling mismanagement of England by the British government", following the devolution legislation by Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...

's Labour
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...

 government enacted in the 1990s.

History

In May 2008, the party stood in their first elections.

In the elections for the London Assembly, the then party leader, Andrew Constantine, stood in the London South West Constituency gaining 2,908 votes, 1.52% of the total cast.

Election results

Two candidates also stood in the local elections held on the same day. In the Fawdon ward of Newcastle upon Tyne council, Martin Thompson won 367 votes, 12.4% of the total.
In the Pin Green ward of Stevenage Borough, Richard Aitkins took 158 votes, 11.6% of the total. In a by-election in Pin Green in September 2008 Richard Aitkins took 81 votes,6.2%.
The party took a conscious decision not to stand in the 2009 European or County Elections, and to conserve resources for the upcoming General Election.

In June 2009, the Party Secretary Richard Aitkins and the Policy Chairman Martin Thompson left the party after disagreements within the NEC. In September, due to work commitments, Andrew Constantine stepped down as leader and became the party treasurer. Tom Wyatt, the previous Regional Organiser for the North East, took over as party leader. Adrian Thompson became Party secretary but stood down after 44 days in the post.

Party ideology

The Party described itself as "civic nationalist
Civic nationalism
Liberal Nationalism is a kind of nationalism identified by political philosophers who believe in a non-xenophobic form of nationalism compatible with liberal values of freedom, tolerance, equality, and individual rights. Ernest Renan and John Stuart Mill are often thought to be early liberal...

", and the party constitution stated that "Membership can be acquired by anyone, whatever their ethnicity, religion or culture".

There was to be a proposal at the annual general meeting (AGM) in December 2009 to change the Party stance to that of ethnic nationalism
Ethnic nationalism
Ethnic nationalism is a form of nationalism wherein the "nation" is defined in terms of ethnicity. Whatever specific ethnicity is involved, ethnic nationalism always includes some element of descent from previous generations and the implied claim of ethnic essentialism, i.e...

.

The main policy of the Free England Party was the creation of an independent English state.

The party's main policies were:
  • England's withdrawal from the United Kingdom and the European Union.
  • A controlled immigration policy.
  • Tougher sentences for criminals.
  • Improved state pensions.
  • Improved health care.

Party structure

The Free England Party was made up of regional officers, and the National Executive Council (NEC). The NEC was elected on a two-year basis and was made up of members from all over England. At the end it consisted of a party leader, a party treasurer, and two other NEC members.

There were also four places for regional organisers, who represented: North England, Central England, South England and London.

There was also a policy committee with four members.

Young Free England

Young Free England was the youth organisation of the Free England Party, and was founded in March 2009. Membership was free to members of Free England between the ages of 15 and 24. It had members across the country and had its own web site. Between March and September 2009, it was headed by Dan Fisher. He was replaced by Charlotte Dawson. In a forum policy debate in November 2009 most of the members of YFE opposed the policy change to make the party an 'ethnic English'one, that was being proposed for the AGM. This resulted in Tom Wyatt, the Party leader, closing down Young Free England and some of its members being banned from the forum.

Disbandment

In November 2009, the policy committee of the Free England Party recommended that the party change its civic nationalist stance to becoming an ethnic nationalist party. This was to be put to the AGM on 12 December in York.

In early December 2009 the website of the pro-repatriation English Independence Party, led by Chris Nickerson, began redirecting visiters to an abandoned Free England Party website.

One week before the AGM the FEP leadership offered to hand over full control of the party to the supporters of the civic nationalist stance provided that they could build a new leadership and NEC within three days.

However, on 7 December 2009, after less than two full days, the party leadership announced that the Free England Party would be shut down, "due to lack of activists willing to take on party roles". This was in spite of the fact that the civic members had a new NEC ready to take over.

The Free England Party was de-egistered from the Register of Political Parties on 8 June 2009.
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