The English Democrats | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Chairman | Robin Tilbrook[1] |
| Founded | 2002[2] |
| Headquarters | Quires Green Ongar, Essex, CM5 0QP[3] |
| Youth wing | Young English Democrats |
| Membership (2015) | 2,500[4] |
| Ideology | |
| Political position | Right-wing[5] to far-right[6] |
| Colours | Red and white |
| Website | |
| www | |
The English Democrats are a right-wing to far-right, English nationalist political party active in England. Being a minor party, it currently has no elected representatives at any level of UK government.
The English Democrats were established in 2002 by members of the Campaign for an English Parliament pressure group. Following growing political devolution in the United Kingdom, which had seen the creation of the Scottish Parliament, Welsh Parliament and Northern Ireland Assembly, the party's founders called for a separate English Parliament. In the 2000s, it obtained a small number of local councillors. In 2009, the party's candidate, Peter Davies, was elected Mayor of the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster, although he left the party in 2013 in protest at its admittance of former members of the fascist British National Party (BNP). As well as attracting many ex-BNP members, who then constituted a sizeable percentage of the English Democrats' electoral candidates, in 2015 the political party Veritas merged into it.
Ideologically committed to English nationalism, the party previously called for England to become an independent state, thus leaving the United Kingdom. Since 2016, it has instead called only for the creation of a devolved English Parliament within a federal UK. It has also called for a referendum on whether Monmouthshire, a county presently recognised as being in Wales, should instead be classified as part of England. The party is Eurosceptic, and supported the UK leaving the European Union.
- ^ "Party Structure Party Structure". English Democrats. Retrieved 10 May 2023.
- ^ APPG for reform, decentralisation and devolution in the UK
- ^ "Contact Us". English Democrats. Retrieved 24 May 2022.
- ^ George Eaton (14 January 2015). "Green Party membership on course to overtake Ukip's". The New Statesman.
- ^ Tingle, Len (24 October 2014). "Police Commissioner election overshadowed by grooming". BBC News. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
- ^ Lusher, Adam (28 July 2016). "Racism unleashed: 'Send the lot back' – on the road in post-referendum England". The Independent. Retrieved 31 July 2020.