Breakthrough Party

The Breakthrough Party was founded in 2021 by Alex Mays, a former member of the Labour Party,[5] in response to the 2020 Labour Party leadership election.

On 20 January 2022, it was announced that a "memorandum of understanding" had been agreed between Breakthrough, the Northern Independence Party, the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition and Left Unity under the name Peoples Alliance of The Left (PAL) and organised by former Labour MP Thelma Walker. This alliance will work together on a future electoral strategy.[6] On 29 January 2022, PAL came out in support of Dave Nellist's candidacy in the 2022 Birmingham Erdington by election.[7]

In mid August the party released their manifesto,[8] covering a broad range of policy aims in community, democracy, economy, education, environment, equality, foreign policy, health, housing, immigration, independent living, justice, media, culture and sport, transport and work. The manifesto, titled a "minifesto" stated in its foreword "Our aim is simple: to offer a genuine alternative in a political landscape which is lurching further rightwards."

Towards the end of July 2023, a left-wing political party merger between Breakthrough, Left Unity, People's Alliance of the Left and Liverpool Community Independents under the name "Transform" was proposed.[9][10] It was proposed in response to "an era of crisis" which the party merger proposal claims to be "a political organisation that offers a real solution" to. The party merger proposal also has 10 "core principles". If put forward, 5 left-wing parties will be merged.

The party's first appearance on a ballot paper was in the 2021 Chesham and Amersham by-election, when Carla Gregory,[11][12] a charity worker from the local area, stood. She received 197 votes, which represents 0.5 per cent of the vote.[13]

Various sitting town and parish councillors have defected to Breakthrough. On 16 August 2021 Samantha Cooper, a Labour councillor on the Keighley Town Council, defected from the Labour Party and became the first Breakthrough elected representative, although she no longer holds her seat.[14][15][16][17] On 12 November, a second Labour town councillor, Katie Parker of Bury St Edmunds Town Council, defected to the Breakthrough Party, although she no longer holds her seat either.[18][19] And on 16 November, the chair of Thorngumbald Parish Council, Ben Munro, also defected from Labour to Breakthrough.[20] On 27 January 2022, Owen Hurcum, Mayor of Bangor, and a former member of Plaid Cymru, announced that they had joined the Party and was to serve the rest of their term as a Breakthrough Party representative.[21][22] On 4 February 2022, Jonathan A. Graham, a councillor on Folkestone Town Council, defected from Labour to Breakthrough, although he too is no longer a member of the council.[23][24] On 24 February 2022, a Labour town councillor in Westgate-on-Sea, Tim Green, announced his intention to defect to the Breakthrough Party, and was re-elected in 2023.[25][26]

On 8 March 2022, two borough councillors, Veena Siva and Jenny Vinson, originally elected for Labour on Spelthorne Borough Council had defected to the party, giving Breakthrough its first representation on a principal authority.[27] Neither stood for re-election in May 2023.

In the 2022 United Kingdom local elections two candidates stood for the Breakthrough Party: Nazma Meah in the Aston ward for the 2022 Birmingham City Council election and Ewan Chappell in the Penygroes ward for the 2022 Carmarthenshire County Council election.[28][29] In the Aston ward in Birmingham, two seats were available; Nazma Meah, finished 5th out of 9 candidates with 265 votes, above both Conservative Party candidates.[30] In the Penygroes seat of Carmarthenshire County Council, one seat was available and the party's candidate, Ewan Chappell, finished last of 4 candidates with 87 votes, equating to 9% of the vote.[31]

On 15 May 2022, Oscar Wolf was appointed deputy leader of the party after elections triggered by the resignation of Sherilyn Wileman.[32]

The party has ten core policies listed on its website:[33] a "£16 minimum wage",[34] scrapping zero hour contracts and banning "fire and rehire", "renationalisation of the NHS and social care", "genuinely affordable housing, for need not profit", limiting rents to 30 per cent of local income and an end to no-fault evictions, a universal basic income, "publicly owned utilities, transport and broadband", defence of the right to protest "and stand in solidarity with marginalised communities", an effort to "collaborate across borders to build a global Green New Deal", and proportional representation.

On 24 July 2023, the Breakthrough Party, alongside Left Unity, the Liverpool Community Independents, and the People's Alliance of the Left issued a joint statement calling for a "new party of the left" in Britain.[35] Citing Labour Party support for policies such as the two-child benefit cap and tuition fees, as well as Labour leader, Keir Starmer's refusal to publicly support striking workers.[36] The group, calling themselves Transform, urged those who agree with their core principles to "move rapidly towards founding a new party of the left."

According to Transform's website, the joint statement was endorsed by figures such as Ian Hodson, National President of the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU); Thelma Walker, former Labour MP for Colne Valley; and broadcaster and journalist, India Willoughby.

Transform's 10 core principles listed on its website are:

1. To be a party of the left of and for the working class in all its diversity, seeking to redistribute wealth and power "from the elite to the people".
2. To support transformative change to "build a truly sustainable world and achieve climate justice".
3. To support internationalism, oppose war and imperialism and welcome migrants.
4. To be feminist, anti-racist and "fight for a world where social injustices... have been eradicated."
5. To eradicate regional inequality, and support the right of Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland to decide their own constitutional futures.
6. To be a democratic party.
7. To develop policies democratically.
8. Contest elections to offer voters a socialist alternative without "promoting the idea that voting alone can solve the present crises."
9. Seek to build power in communities, workplaces, and on the streets.
10. Build relationships with other organisations such as trade unions, campaign groups, and left organisations outside Britain.

• Official website