People Before Profit

People Before Profit
Pobal Roimh Bhrabús[1]
Leader Collective leadership[2]
Founded October 2005
Headquarters 4 Meadow View,
Sarsfield Road, Dublin 10
Ideology
Political position Left-wing[6] to far-left[7]
National affiliation Solidarity–People Before Profit (2015–present)
European affiliation European Anti-Capitalist Left
Colours           Maroon and green
Dáil Éireann
3 / 158
Northern Ireland Assembly
1 / 90
House of Commons
(NI Seats)
0 / 18
Local government in the Republic of Ireland
12 / 949
Local Government (NI)
1 / 462
European Parliament (Republic of Ireland)
0 / 11
Website
pbp.ie

People Before Profit (PBP) is a socialist, and Eurosceptic political party formed in October 2005.[8] It is active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

History

PBP was established in 2005, primarily by members of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP).[8][9][10] The Community & Workers Action Group of south Dublin (CWAG) joined the group in 2007 and brought along the party's first elected representative, Joan Collins, an anti–bin tax campaigner and former member of the Socialist Party.[11] In the opinion of Harry McGee, an opinion writer for the Irish Times newspaper, the organisation is Trotskyist.[10]

Republic of Ireland

PBP contested several constituencies in the 2007 general election, polling around 9,000 first preferences, with Richard Boyd Barrett—the candidate in the Dún Laoghaire constituency—missing a seat on the 10th and final count by 7,890 votes to 9,910.[12][13]

In May 2008, PBP launched a campaign calling for a No vote on the Lisbon Treaty when it was put to the people.[14]

In the Republic's 2009 local elections PBP ran twelve candidates, including ten in County Dublin. It secured five seats in three of Dublin's four councils. As well as ten members of the SWP, Joan Collins and Pat Dunne of the CWAG ran in Dublin,[15] and Donnie Fell (a former Waterford Crystal worker and trade union representative) in Waterford.[16]

In the Republic's 2011 general election, both Richard Boyd Barrett and Joan Collins were elected to Dáil Éireann as TDs (deputies), running under a joint People Before Profit and United Left Alliance banner.

In April 2013 Joan Collins TD and Cllr Pat Dunne left the group to form United Left, a political party with former Socialist Party TD Clare Daly.

In the May 2014 local elections, PBP won 14 seats including two seats outside Dublin on Sligo and Wexford County Councils.

Discussions were held in August 2015 with the Anti-Austerity Alliance about forming a new political grouping.[17] On 17 September 2015, the two parties announced they had formally registered as a single political party for electoral purposes.[18] The new organisation was called the Anti-Austerity Alliance–People Before Profit.

At the 2016 general election, Boyd Barrett was re-elected.[19] He was joined by fellow PBP candidates Gino Kenny and Bríd Smith.[20][21]

Northern Ireland

People Before Profit unsuccessfully ran one candidate, Sean Mitchell, in the 2007 Northern Ireland Assembly election, polling 774 first preferences in the Belfast West constituency. He successfully gained the right to stand in an election by threatening to take the then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Peter Hain, to court if the legal loophole preventing him from doing so was enforced. (England, Scotland and Wales had secured the right to contest candidates under the age of 20, providing they were over 18, for constituencies for devolved government, whereas Northern Ireland had been simply excluded).

People Before Profit ran four candidates in the Northern Ireland Assembly election of May 2011, winning 5,438 first-preference votes between them but no seats in the new Assembly. Its most successful candidate in this election was Eamonn McCann, who won 3,120 first-preference votes, or 8% of the total, in Foyle.

In the June 2011 Belfast West by-election, Gerry Carroll won 1,751 votes (7.6%), coming in third place and ahead of both unionist candidates.

In the 2014 Belfast City Council election, Gerry Carroll became the first PBP councilor elected in Northern Ireland, winning 3rd place in the Black Mountain DEA, with 1,691 1st Preference votes.

In May 2016, Carroll]] topped the poll in the Belfast West constituency at the 2016 Assembly Election with 8,299 votes (22.9%), almost 4,000 first-preference votes clear of his nearest challenger, Sinn Féin MLA Fra McCann (Sinn Féin was running five candidates).[22] This victory secured PBP with their first elected MLA. Eamonn McCann also took a seat in the Derry constituency of Foyle.[23] In 2017, Carroll retained his seat but with a much reduced vote (12.2%),[24] while McCann lost his.[25]

In the Northern Ireland Assembly, the party is designated as neither unionist nor Irish nationalist, but 'Other'.

2016 EU Membership referendum

People Before Profit supported and campaigned for a Leave vote in the 2016 EU referendum.[26]

Election results and governments

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland Assembly elections

Election Assembly First Preference Vote Vote % Seats Government
2007 3rd 774 0.1%
0 / 108
 DUP–Sinn Féin–SDLP–UUP–Alliance
2011 4th 5,438 0.8%
0 / 108
 DUP–Sinn Féin–UUP–SDLP–Alliance
2016 5th 13,761 2.0%
2 / 108
 DUP–Sinn Féin
2017 6th 14,100 1.8%
1 / 90
 TBD

Westminster elections

Election Parliament Votes Vote % Seats Government
2010 55th 2,936 0.0%
0 / 18
 Conservative Party–Liberal Democrats
2015 56th 7,854 0.0%
0 / 18
 Conservative Party
2017 57th 5,509 0.0%
0 / 18
 Conservative Party-Democratic Unionist Party

Republic of Ireland

Dáil Éireann elections

Election Dáil First Preference Vote Vote % Seats Government
2007 30th 9,333 0.5%
0 / 166
 Fianna Fáil–Green Party-Progressive Democrats
2011 31st 21,551 1.0%
2 / 166
 Fine Gael–Labour Party
2016 32nd 21,551 1.0%
3 / 158
 Fine Gael–Independents

Local Government elections

Election Country First Preference Vote Vote % Seats
2009 Republic of Ireland 15,879 0.8%
5 / 883
2011 Northern Ireland 1,721 0.3%
0 / 583
2014 Northern Ireland 1,923 0.3%
1 / 462
2014 Republic of Ireland 29,051 1.7%
14 / 949

European elections

People Before Profit have only contested European Elections in the Republic of Ireland.

Election First Preference Vote Vote % Seats
2014 23,875 1.5%
0 / 11

References

  1. ↑ "An Coiste". Houses of the Oireachtas. 2016. Retrieved 16 April 2018.
  2. ↑ Eamonn McCann is listed as the party's leader for the purposes of registration to the UK Electoral Commission. Electoral Commission registration
  3. ↑ "IRELAND: Legislative elections: Dáil Éireann, 5-year term, proportional representation system (STV)". Parties and Elections in Europe.
  4. ↑ Nordsieck, Wolfram. "Parties and Elections in Europe – The database about parliamentary elections and political parties in Europe".
  5. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 21 May 2016. Retrieved 23 May 2016.
  6. ↑ People Before Profit pair 'of one political mind' says Eamonn McCann. The Irish News. Published 10 May 2016. Retrieved 17 January 2017.
  7. ↑ "Lost? – Europe Decides". Europedecides.eu. 20 June 2014. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
  8. 1 2 "About Socialist Workers' Network". Irish Left Archive. Retrieved 16 April 2018.
  9. ↑ "About the SWP". Socialist Worker online. Retrieved 16 April 2018.
  10. 1 2 Harry McGee (9 October 2015). "People Before Profit and the Anti Austerity Alliance - spot the difference". The Irish Times. Retrieved 16 April 2018. For anybody who has not been intimately involved with the Socialist Workers Party or the Socialist Party, you would need to have a PhD in semantics and rhetoric to winkle out the actual ideological difference between them. They are both Trotskyist and advocate permanent revolution and political agitation through working class mass action in capitalist societies such as Ireland.
  11. ↑ The Socialist Party, Joan Collins and the Bin Tax Battle An analysis by Dermot Connolly, ex Secretary of the Socialist Party
  12. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 18 August 2007. Retrieved 28 May 2007.
  13. ↑ "Ciaran Cuffe". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
  14. ↑ "Lisbon Treaty is unchanged and must be rejected | People Before Profit Alliance". Archive.peoplebeforeprofit.ie. Archived from the original on 4 June 2016. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
  15. ↑ "Pat Dunne". ElectionsIreland.org.
  16. ↑ Kelly, Olivia (7 May 2009). "Left alliance to run 13 candidates". The Irish Times. Retrieved 7 May 2009.
  17. ↑ "Could we be about to get another new political group?". TheJournal.ie. 8 August 2015.
  18. ↑ "Anti Austerity Alliance and People before Profit to launch new party". The Irish Times. 17 September 2015.
  19. ↑ "Dún Laoghaire – General Election: 26 February 2016". ElectionsIreland.org.
  20. ↑ "Dublin Mid West – General Election: 26 February 2016". ElectionsIreland.org.
  21. ↑ "Dublin South Central – General Election: 26 February 2016". ElectionsIreland.org.
  22. ↑ "Belfast West - Northern Ireland Assembly constituency - Election 2016". BBC News. 6 May 2016. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
  23. ↑ "Foyle - Northern Ireland Assembly constituency - Election 2016". BBC News. 7 May 2016. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
  24. ↑ "Belfast West - Northern Ireland Assembly constituency - Election 2017". BBC News. 3 March 2017. Retrieved 3 March 2017.
  25. ↑ "Foyle - Northern Ireland Assembly constituency - Election 2017". BBC News. 3 March 2017. Retrieved 3 March 2017.
  26. ↑ "Brexit fallout has undermined the principle of consent". Irish News. 4 July 2016.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.