Renew Party

Renew was founded by Sandra Khadhouri, a former UN worker;[13][14] Chris Coghlan, a former Foreign and Commonwealth Office anti-terror officer;[15] James Clarke, a tech business development consultant;[16] and James Torrance,[17] an accountant and former Conservative.[18] Coghlan, Clarke and Torrance ran as independents in Battersea, Bermondsey and Southwark and Kensington respectively in the 2017 general election.

Renew was registered with the Electoral Commission in autumn 2017, after which the party received over 200 applications for potential candidates. The party was officially launched on 19 February 2018 at a press conference in London.[19] Following its launch, the party embarked on a "Listen to Britain" tour of the UK, visiting 22 towns and cities and liaising with locals and supporters, addressing schools, holding campaign events and conducting over 5,000 surveys.[20][19]

On 2 March 2018, James Cousins, a former Conservative and latterly independent councillor of Wandsworth London Borough Council joined Renew, giving the party its first seat in local government.[13] He subsequently lost his seat in the May 2018 local election. John Ferrett, a former Labour councillor in Portsmouth, joined Renew in 2018,[21] but in 2019 was listed as a non-aligned independent.[22]

In September 2018, Renew formed an electoral alliance with Advance Together, with Advance Together's Annabel Mullin joining the leadership team.[23] Shortly afterward, Advance merged into the Renew Party.[24]

On 15 April 2019, the party announced that it was preparing to wind up its 2019 European election campaign in order to support Change UK.[25]

On 31 October 2019, Renew announced 51 candidates in England, Scotland and Wales in advance of the general election scheduled for 12 December 2019.[26] On 13 November, it said that only four of these would stand, in Bromley and Chislehurst, Edinburgh North and Leith, Hackney North and Stoke Newington and Sefton Central, in order to improve the chances of remain supporting candidates in the other 47 seats.[27]

According to party accounts filed with the Electoral Commission, Renew had an income of £29,480 in 2017, all donations having come from Richard Breen.[28] In the first four months of 2018, Breen donated another £118,916. A further £23,000 was donated by Roderick Thackray.[29] Thackray has been a partner in Breen's business, Sutney LLP,[30] since 2014.[31]

Since February 2018, Renew has received over a thousand small donations from supporters. In March, the party crowdfunded £17,170 for its "Listen to Britain" tour[32] and in summer 2018 launched its party membership scheme[33] and has been raising funds through this channel.

Torrance says that Renew is a moderate, centrist party[34] which Clarke identifies as "centre-right on the economy and centre-left socially".[35]

According to the party's website, its core aim is to renew UK politics, address inequality and division in the country and stop Brexit. It advocates extensive local devolution and the introduction of proportional representation. The party also aims to tackle homelessness via a crown corporation tasked with developing and delivering affordable housing[36] and pledges to expand the national healthcare budget while improving efficiency and accountability in the NHS.[37] The party's economic policy focuses on fostering innovation and investment-driven growth within a regulated free-market system.[38] The party also promotes environmental sustainability via the widespread use of renewables and developing investment in green technology.[39]

The party has been compared to Emmanuel Macron's En Marche! party in France[40] and has been supported by the French MP Amélie de Montchalin, who is also the whip of the majority in the French National Assembly. The party has campaigned throughout the UK since its launch[8][41] and attended the People's Vote marches of October 2018 and March 2019, alongside other pro-European individuals and groups.[42]

In the 2018 local elections, the party stood 16 candidates in London and the North East. It won no seats, with James Cousins losing his seat in Wandsworth.[43]

June Davies was the Renew candidate in the 2019 Newport West by-election, finishing in seventh place with 879 votes (3.7%).[44]

The party's then leader, Annabel Mullin, stood as a candidate for London in the 2019 European election[45] as part of a temporary electoral alliance with Change UK. Five other Renew candidates were selected to stand in Scotland, Wales, Yorkshire & Humber and London.[46] The total number of national votes cast for the combined slate was 571,846.

On 2 May, the party returned John Bates as a local councillor for Morecambe, Torrisholme Ward.[47] Eric Cooper also stood as a local councillor for the Renew party in the Clapham ward of Bedford Borough Council, finishing third out of four candidates.[48]

For the 2019 Peterborough by-election, Renew worked with Liberal Democrats, The Green Party and Change UK to support a "unity remain candidate", but the plan broke down at the last minute.[49] In the event, Renew's candidate, Peter Ward, finished 13th out of 15 candidates.[50] The party chose not to stand a candidate for the 2019 Brecon and Radnorshire by-election "to give a Remain candidate the best chance of winning".[51]

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