A NEW national political party will hold its first party conference in Barnsley, its founder told the Chronicle this week.
Army veteran and ex-UKIP politician Gavin Felton is one of the founders of the Democrats and Veterans Party and is its national chairman.
National party leader is John Rees-Evans, also formerly of UKIP he contested UKIP’s leadership in 2016, coming third behind Paul Nuttall and Suzanne Evans.
The party was formed earlier this year and came second at the recent Old Town by-election, and second in both Monk Bretton and Darfield wards at the local elections in May, but its Barnsley branch has only just formed, with its first meeting being held at Highstone Club last Thursday.
“It’s a national party, but it’s all been set up in Barnsley,” said Gavin, 48, of Merchant Croft, Monk Bretton.
“We’ve already got about 45 branches all over the country, including Northern Ireland and Scotland.
“What we believe in is direct democracy, meaning that it’s the people who should always be listened to, and that politicians should always vote in line with the wishes of the people.
“That means we might have a scenario where we have a councillor in Old Town and a councillor in Darfield who vote differently in the chamber, and that’s how it should be. They vote based on what the residents of that ward want.”
He said the party is in the ‘centre ground’ with policies from both the left and the right, with the local branch featuring former members of six parties - UKIP, Liberal Democrats, Labour, Green, Yorkshire Party and Barnsley Independent Group.
Former Mayor of Barnsley Peter Doyle is the branch chairman.
The party’s first national conference will be held at Highstone Club on September 14 and 15, where the local branch will meet on the first Thursday of every month at 7pm.
