National sections of Volt Europa. The borders of the European Union are shown in red.
Volt United Kingdom,[5] commonly known as Volt UK, is a pro-European[11]political party in the United Kingdom. It is the British branch of Volt Europa, a political movement that operates on a European level.
History
Volt UK was founded in London on 6 January 2020, with Philipp Gnatzy as its first leader.[5]
2021
In the 2021 local elections, the party stood one candidate for election to a local authority, Luís Perdigão in Cubbington & Leek Wootton Ward in Warwickshire; he lost, with about 2% of the vote.[12] He campaigned in particular for improvements in the transport sector and public transport, in addition to avoiding damage from Brexit.
In London, Volt backed Richard Hewison, Rejoin EU's candidate in the London mayoral election, and the two parties stood a joint list for the London-wide assembly election.[13] Hewison received 1.1% of the mayoral vote,[14] while the two parties received 49,389 votes (1.91%) for the Assembly, not winning a seat.[15]
Three Volt UK candidates: Charlotte Blake, Alessandro Gallo, and Marianne Mandujano, were included on the Rejoin EU candidate list for the 2024 London Assembly election on 2 May 2024.[23] Rejoin EU received 2.52% of the vote (62,528 votes), finishing in sixth place and retaining their deposit.[24]
The party states that it supports 5+1 fundamental challenges (1. Smart state, 2. Economic renaissance, 3. Social equality, 4. Global balance, 5. Citizen empowerment, +1 European reform) defined by Volt Europa.[27] In addition to the pan-European policies of Volt, the British branch has some additional policies including electoral reform, rejoining the EU, action to address climate change, and reform of political campaigns.[28]
The party fielded 2 candidates at the 2024 United Kingdom general election on 4 July 2024, one in Newton Abbot and one in Stroud.[39] The candidates accumulated a total of 267 votes and came last in both constitencies, meaning neither were elected.[40]
