.jpg)
A local party for the national stage. Who are the Southend Confelicity Party?
Updated: Jun 11
We are a Southend residents party.
We are looking for more power and money at the local level to get our grass cut, bins emptied and potholes fixed. National and international issues will be fundamental to the job in Westminster, but our stance on any particular subject will be through Southend eyes. How does immigration affect Southend? How do wars across the world affect the safety of residents here? How do national budgets affect Southend Hospital? How does the law affect Southend’s sea?
We believe this concept will work well, but as a fairly new party, we start from a long way behind the hundreds of years of history between the ancient parties.
The Echo ran a quick poll asking who people would vote for in the General Election.
Confelicity were nowhere.
Founding a party to play against the major players is like tasking a new football team to take on Manchester City.
We do not have the resources, the goodwill, or exposure, and right now we could see a similar result to local elections picking up around 3 or 4% of the vote - if not worse.
And yet, despite what we think is the right idea - a Southend residents party truly representing local people on the national stage - at this point in time, we are just excited about being on the ballot.
It will lend us exposure we could never have dreamed about and there should be no excuses in the local elections in ‘26’ to have grown faith in our party.
Not to say we aren’t in it to win it, but an element of success for us is being given the opportunity to tell our story and so here it is.
Soul of the party
Our party is founded on a vision driven by the principles of idealism, pragmatism, localism, undivided democracy, and a leadership and culture that seeks to set the example. It is from this that our manifesto is born. (Honestly, it is all a bit highfalutin, but that doesn’t stop me believing in it!)
Vision
The aspiration of Confelicity is to create an environment where all of us can be happy in our lives, where we feel a deep sense of meaning and purpose for the future, on the path to fulfilling our potential for the betterment of ourselves and society.
Idealism
For too long there has been confusion about the true aspirations of all the parties where we really ought to know exactly where we are going long-term. For this reason, we believe in the principle of Idealism, which is visualising the most ambitious future in all areas of the political arena and working backwards from there.
The harder part is the how?
Pragmatism
Whilst espousing wild dreams of how we want our city and country to be, we fully acknowledge saying great things doesn’t really mean anything. For this reason we believe in the rather boring and pretentious term Pragmatism, which is an appreciation and acceptance of the practicalities and realities of life. So many different agendas are at play such as financial, moral, religious and philosophical differences, as well party dogmas and bureaucracies and personal ambitions. Yet, whatever barriers come our way, the point is that we will work around it to achieve the ideal.
Localism
We believe those that walk the pavements should have the power to fix them! We believe in Localism, which means transferring more power and resources to Southend. Over the course of history, power has become centralised in London within a small group of powerful people. The question is why would any of them care about Southend?
We care because we live here. If Southend Hospital is overwhelmed it is us who suffer - not them.
For far too long our politicians can only pay lip service to our issues and apologise.
Do you really believe any of the parliamentary candidates from the national parties are able to change much for Southend? They, themselves, had zero say in their manifestos and are fed lines from Party HQ. All the candidates will no doubt have the same good intentions for their constituents, but they have little power. In reality, they are but a number to vote in favour of any bill each party attempts to pass.
It is time for Southend people to be represented by those who themselves are affected by the decisions that they take. By people that live in the area and take pride in its future, and whose only priority is Southend.
Undivided Democracy
We believe in Undivided Democracy where democracy recognises differences, but does not divide. This means if only one member does not vote on a policy, the Party are instructed to deconstruct the individual’s reasoning to a point where agreement can be found. If agreement cannot be found the policy will never pass under Confelicity.
Too many times division is caused by polarised arguments that democracy itself contributes to, causing alienation, isolation and indignation for those individuals that are on the wrong of the vote.
Only by working together in partnership can the crux of the difference be found as opposed to the sharp edge of the democratic vote.
We therefore believe in freedom of speech, debate and discussion in order to reach a conclusion that has been made in partnership and a spirit of unity.
We believe a collaborative approach where conflicting parties can either find common ground together, or in cases where this has not been achieved, the subject is put to one side whilst further research can be carried out.
This collaborative approach relies on each subject matter being explored, interrogated, and scrutinised with rigour and a level of critique that should include information on funding, agendas and affiliations.
When agreement cannot be found, members are free to voice their opinions as they wish.
Leadership and culture
We believe in a leadership philosophy that acts as a partner, facilitator and collaborator.
We believe that any rule or law that is agreed by Confelicity must be followed by the Leader and all Party members.
We intend to set the leadership standard as high as possible and reject hypocrisy and cronyism.
We find any kind of government corruption abhorrent and will enact a zero tolerance on any behaviours that do not coincide with these standards in or outside the party.
We believe that power needs a system of checking, challenging, scrutiny, rigour and total transparency and should be diluted as much as possible to fend against those that do misuse their power. Hence the voting structure of our Party empowers all members with the power of veto.
Our Culture
When people come off a conversation with us we hope they will be able to feel our sense of empathy, kindness and humility. That they enjoy an atmosphere of respectful free speech without judgment, as we show patience, tolerance and forgiveness where necessary. For too long, those who might consider themselves good people, have felt compelled to admonish others as the self-proclaimed arbiters of moral judgment!
This same culture applies within the party where we all feel comfortable voicing opposing opinions - when they happen - and are quite content to agree to disagree.
Our manifesto
All of this forms the foundations of our manifesto for Southend residents. Every single point has been voted unanimously by every member who attended the meetings.
We have had many debates where agreement could not be found. I would like to re-introduce the road in Southend High Street to bring more trade and make it safer; increase the amount of Southend children able to attend our grammar schools; prevent ULEZ and congestion charges from ever being introduced in Southend: and prevent the local election cycle from moving to all-up every 4 years (anyone in Leigh will know the problems with that!) Yet, it’s ok. I go back to find more evidence to support my argument and re-debate it in the future.
It took 2 years to build our manifesto and we look forward to continuing its progress as time goes on. And you will be more than welcome in that journey.
Our manifesto:
Some standouts:
1. Make govt finances transparent
2. Stop over-development and encroachment on our green spaces, and prioritise affordable housing
3. Boost local entrepreneurship and jobs
4. Stop service cuts at Southend hospital and GP surgeries
5. Stop sewage discharge into Southend's water
6. Save Southend United
Our parliamentary candidates are myself and Lee Clark:
Comments