Faye
I'm sorry to disillusion you, but political parties for specific groups within society do not work in the sense of gaining power and influence. Yes, there is publicity to be gained for the cause by fielding candidates at an election, but once the election has gone, and you have gained a few hundred votes (or thousands if you are very lucky), all will be forgotten and you will be no nearer achieving your aims.
To be practical, you really have two choices in an attempt to gain influence for pensioners:
The first is to establish a pressure group, rather than a political party. By going down this route, you are not competing with any other allegiances -people can support your cause whatever their general political leanings. The other advantage of being a pressure group rather than a political party is that press and media often seek 'balance' between obtaining the views of political parties, and once they have got the views of the major parties they are unlikely to seek minor party views as well. As an example, think about environmental issues - The Green Party majors in on environmental issues, but how often do you hear them quoted when an environmental issue comes up? Almost never - it is the environmental pressure groups - WWF and Greenpeace who always get asked for their views.
The other option is to establish or join a party which supports your causes but has a wider frame of reference. And here I might be able to help you! Like you, I am currently endeavouring to establish a new political party. The aim of this party, called the Social Equity Party, is to offer a real alternative for the tens of millions of voters who have effectively been disenfranchised by the three main political parties fighting over the centre-right political ground. My vision is for a centre left, moderate, yet radical party whose vision would be a fairer society, demonstrated by a narrowing of the gap of wealth and income between rich and poor; also reducing the excess influence of corporations over the process of Government with an end to PFI.
I am more than happy to discuss with you how we could incorporate pensioner issues into the overall framework of party policy. Have a look at our naissant website at
www.socialequityparty.org.uk which will give you a broader idea of our vision. Please let me know if you think we might be able to work together to bring about the changes we both want.
Finally, bear in mind that your two options which I have set out are not mutually exclusive. There is no reason why you should not establish a pressure group at the same time as helping to establish a political party.
Graham
