One Love Party

History

The One Love Party was founded in Hackney, London by Ankit Love and his friend from Cambridge University, Finn Grant, a former Google employee. It was registered with the Electoral Commission on 12 October 2015. In 2016, Pax Brown, a television news presenter for The Chrissy B Show on My Channel, became the party's general-secretary.

During the Mayoral race in April 2016, Ankit Love claimed to be the Emperor of Jammu and Kashmir. Love then called on British military personnel to "oust the failed regime and replace the Prime Minister with him as the senior Minister of the Crown, so he can dictate the needed legislation" in regards to the issue of air pollution in the United Kingdom.

In October 2016, the party had proposed building a monument in London dedicated to the victims of air pollution.

Policies

The One Love Party's priority issue is air pollution that it describes as a pandemic situation, quoting figures that 50,000 people die from it annually in the UK. It campaigns for immediate emergency action to bring fossil fuel emissions to zero by the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 and Royal Prerogative to force all power production, shipping, aviation and automobile companies to convert to only clean energy sources.

The party subscribes to techno-progressive principles and advocates a world union underpinned by the unification of all international armed forces. It believes in an accelerated program of space exploration, including the colonization of Mars and Venus and the mining of asteroids to mitigate economic scarcity. It wishes to abolish personal income taxes while introducing a universal national wage for all citizens. The party aims to do so by applying robotic and AI technologies and further leveraging indirect means of taxation. It proposes legalizing, licensing and taxing drugs such as cannabis in the hope to end the war on drugs and reduce violent crime.

Elections

The party started standing in elections in 2016. They have no elected officials, having received vote shares varying from 0.1%-1.5%.

London Mayoral Election 2016

Party leader, Ankit Love, stood in the London Mayoral election on 5 May 2016 and was the youngest candidate to do so. He came last with 4,941 first preference votes (0.2%) and 28,920 second preference votes (1.3%).

To reduce mortality from air pollution, the party had called for a ban on all fossil fuel emissions vehicles from the capital and wanted to introduce driverless electric cars for public transport. In reaction to the housing crisis, they had pledged to build one million social homes in four years applying recent advances in high rise modular construction by Broad Group. They had plans to introduce Li-Fi networks in London. The party had also pledged to legalize cannabis in the capital through municipality owned licensed dispensaries with aim to reduce violent crime. The party wanted the use of maintenance drones to conduct street and building repairs. They had planned to build six new bridges in east London designed by architect Terry Farrell, and revive the declining eel population of the River Thames. They would convert all water vessels from bunker fuel to hydrogen fuel, solar or SkySails. They had wished to establish a London municipal space program by sponsoring the B612 Foundation's IR Sentinel Space Telescope, to detect unknown asteroids on a collision course with Earth.

Tooting MP By-Election 2016

After being elected the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan resigned from his parliamentary seat. Love stood as a candidate to replace him in the Tooting by-election on 16 June. A video he made during the election campaign depicting the map of Jammu and Kashmir as an independent country could land Love in jail in India, under the 2016 Geospatial Information Regulation Bill. He received 32 votes (0.1%).

Hackney Mayor By-Election 2016

French artist Dawa Ma, along with One Love Party's other policies, said she wants to introduce “fashion gowns” – funky alternatives to the blue clothing in-patients are normally given – for children in NHS hospitals and wants Jean Paul Gaultier to design school uniforms and proposes holding a second EU referendum in Hackney in which 16 and 17 year olds can vote.

Ma claims that EU citizens rights were discriminated against by them being illegally barred from voting in the referendum, a violation of Article 2, 3 and 9 of the Lisbon Treaty as well as Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights. She also proposed building the tallest skyscraper in the world in Hackney – eclipsing the 828 m Burj Khalifa – for social rent. It was claimed the building, based on the modular construction concept of Sky City, could be built in ninety days.

She stood for the One Love Party in the 2016 Hackney Mayor by-election on 15 September. She came last with 494 first preference votes (1.5%).

Batley and Spen MP By-Election 2016

Love stood in the Batley and Spen by-election in Yorkshire on 20 October. He claimed to have contested in memory of MP Jo Cox, who was assassinated on 16 June during a divisive EU referendum campaign. Love wanted to unite Britain on the air pollution issue, claiming that it would kill 200,000 people in the UK over the next five years. He came last with 34 votes (0.2%).

Witney By-Election 2016

Emilia Rose Arnò raised in Luxembourg and moved to the UK six years prior to the election to pursue an academic career in arts and education, stood for the One Love Party in Witney, Oxfordshire on 20 October. She came second to last with 44 votes (0.1%).

Arnò was candidate to replace PM David Cameron, who resigned in the aftermath of the EU referendum. She stood calling for emergency action on the air pollution issue, and better youth enfranchisement. In a BBC One interview, Arnò claimed there was a "failure by British politicians to engage young people in the contemporary political climate," and that only a third of under 25-year-olds voted in the EU referendum, while 16 and 17-year-olds were completely disenfranchised.

Richmond Park By-Election 2016

Ankit Love stood in the Richmond Park by-election on 1 December, using the title of Maharaja Jammu and Kashmir, with plans to reunite India and Pakistan, and end the potential for a nuclear war between the two countries, embroiled in 69 years of armed conflict in Kashmir. He came second to last with 67 votes (0.2%).