Arise (political party)
Arise | |
|---|---|
_logo.jpg){kind=logo} | |
| Leader | Pamela Fitzpatrick |
| Founded | 13 June 2025 |
| Headquarters | 85 Salisbury Road, London, HA1 1NX[1] |
| Ideology | |
| Colors | Pink |
| Slogan | We deserve better[2] |
| Harrow Council[3] | 1 / 55
|
| Website | |
| ariseparty | |
Arise is a local political party in the London Borough of Harrow, England. It was founded in 2025 by Pamela Fitzpatrick, who is the party's sole councillor on Harrow London Borough Council.
History
[edit]Arise was registered to the Electoral Commission on 13 June 2025.[1] The party is named after a line from the Percy Bysshe Shelley poem The Masque of Anarchy.[4] The party was launched at meeting on 27 August led by Pamela Fitzpatrick, a former Labour Harrow councillor and the director of the Peace & Justice Project.[4] The launch was attended by Jeremy Corbyn MP, the former Leader of the Labour Party and founder of Your Party, who endorsed the party.[2][5] Fitzpatrick described Arise as a local "grassroots" initiative that would coordinate with Your Party on a national level.[2]
In the 2026 Harrow London Borough Council election, Arise stood 11 candidates in 5 wards.[6] The party received 3% of the vote and elected its first councillor, Pamela Fitzpatrick, in Marlborough ward,[7] who became the first non-Labour or Tory councillor elected in Harrow since 2014.[8]
Arise has been endorsed by Your Party, as one of multiple local independent groups it supports in local elections.[8][9]
Ideology and policy
[edit]Pamela Fitzpatrick described Arise as an "openly socialist party" in an interview with The Canary.[10][better source needed]
Arise lists the issues of housing, education and SEN provision, poverty, community spaces, disability rights, social care, and having an ethical council as its priorities.[11]
In the 2026 local elections, Arise pledged to: stop the conversion of family homes into overcrowded HMOs, strengthen enforcement against rogue landlords, provide affordable homes by building council housing, investigate the high rate of school exclusions, ensure every child has a suitable school place, bring care homes under council control, introduce free adult social care at home with meals on wheels, create a not-for-profit community supermarket, divest the council from companies involved in human rights violations, such as in Palestine, Congo, and South Sudan, and repurpose empty buildings into community spaces.[12]
All 11 Arise candidates in the 2026 local elections signed the Palestine Solidarity Campaign's 'Candidate Pledge for Palestine', pledging to "uphold the rights of the Palestinian people, stand up to Israel for its crimes of genocide and apartheid, and ensure their councils are not complicit, including through divestment of pension funds from complicit companies".[13][14]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b "View registration - The Electoral Commission". search.electoralcommission.org.uk. Retrieved 12 May 2026.
- ^ a b c Akhtar, Husain (28 August 2025). "New Political Party 'Arise' Launched in Harrow". Harrow Monitoring Group. Retrieved 13 May 2026.
- ^ "Open Council Data UK: Arise". opencouncildata.co.uk.
- ^ a b Reporter, Grant Williams | Local Democracy (4 September 2025). "Jeremy Corbyn attends launch of Harrow's new political party - Asian Standard Newspaper". Retrieved 13 May 2026.
- ^ "New political party backed by Corbyn launches campaign in Harrow". Harrow Times. 10 December 2025. Retrieved 13 May 2026.
- ^ WhoCanIVoteFor; Candidates; Data (29 April 2026). "2026 local election data summary". democracyclub.org.uk. Retrieved 12 May 2026.
- ^ Sarwar, Masooma. "2026 Local election results". London Borough of Harrow. Retrieved 13 May 2026.
- ^ a b Williams, Grant (20 May 2026). "The grassroots Harrow party that broke borough's Tory-Labour duopoly". My London. Retrieved 26 June 2026.
- ^ "Local Groups Supported by Your Party". Your Party. Retrieved 6 May 2026.
- ^ Sykes, Ed (30 April 2026). "Proven campaigners promise a fighting voice on Harrow Council if elected". Canary. Retrieved 6 May 2026.
- ^ "Arise Party | New Harrow-Based Political Party". Arise Party. Archived from the original on 6 May 2026. Retrieved 6 May 2026.
- ^ Grant Williams (Local Democracy Reporter) (20 April 2026). "Harrow election 2026: what each party is promising – and who's tipped to win - Harrow Online". Harrow Online. Retrieved 6 May 2026.
- ^ Magee, Caolán. "More than 1,000 UK councillors sign Palestine pledge as local polls loom". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 6 May 2026.
- ^ "Candidate Pledge for Palestine". Palestine Solidarity Campaign. Retrieved 6 May 2026.