The first UK Simultaneous Policy general election begins

Voters frustrated by the failure of conventional politics to address global problems such as climate change, unfair trade and unsustainability have a new option in the UK general election. It is not a new political party, it is a new way of using the 'democratic' system to change the way global policies are set. The Simultaneous Policy (SP) campaign gives we, the people, the power to develop, approve and implement the global policies we want to see.

In the present democratic system no party can be elected unless it guarantees to put the economy first. To do so, it must compete with other countries for investment and jobs and so has no choice but to follow the agenda of transnationals and financial markets. The Simultaneous Policy changes the rules. It is a package of measures being developed by SP Adopters around the world and is to be implemented when all, or sufficient, governments have pledged to do so. Simultaneous implementation is to remove the fear governments have of becoming uncompetitive and losing investment and jobs if they take unilateral action.

It is free to become an Adopter at the site  http://www.simpol.org.uk/. Adopters undertake to vote at elections for any candidate, within reason, who has signed the pledge to implement SP alongside other governments, or to encourage their preferred party to support SP. A list of candidates who have signed the SP pledge can be found on the site. Candidates from Green, Labour, LibDem and Plaid Cymru parties have done so already.

Mike Brady, Local Group Network Coordinator for Simpol-UK, formed in March 2004, said:

“The Simultaneous Policy is limited to those issues where governments are hampered from taking unilateral action because of the real fear of becoming uncompetitive and losing investment and jobs. The bulk of domestic policy is outside this scope, which is why we haven’t formed a new political party, but are working for cross-party support for SP. It is not an alternative to other campaigns, but an innovative parallel strategy.”

The campaign arises from the 2001 book The Simultaneous Policy, by John Bunzl, founder and director of ISPO. Adopters are holding policy fora to discuss and develop possible policies for inclusion in SP. These have been on themes such as: “Making all trade Fair Trade”, “Achieving sustainable energy use”, “Holding corporations accountable” and “Monetary reform”.