The Democratic Network History

The Democratic Network was founded in January 2021 in order to support candidates standing in the local elections.  The first Network Survey was fielded shortly thereafter, asking people about their interest in local elections and other subjects.  Over 1,000 people took part in the survey, around a quarter expressing an interest in standing in local elections.

The Democratic Network was registered as a political party in March 2021; seven candidates* stood in the May 2021 local elections with a simple promise to “do the job of representing” local residents and businesses.  We made a small impact in a short period of time.

In 2022 we supported candidates, publishing a list of independent and local party candidates along with others standing for parties that opposed lockdown.

In September 2022 a decision was taken to focus purely on encouraging people to support candidates (of all political persuasions) and to help people get involved with local decision making.

The 2023 local elections were held on Thursday 4th May.  Elections were scheduled in 179 District Councils, 33 Metropolitan Councils and 46 Unitary Authorities.  We published a guide to the 2023 election allowing people to check whether there were elections in their area. This included a list of the Facebook pages of registered independent parties and other groups.  We also published a a list of Independent and local parties as of 3rd April 2023.

We produced and distributed a series of videos about Being An Independent Councillor with funding from the LGA Be A Councillor campaign.  An example of these can be seen here.

The Democratic Network is run by statistician and market researcher Nigel Jacklin.  The Network Survey is undertaken on behalf of The Democratic Network by Accord.me.UK, the market research company owned and run by Nigel. 

We would like to thank the 30 Honorary Members who helped with the conceptualisation of the party over the last two years including:

Andy, Barbara, Caroline, Cathy, Chris, Dene, Di, Duncan, Ellis, Helen, John, John, Katie, Keith, Leah, Lijeh, Linda, Linda, Liz, Martin, Matt, Nadya, Pauline, Rob, Sam, Sarah, Serena, Simon, Tim, Zack, and many more.

In 2021 our supporters come from a range of occupations including:

Academic, Administrator, Artist, Café Owner, Coach, Co-Op Founder, Designer, ex-Police Officer, ex-GP, Hospital Systems Architect, Jewellery Shop Owner, Law Student, Legal Executive, Marketing specialist, Mother, Musician, NHS Administrator, NHS Porter, Occupational Therapist, Paralegal, Promoter, Retired, Supermarket Worker, Systems Analyst, Teacher, Technology Consultant, Therapist, Therapist & Coach, Unemployed, Venue Owner.

*Our May 2021 Local Election Candidates