The Pirate Party UK are hosting a ‘free to all’ public conference in Salford in a bid to change the dynamic of Britain’s ‘closed shop’ politics.
They will hold their party Un-Conference between February 21 and 22 at Salford’s Islington Mill, kick-starting their political campaign for this year’s general election.
Pirate captain Loz Kaye said the open meeting aims to buck the trend of the country’s political parties shutting people out, and instead invite them in.
He said: “We are hacking the idea what a political conference is, we are also saying it should be free to be public.
“It is completely different to when the Labour Party or the Conservative party come to Manchester. They all have walls around them, it’s kind of a closed shop – we want to invite people in.
“The Pirate Party is an international movement bringing a new aspect to politics. So far politics has been something that has been done to people and not with people, and we are aiming to change this.
“We want to bring solutions that are led by the community.”
The 44-year-old party leader also had some views on the potential outcome of the May election, saying the likelihood of another hung parliament should act as a ‘call up moment’ for young voters.
“At the moment we are looking at another hung parliament. And neither David Cameron nor Ed Miliband excites me,” he said.
“We are more concerned about the ideas that the old parties have, rather than their leader’s personalities.
“It’s a call up moment, particularly with all the things that are happening in Scotland and the Scottish National Party.
“The Scottish referendum showed that 16-17 year olds should vote and it is actually great for democracy.
“We have been supporters of younger peoples voting rights for some time now. It is very often that younger people are left out from political debates.”
But Mr Kaye said that it is not just on the country’s young people to make changes, but the main political parties too.
He added: “Old political parties have to come up with new and valid ideas. People are very put off by the old-fashioned politics and the way they talk about it so we are bringing in a new bunch of people into politics, just trying to open that up.
“We are kind of a different bunch. We are pretty much born out the 21st century. We know the benefits the internet can bring, for example, and not just for politics.
“Restoring our broken democracy and mass surveillance – we have the knowledge and the background to be able to deal with those sorts of issues.”
Mr Kaye and the Pirate Party want to see Manchester transform and completely rewrite how their economy works by moving away from big corporates to smaller businesses.
He also encouraged politicians and the public to embrace new and developing technology rather than being scared of it.
To get your hands on tickets to the Pirate party Un-Conference click here.
Image courtesy of ajehals, with thanks
