By Declan Carey
A NEW party campaigning for Britain to rejoin the European Union (EU) is welcoming remain voters across the country who felt betrayed over Brexit.
Volt UK was registered with the electoral commission on 6 January and plans to win a future referendum on EU membership by challenging populism and rebuilding trust in politics.
The group is part of a pan-European movement (Volt Europa) with operations in 29 countries around the continent and claims 40,000 supporters.
Volt UK co-president Alex Haida told Redaction Politics: “People were offered change, they were given a stone to throw but they didn’t know they were throwing it at their own house.
“We will see the impact of Brexit, we just need to give it some time. We have ex-Lib Dem people, ex-Conservatives and ex-Labour, all of them coming to us because they lost their political home.
[READ MORE: Any struggle to rejoin the EU is futile – Britain must seek a socialist path outside of the neoliberal bloc]
“People just lost trust in politics and we see that especially here with Brexit, that’s why all these campaigns repeatedly blamed someone except themselves.
“The Labour Party has the chance to come up with real changes but they don’t, they are too afraid to lose power. They don’t even have it, it’s just frustrating. That’s why I totally understand people leaving the Labour Party right now and coming to us.
“[Keir] Starmer’s a smart guy, he knows what he is doing, but it’s not everything to be intellectual about something, you shouldn’t forget you still have people who want you to change the country.
“We must look at the European Union again as something worth joining to give people more opportunities in terms of cultural exchange, opening up our own society, educational benefits and trade.”
[READ MORE: With Joe Biden moving Boston and Berlin closer on Brexit, Johnson is going to feel the squeeze]
Bell Ribeiro-Addy was the only Labour MP to vote against Boris Johnson’s Brexit trade deal in December.
The Scottish National Party and the Liberal Democrats opposed the deal which passed with 521 votes to 73, ending hope of an extension to the transition period.
Europeans living in Britain have faced hostility from the Conservative government since the EU referendum in 2016 according to co-founder of the3million group Maike Bohn.
[READ MORE: Labour didn’t lose to Boris Johnson because of anti-imperialism]
She told Redaction Politics: “The feeling of all of a sudden having to prove that we belong here has been quite hurtful for many of us.
“Of course we know that Brexit means changes and Brexit means the UK has to take stock of who is in the country from the EU.
“But what has accompanied all this is a very hostile rhetoric right from the top
“From Theresa May’s citizens of nowhere to Amber Rudd saying our companies need to have lists of foreigners to Boris Johnson saying last Christmas that EU citizens have made themselves far too comfortable in the UK for far too long.
“Those are the things that really hit home and hurt people.”
However, Kevin Foster, Minister for Future Borders and Immigration, defended the government’s record.
He said: “These are baseless claims and risk deterring people who still need to apply for their status. There is still time to apply and a wide range of support is available and we are funding 72 organisations across the UK to help the more vulnerable in society.”
The Labour Party was also contacted for comment.
This article was updated on January 8, 2021 to include Kevin Foster’s statement.
Featured Image: ChiralJon @Flickr
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Redaction Report 
This is what thousands of people want to rejoin our European friends . I have not joined any party , Labour would be the one , Keir Starmer but Keir not abstaining on that deal was not good , and his thoughts on brexit not good . You sound more positive in rejoining Europe .
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I wish to join this new party
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What dose this new party stand for only joining the EU because i will be happy to join you if i know what you stand for with rejoining the EU.
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Have a look at http://www.voltuk.eu
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Yes this what I would like know and how we join?
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This country needs a new party that will be for the people not the rich billionaires who run this country it’s time we had a Party of the people for the people
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I will join.
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Brilliant, how do I join the party?
I sent an email to Lord Heslington, Lord Adonis, Tony Blair and John Major about a new party. To date, only Lord Heseltine replied, very brief, simply stating ‘we need to persuade the Conservative party to rethink’ that’s it, from a so called high profile remainer .
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This appeal needs careful consideration, not least on the fate of every new party or offshoot in the last 75 years.
The Labour Party is by far the most entrenched and powerful party of the left in the country…and even it doesn’t stand a cat in hells chance of winning the next election without an alliance with other main parties in all four countries of the Union. Volt may well be a valuable Movement to join in order to put pressure on the big boys. As a competitive party, it will struggle to pierce the tribalism of the left. I feel there are more productive ways of assuring change, and forcing Labour to ally with others from this time on, would be my number one objective.
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How do I email the above lord heseltine etc please.I wish to join this party
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If Tony Bliar comes anywhere near this new party I won’t
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He’s the best peacetime pm this country ever had
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If he can help our cause, I don’t like him at all ,but we need all we can get.you may disagree.
Sent from Sky Yahoo Mail for iPad
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Like I said. He’s not for me. I never found Bliars Tory brand of socialism or his lust for war/wealth attractive? Starmer likes him I believe?
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I would have no hesitation in joining this party, please tell me who to contact regarding this.
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Contact alex.haida@volteuropa.org
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Hey =)
I am from Volt Deutschland, so I don’t actually know who your contact would be. but if you look at http://www.volteuropa.org or look Volt up on social, you will find us. and your way to join the change 😉
I hope that helps!
I will also contact them and tell them they should take care of the comments here =)
We are happy for every decent person in our political movement!
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Better that stopping Brexit.
The foibles are becoming known themselves… Time to maximise this awareness.
Re-Boot Britain also strong.
We must, unfortunately, acknowledge Brexit now but, in doing so, leverage closer relations with the EU through political pressure.
This will meet huge resistance but, like climate change, won’t go away.
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First. Past. The. Post. You cannot do this successfully in Britain – we sadly DO NOT have a proportional voting system. All this does is split the opposition further and further, making it easier and easier for the Conservatives to win again.
The SDP tried it, and eventually merged (into the Lib Dems). The Independent Group for Change tried it and it failed with MPs leaving (to join the Lib Dems).
Our stupid voting system doesn’t allow the emergence of new parties. Nigel Farrage managed to con half the country to vote leave and got 12% at the 2015 election, and they still never won a seat in Parliament!
Far better to support the Liberal Democrats, who always push for Proportional Representation in any hung parliament – only after that can you have new parties emerge.
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With the greatest of respect, the Lib Dems are a spent force. As one of two Remain Party’s at the last general election ( the other being the Greens), they got severely burned. In so far as they couldn’t even capture a fraction of the Remain vote, I sincerely believe that we need to renew and start afresh. As a party however, Volt UK must be more than a one horse act. Besides the primary goal of rejoining the EU, there needs to be a lot of policy development so that people know where the party stands with respect to the economy, climate and ecology, defense, foreign relations, energy, food / farming standards, human rights, workers rights, education etc.
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Wouldn’t those things go back to the way they were when we were in the EU?
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I’m so happy to see a new party is happening ,happy to be a part of it indeed.
We need to get back into EU befor to late especially for all remain and those that regret and definitely expats.
But more advertising to get more members to this new party and of its existence is needed .
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You can see what they stand for at http://www.voltuk.eu
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It is high time someone established a remain party. What we need is prominent remain supporters joining this party and campaigning. The people need educating about the EU and what it does. We must stop the stupid lies about “being shackled to Europe” and “unelected bureaucrats” forcing rules and regulations upon us. We must explain and stress the freedom and peace the EU has given us for nearly 50 years.
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This is awesome how do I join?
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We really do need a party that represents us Rejoiners and will do exactly what UKIP did.
Need to have the party that is focused on that one issue only and will have people contesting every seat in every local/national/mayoral/council election across England & Wales.
We need to do this to force Labour & LibDems to take on these positions or lose votes.
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Targeting key marginal constituencies is the way to go, especially those that voted Remain in the referendum. The most efficient and cost effective way to use a limited budget and resources and only 2 or 3 percent in an election could make a lot of difference to the eventual result. After all UKIP were only small but swayed national politics in the direction of their manifesto.
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I will join.
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Happy to help in anyway lets do this!
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How do we join please
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Full details at http://www.voltuk.eu
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Brexit means backwards
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And expats will join
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We need to take action now as a collective force
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I voted remain,This is horrible deal all including expats have been totally betrayed bank accounts closed, you name this government has betrayed and lied to all remain voters,also those who voted leave a majority feel the same. Shame on this government.
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Merge this Merge that to form a party that will fail once again. Remainers always forget the majority vote and underestimate the power of the people, Brexit is here to stay time for you to move on
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