Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

General Election 2015: Meet the political party who completely understand if you're not going to vote today

Russell Brand might have done a U-turn on exercising your democratic right, but the Above and Beyond party are still on side

Helen Nianias
Thursday 07 May 2015 06:55 EDT
Comments
Tammy Rendle is standing for the Above and Beyond party in Ealing Central and Acton in the 2015 election
Tammy Rendle is standing for the Above and Beyond party in Ealing Central and Acton in the 2015 election

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

When you consider the fact that 22 million people didn't vote in the last election - twice as many that voted Tory - it makes sense that there's a party to represent the politically apathetic.

Established in 2015, the Above and Beyond party's flagship policy is to implement a "none of the above" option on the ballot paper and make people feel like they have a genuine choice in the polling booth.

The party, which has five candidates standing in today's election, is founded on the belief that people are turned off politics because they're forced to pick between parties they don't like.

Above and Beyond candidate for Ealing Central and Acton, Tammy Rendle, spoke on Daily Sunday Politics, arguing that: "It's a fundamental right if you're asked a question it needs to be fair, so we need to have the right to say yes and no. So essentially none of the above gives people the option to say no."

"Spoiling your ballot paper gets counted as a non-vote, and none of the above would allow us to quantify what a protest or opposition vote would be," Rendle argued.

"It is about having the right to use your vote rather than have to spoil your ballot paper.


Are you undecided about who to vote for? Are you confused about what the parties stand for? Take this interactive quiz to help you decide who to vote for...


When asked whether it would be "too easy" for people to just choose "none of the above", Rendle countered that it was just as easy to put a cross next to the name for a candidate you didn't like.

Rendle, who described herself as "an ordinary person", argued that it would "inspire young people to start moving in to Parliament" and that it was "the next step forward".

Maybe they'll get Russell Brand's vote in 2020.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in