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The Wiltshirian Socialist and People's Action Party, more commonly known as the Socialist Party or simply SP, is a major political party in Wiltshire currently as apart of the governing coalition. The Socialist Party is a left-wing political party that has governed Wiltshire on a number of occasions through history, most notably under Prime Minister Frank Eddington between 3016 and 3019. The party currently sits as the second largest in the Wiltshire National Assembly and as apart of Mark Edwin's coalition.
The party is currently led by Deputy Prime Minister Scott House, who has led the party since the resignation of Tony Beck following the general election.
History
Formation (3009 - 3010)
When Jaresh Inyo was swept into power leading his National Coalition following the first general election in September 3009, all 51 members of the National Assembly were of his coalition. Inyo governed as he pleased, which led him to re-assume his historic goal for a free market capitalist model for the country. In addition, Inyo pursued a policy of military expansionism and territorial growth towards the eastern sea. This caused anger with many in Inyo's cabinet, including with the Minister for Trade and Diplomacy, Thomas Shore. Shore, who was a major contributor to Inyo's election success, saw the policy change as a betrayal of those who got Inyo such a large majority to begin with. In October, Shore announced that he would be resigning from the cabinet and by November, he had withdrawn support for the government entirely. Within a week, 17 members of the government's backbenches had left the National Coalition. While the government still had a large majority, this breakaway faction formed the "National Party Shadow Government". The Shadow Government appointed Shadow Ministers, with Shore becoming the first Leader of the Opposition. Eventually, the Shadow Government turned into the Shadow Cabinet and the members formed the new "Socialist Party".
The newly formed party found great support from areas of the country, such as Walkerton, and created a platform of building the new country into one that works for workers, the poor and "the people". Going into the January election, the Socialist Party had been gaining popularity in the proceeding months which led to them surprisingly winning the election and forming a new government.
Shore Ministry and People's Action (3010)
Thomas Shore became Wiltshire's second Prime Minister and the first Socialist Prime Minister in January 3010. He was elected on a socialist platform of nationalization and the belief that the construction of the new country should be based on socialist principles. The manifesto was a widely left-wing one and when the first socialist government came to power, they started to begin work on implementing it. Their first major policy achievement was the minimum wage, which was introduced exactly one month following the Socialists taking power. However, the success of this government would only go down hill from there. In March, the "People's Action" faction of the party - a faction that was more centrist than the government itself - was becoming worried that the government would turn too close to countries such as the Almere Socialist Republic, instead of the growing democratic and capitalist nation of Bonitana. The People's Action faction held up much of the government's agenda, including Universal Healthcare and nationalization. Eventually, the government became unable to do nearly anything.
In June 3010, Thomas Shore announced that the People's Action faction would be invited to have constructive talks with the party. The "People's Action" name was added to the official party name and they put together a cooperative platform for government. However, by the time this agreement was reached, the next election had arrived the Jaresh Inyo's newly formed Conservative Party was to put up a tough fight. Despite winning the popular vote, the Socialist Party lost its majority and was kicked from office as the Conservatives formed a coalition with the newly formed Liberal Alliance.
Many historians look back on Shore's government as one with wasted potential due to political gridlock. However, future Socialists - such as Frank Eddington - would look at Shore's time in power as an example of why "far-left" policies don't work electorally and inspired a move towards the centre and the centre-left for future elections.
Socialists in opposition (3010 - 3013)
Jaresh Inyo's Conservatives were here to stay. They won the July 3010 election and proceeded to win every general election until January 3016. The Socialist's time in opposition is split into two sections by historians, the first being considered far less successful than the second. The first started with the election of Karl Krussinich as Socialist Leader. Krussinich was a Socialist in the vane of Shore, who had just stepped down from the leadership of the party, and so continued the push for a left-wing agenda. Krussinich is considered opposed to the People's Action faction of the party and the divisions Krussinich brought is considered a major faction in the Socialists maintaining their time in opposition under both Prime Ministers Jaresh Inyo and Edward Jellico.
Krussinich, after numerous election defeats, stood down as Leader in October 3011, being succeeded by Thomas Shore's son, Thomas Shore II. Shore II led the party to its best electoral result during its first spell in opposition in the January 3013 general election. After a long period of no election, the Socialist Party was vital in the pressuring of Edward Jellico to call the election, in which the government lost its majority. The Socialist Party capitalized on this. The party believed that it was close to holding power and was worried that Shore II wasn't able to do that. They very quickly replaced Shore II, despite bringing the party electoral success, with Renly Stork who announced that his Socialist Party would be a "government in waiting".
Come March of 3013, the government's agreement with the Liberal Alliance was falling apart. Stork capitalized on this by calling the 3013 vote of no confidence in the Jellico Ministry. The vote caused the end of Jellico's ministry and Renly Stork formed a coalition between the Socialists and the Liberal Alliance (read more here).
Spell in government (3013)
After bringing down the Jellico Ministry, Renly Stork was tasked on forming a government himself. His alliance with the Liberal Alliance would keep him in power, however, limited in his actions. Stork was, much like Shore before him, a left wing Prime Minister. However, without a majority and without the ability to pass legislation, he was severely limited in his ability to introduce a left-wing vision for the country.
Stork, while being quite a radical thinker, is considered a placeholder Prime Minister and served to break up the Socialists' two major periods in opposition. In an attempt to win a mandate to make changes, Stork called the May 3013 election. However, he was unsuccessful in winning his party more seats and enabled Martin Banks, the new Leader of the Conservatives, to form a government himself.
Much like Shore, Stork is considered a Prime Minister with potential, but due to political circumstances was unable to make the changes he desired. The next three years would see the Socialists remain in opposition.
Socialists in opposition (3013 - 3016)
Renly Stork continued to lead the Socialist opposition between May 3013 until October 3014. The party continued having little success, even seeing Martin Banks' Conservatives win a majority government. Little significant occurred for the party during this time. The most notable aspect of the period was the rise of the People's Action faction of the party.
The election of Keir Krussinich, the son of Karl Krussinich, would be a tipping point for the People's Action faction. At points they threatened to breakaway from the party, and demanded Krussinich's resignation on more than several occasions. Krussinich was able to maintain his position, barely, between 3014 and 3015. However, at the end of 3015, the People's Action faction finally succeeded in bringing down Krussinich in a motion of no confidence. He was quickly replaced by the defacto leader of the People's Action faction, Frank Eddington. Eddington began a swift and radical shift in the party's policies, bringing it far closer to the centre-ground of Wiltshirian politics. Eddington ditched the pledge for nationalization and the demand for a move away from capitalism. Eddington, unlike many of his previous leaders, embraced capitalism was the standard economic system of the country. This change would see the largest electoral success for any party in Wiltshirian history.
Much of this period was, however, tainted by the economic issues of 3015.
Frank Eddington
Following the first economic crisis in Wiltshire in 3015, the Conservative Government, then led by David Loynd, attempted to combat this with tax cuts and regulatory restructuring of the economy (affectively loosening regulation). This seemed to fail in combatting the recession; either due to it not working or due to the dire situation the economy found itself in.
During this time, the country was exposed to the harsh reality of the life of those in the lower class. The situation for those among the poorest hadn’t changed all that much; they, for the most part, couldn’t get poorer. Though with this expanding into much of the middle class, it became clearer that Conservative politics had failed.
A prime opportunity for reform presented itself when in December 3015, Frank Eddington was elected Socialist Leader and, in January 3016, elected Prime Minister with a landslide Socialist majority.
Eddington implemented a system of democratic-socialism. Though not as extreme as some other former party leaders (who championed a far-left Marxist reform to the economy), Eddington had reformed the Socialist Party tube that of the centre-left. His election proved that this idea had been successfully imbedded in the opinion of the Wiltshirian electorate and would continue until 3019.
His most notable reforms being;
- Universal Healthcare Act, 3016
- National Insurance and Pension Protection Act, 3016
- Social Housing Expansion and Construction Act, 3016
- Banking and Private Sector Act, 3016
- Citizen Dividend Act, 3017 (elements of universal basic income)
- Welfare Protection and Expansion Act, 3017
These reforms created the largest welfare system in Doggerland and between 3016 and 3019 the Wiltshirian budget deficit doubled as government spending sky-rocketed to pay for such reforms. This did not have immediately poor implications, however. The economy grew and, in late 3016, achieved the highest GDP-per capita rate in Doggerland (and in Wiltshirian history) as people were getting richer, saving more and – all around becoming more prosperous.
This was not meant to last, however. In 3017, the Corporate Depression struck Doggerland as the economies of the world fell into collapse – greater than in 3015. However, Wiltshire was (to a large extent) weathered from these problems. For one thing, Corporate employment in Wiltshire had fallen sharply between 3016 and 3017, mostly due to the increase in small businesses and government-employed work. In addition, new regulations in the Wiltshirian economy (as a result of Eddington’s reforms) meant that corporate intervention in the economy was at an all time low. However, things were not all good.
The poverty figures were still low, however, discontent with work rose and worker’s pay decreased. In November 3017, the government ended the universal basic income plan as it simply cost the government too much money, plunging thousands back into poverty. Though these problems continued to rise, Eddington’s Socialist Party were mostly able to convince the public that this was as a result of “corporate greed” instead of mismanaging of the economy – after all, the economy was strong and withstanding the depression far greater than other, similar countries.
Despite this, 3017 saw the rise of the Wiltshire First movement. This anti-immigration nationalist movement sought to bring down Eddington's Government and, despite a slow beginning, is claimed to be one of the reasons why Eddington’s government and the Socialist Party itself, left power in 3019.
The continuation of Eddington’s popularity wasn’t meant to last forever. By July 3018, the Socialist Party had lost its super-majority in the National Assembly. It was able to continue as a minority government, however, this was mostly thanks to support from the Communist Party (and later the Liberal Alliance Party). This government was, expectedly, extremely unproductive and was unable to continue many of the political and economic reforms started in previous years (like the re-institution of Universal Basic Income once the economy stabilized in 3018).
December 3018 saw the last chapters of Eddington's Socialist Government. It started in early December when Audrick Hill was elected Conservative Party Leader. This natural popularity boost a party gains after the election of a new leader was at the right place at the right time. The Conservatives gained two by-election seats (on a small, side election of just 3 seats – what later became known as ‘Bloody Tuesday’). This – thanks to the close margin of the November 3018 Election – saw the Conservatives become the largest party.
The Socialist Party still maintained government with support from the Liberal Alliance and the Communist Party. However, on New Years Eve, a number of Liberal Alliance rebels broke away from the government to support a potential Hill-led government. This worked and a motion of no confidence was scheduled. This was not voted on as Frank Eddington resigned on January 1, 3019. Leaving the Assembly to vote for a new Prime Minister. The Socialist Candidate; Minister Rita Smith, lost to Audrick Hill – who became the first Conservative Prime Minister in three-years.