The People's Party or Socialist People's Party is a minor political party

Political party

A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...

 in the Furness

Furness

Furness is a peninsula in south Cumbria, England. At its widest extent, it is considered to cover the whole of North Lonsdale, that part of the Lonsdale hundred that is an exclave of the historic county of Lancashire, lying to the north of Morecambe Bay....

 region of England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

.

The party was founded in 1995 by four Labour Party

Labour Party (UK)

The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...

 borough councillors who had been suspended from Labour for opposing a reduction in the housing

House

A house is a building or structure that has the ability to be occupied for dwelling by human beings or other creatures. The term house includes many kinds of different dwellings ranging from rudimentary huts of nomadic tribes to free standing individual structures...

 budget

Budget

A budget is a financial plan and a list of all planned expenses and revenues. It is a plan for saving, borrowing and spending. A budget is an important concept in microeconomics, which uses a budget line to illustrate the trade-offs between two or more goods...

. It was initially known as the People's Labour Party, and stood their chair, Jim Hamezeian, in the Barrow and Furness

Barrow and Furness (UK Parliament constituency)

Barrow and Furness is a parliamentary constituency in Cumbria, represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom...

 constituency in the 1997 general election

United Kingdom general election, 1997

The United Kingdom general election, 1997 was held on 1 May 1997, more than five years after the previous election on 9 April 1992, to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party ended its 18 years in opposition under the leadership of Tony Blair, and won the general...

. He received 1,995 votes, 4.1% of the total in the constituency.

The party has since campaigned on a variety of local issues. A split led to two of its four councillors leaving and standing as independents

Independent (politician)

In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...

 in the 2003 local elections

Barrow-in-Furness Council election, 2003

Elections to Barrow-in-Furness Council were held on 1 May 2003. One third of the council was up for election and the Labour party gained control of the council from no overall control.After the election, the composition of the council was*Labour 21*Conservative 14...

; the two People's Party councillors then lost their seats. However, in the 2006 local elections

Barrow-in-Furness Council election, 2006

Elections to Barrow-in-Furness Council were held on 4 May 2006. One third of the council was up for election and the Labour party lost overall control of the council to no overall control.After the election, the composition of the council was*Labour 18...

, party leader Jim Hamezian regained his seat in the Ormsgill

Ormsgill

Ormsgill is a ward of Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England. It is bordered by Hindpool, Parkside, Hawcoat, Roanhead and the Walney Channel. The population of the ward in 2001 stood at 5,961...

 ward.

2008 brought further success for the party in the local elections

Barrow-in-Furness Council election, 2008

Elections to Barrow-in-Furness Council was held on 1 May 2008. The whole of the council was up for election, with the number of councillors falling from 38 to 36, as a result of ward boundary changes enacted in February 2008...

 with one councillor being elected in Central Ward and three others elected in Ormsgill.

In elections to Cumbria County Council

Cumbria County Council

Cumbria County Council is the county council of Cumbria, a county in the North West of England. Established in 1974, following its first elections held a year before that, it is an elected local government body responsible for the most significant local services in the county, including county...

in 2009, Jim Hamezeian was elected to serve for Ormsgill ward in Barrow-in-Furness.