Christian Peoples Alliance

[[File:ChristianPeoplesAlliance.png|thumb|right|165px|Isn't purple the gay colour?]]
{{cquote|A lot of Christians believe that God is angry over gay marriage and God can actually show that anger... All Christians believe that God does and can do things with nature.|||CPA leader Sidney Cordle blames gay marriage for bad weather, May 2014.<ref>[https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-27443897 God angry at gay marriage - Christian People's Alliance]. ''BBC News.'' 16 May 2014.</ref>}}
{{UKpolitics}}
The '''Christian Peoples Alliance''' (CPA) is a British '[[Christian democracy|Christian democratic]]' political party or a socially [[reactionary]] one veering in points close to moralistic [[Dominionism]], depending on your viewpoint. Both agree that it is a ''very'' minor party, however - in the most recent [[2024 United Kingdom general election|2024 General Election]] they came 30th in 'overall votes cast'<ref>[https://electionresults.parliament.uk/general-elections/6 Results for a UK general election on 4 July 2024] ''UK Parliament''</ref> and got no more than 1.3% of the vote in the constituencies they stood in<ref>[https://electionresults.parliament.uk/general-elections/6/political-parties/54/elections?order=descending&sort=vote-share#results Results for a UK general election on 4 July 2024, Elections contested by Christian Peoples Alliance Party] ''UK Parliament''</ref>. Which makes them about as relevant as the [[Monster Raving Loony Party]]<ref>[https://electionresults.parliament.uk/general-elections/6/political-parties/12/elections?order=descending&sort=vote-share#results, Results for a UK general election on 4 July 2024, Elections contested by Official Monster Raving Loony Party] ''UK Parliament''</ref>. It is also the largest explicitly Christian party in the country, which says much about their decades-long fight against '[[secularism]]', as it's never had a victory above a town council and has lost every deposit in elections for Members of Parliament,<ref group=note>Meaning they never scored more than 5% of the vote-share in a single constituency.</ref> which suggests most Britons aren't that fussed about said secularism.

==History==
The party was founded in 1999, through stems from Christian pressure groups a decade previous. The main impetus appears to be the electoral reforms which used proportional representation for bodies like the London Assembly/Mayoralty and European Parliament. Throughout it's life, it has had significant political overlap with elements of [[United Kingdom Independence Party|UKIP]]<ref>[https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/10/07/ukip-christian-alan-craig_n_5944838.html Ukip Defend Controversial Ex-Christian Party Leader Alan Craig Joining Party] ''Huffpost'', 7 October 2014</ref>, the moralistic end of the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]] and long-running on/off hookups with even more minor Christian parties, such as the cunningly named '[[Christian Party]]'<ref>[https://nouse.co.uk/2008/05/28/a-%E2%80%98christian-choice%E2%80%99-in-a-secular-capital A ‘Christian choice’ in a secular capital] ''Nouse'', 28 May 2008</ref>.

==Policies==
Like many minor parties, its manifestos contain a mix of genuinely innovative ideas, [[common sense]], and outright [[crank]]ery, and like many Christian parties, has policies which defy the traditional 'left-right' political axis. And a general belief that there is a [[persecution complex|'persecution of Christianity']] going on, mainly because it's not the 1950s anymore and general British society doesn't automatically defer to them in every way<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20241007165322/https://www.thetimes.com/article/marginalised-maybe-but-we-arent-persecuted-8f5pd2509sv Marginalised maybe, but we aren’t persecuted] ''The Times'', 5 April 2010</ref>.

Socially, it is – unexpectedly – conservative, to the point of [[reactionary]]. It has most of the predictable touchstones; [[abortion]], [[transgender]] youth, [[euthanasia]], [[Heteronormativity|preserving/promoting 'the sanctity of marriage']],<ref>[https://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/local-news/christian-peoples-alliance-general-election-17367987 The party that wants to give you £12,000 for getting married] ''Cambridge News'', 7 December 2019</ref> being against 'indoctrination' in schools by the 'liberal agenda' (sic), advocation of [[conversion therapy]], and the usual barbs against '[[cancel culture]]' and '[[freedom of speech]]'<ref group=note>You know, the 'if it's in [[the Bible]] it's not [[hate speech]] and there should be no comebacks' freedom.</ref><ref>[https://www.bedfordindependent.co.uk/christian-peoples-alliance-mid-beds-candidate-highlights-importance-of-marriage-and-family/ Christian Peoples Alliance Mid Beds candidate highlights importance of marriage and family] ''Bedford Independent'', 4 October 2023</ref> etc. However, their official policies at least have the smell about them of a group which has enough self-awareness to realise it's on a serious losing wicket here – not a mention on [[contraception]] and little comment on [[LGBT rights]] in general. However, cynics with some justification comment that it's mere window-dressing for them to present themselves as more 'moderate' than they truly are.<ref>[https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/christian-people-s-alliance-leader-gay-marriage-could-be-to-blame-for-winter-floods-9388451.html Christian People's Alliance leader: 'Gay marriage could be to blame for winter floods'] ''The Standard'', 16 May 2014 </ref><ref>[http://www.erdingtonlocal.com/election-news-local-residents-disgusted-over-campaign-messages-christian-peoples-alliance/ ELECTION NEWS: Local residents “disgusted” over “harmful and upsetting” campaign messages from the Christian Peoples Alliance] ''Erdington Local'', 25 February 2022</ref> 

On issues such as 'law and order', [[drugs]], and antisocial behaviour, it has somewhat of an interesting mix; while it has the usual right-wing 'tough on crime' stance and is staunchly for continuing the [[War on Drugs]], it also accepts the wider socioeconomic causes of much crime, that drug addiction requires treatment and prison needs to rehabilitate as well as simply punish. In a nod to reality which makes them slightly more tolerable than say, the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]], it also realises that actual funding is required for these things to happen. Similar nuance can be noted on the issue of 'illegal immigration' and asylum seekers; at least they notice that the country had a duty to accept the latter, as well as looking at some of the more spiteful elements of the immigration system, such as the ruling which has priced-out many people being able to bring their families to live with them in the UK.

Economically, it is clearly '[[Distributism|distributist]]' in nature, mainly by introducing a 'turnover tax' to replace that on profits, higher minimum wage, a bump-up in the benefits paid for those performing 'unpaid work' (such as carers and stay-at-home parents) and a large social housebuilding programme. Just in case [[Jeremy Corbyn|you nod too vigorously]] on this, it then advocates ending [[fractional-reserve banking]] (clearly inspired by the advocacy group [[Positive Money]]), simply tightening the screws on said turnover tax whenever more revenue was required before leaping into a soup of right wing fantasy [[Margaret Thatcher|Thatcherite]] economics by promising to '[[Fiscal responsibility|balance the books]]' while cutting taxes ''and'' increasing public spending by 'cutting waste' such as abolishing all UK NGOs<ref>[https://www.thecomet.net/news/24410348.election-2024-hitchin-candidate-sid-cordle-interview/ Election 2024: Hitchin candidate Sid Cordle interview] ''Stevenage Comet'', 24 June 2024</ref><ref group=note>Which raises the conundrum of ''how'' public services provided by said NGOs would be 'improved' if abolished, like healthcare and education.</ref>. It also advocated using the 'savings from [[Brexit]]' to invest in infrastructure, which becomes a bit of a head-scratcher when you wonder how you invest a negative number.<ref>[https://www.itv.com/news/2022-12-20/brexit-costs-government-40-billion-a-year-in-lost-tax-revenue Brexit costs government £40 billion a year in lost tax revenue] ''ITV'', 20 December 2022</ref>

On some topics, the party's moralism creeps through; supporting the taxation of both sugar and salt in foodstuffs, restrictions on [[gambling]], a stronger focus on health prevention campaigns, and a rather two-faced policy on [[climate change]]; one moment talking about investing in renewables and supporting [[recycling]] but then talking about 'climate alarmism' (trivialisation of the issue to delay action<ref>[https://skepticalscience.com/alarmists-not-in-deniers-league.html There are genuine climate alarmists, but they're not in the same league as deniers] ''Skeptical Science'', 9 July 2018</ref>) and then backing [[science woo]] such as [[carbon capture]]<ref>
[https://thebulletin.org/2022/09/plagued-by-failures-carbon-capture-is-no-climate-solution/ Carbon capture has a long history. Of failure] ''Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists'', 1 September 2022 </ref>. Then their crankery comes in full force; like their '[[Anti-vaccination movement|freedom to choose' stance on vaccinations]] and the idea that the UK could be protected from enemy nuclear attack by a theoretical 'ballistic missile defence' system instead of her traditional submarine-based deterrent of retaliation, which to the chagrin of [[CND]], is at least actual.

==Effects==
For good or ill, the answer is 'effectively zero'. It barely got a splash in the [[2019 United Kingdom general election|2019 election]] (harassment of a pregnant Labour MP who dared to be [[pro-choice]]<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/nov/16/police-move-on-abortion-group-targeting-stella-creasy Fresh police move on abortion group targeting Stella Creasy] ''The Guardian'', 16 November 2019</ref> and claims that a local mayoral candidate was either sacked due to [[discrimination]] or fired for [[hate speech]]<ref>[https://christianconcern.com/cccases/maureen-martin/ https://christianconcern.com/cccases/maureen-martin/] ''Christian Concern'', April 2023.</ref>.) and declined even further in the last election, quite possibly due to the fact the [[Nigel Farage|Faragist]] vehicle [[Reform UK]] was fully in-play and the openly odious [[Heritage Party]] was there to soak up the 'bigoted arsehole' demographic.

It appears that currently, they have zero members in any tier of government.

==External links==
*[http://www.cpaparty.net/ Christian Peoples Alliance] - Their own site.
*[https://cpaparty.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/2024-CPA-General-Election-Manifesto.pdf Their 2024 manifesto] (But is it pleasing to God?)

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}

[[Category:British politics]]
[[Category:British political parties]]
[[Category:Christianity]]
[[Category:Homophobia]]
[[Category:Politics]]
[[Category:Religion]]

Categories: British politics, British political parties, Christianity, Homophobia, Politics, Religion