People Before Profit


People Before Profit is a socialist political party formed in October 2005. It is active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

History

PBP was established in 2005 as the People Before Profit Alliance by members of the Socialist Workers Party, a Trotskyist organisation affiliated to the International Socialist Tendency. The Community & Workers Action Group in south Dublin joined the alliance in 2007 and brought along the party's first elected representative, Joan Collins, an anti–bin tax campaigner and former member of the Socialist Party.
The Socialist Environmental Alliance was a political party which operated in Northern Ireland, based largely in the city of Londonderry
The SEA contested the Northern Ireland Assembly 2003 election in the East Londonderry and Foyle seats. They polled poorly in East Londonderry, with candidate Marion Baur gaining only 137 first preference votes, although in Foyle Eamonn McCann gained 2,257 first preference votes.
They also contested the 2004 elections to the European Parliament, with Eamonn McCann their candidate. He won 9,172 first preference votes, or 1.6% of the total cast. McCann then stood in the 2005 general election in the Foyle constituency, winning 3.6% of the vote.
McCann again stood for the organisation in Foyle in the 2007 Assembly election. The group was dissolved in 2008 with most of it folding into the People Before Profit Alliance
In February 2018, the SWP renamed itself the Socialist Workers Network to reflect "a decision to focus on building People Before Profit, and within that to win and educate as many members as possible in revolutionary socialist politics."

Republic of Ireland

PBP contested several constituencies in the 2007 general election, polling around 9,000 first preferences, with Richard Boyd Barrett—the candidate in the Dún Laoghaire constituency—missing a seat on the 10th and final count by 7,890 votes to 9,910.
In May 2008, PBP launched a campaign calling for a No vote on the Lisbon Treaty when it was put to the people.
In the Republic's 2009 local elections PBP ran twelve candidates, including ten in County Dublin. It secured five seats in three of Dublin's four councils. As well as ten members of the SWP, Joan Collins and Pat Dunne of the CWAG ran in Dublin, and Donnie Fell in Waterford.
In the Republic's 2011 general election, both Richard Boyd Barrett and Joan Collins were elected to Dáil Éireann as TDs, running under a joint People Before Profit and United Left Alliance banner.
In April 2013, Joan Collins TD and Cllr Pat Dunne left the group to form United Left, a political party with former Socialist Party TD Clare Daly.
In the May 2014 local elections, PBP won 14 seats including two seats outside Dublin on Sligo and Wexford County Councils.
Discussions were held in August 2015 with the Anti-Austerity Alliance about forming a new political grouping. On 17 September 2015, the two parties announced they had formally registered as a single political party for electoral purposes. The new organisation was called the Anti-Austerity Alliance–People Before Profit.
At the 2016 general election, Boyd Barrett was re-elected. He was joined by fellow PBP candidates Gino Kenny and Bríd Smith.
In 2016, Councillor Sonya Stapleton, representing Pembroke–South Dock on Dublin City Council, left the party, as did Councillor Ruth Nolan, a member of South Dublin County Council for Lucan, who joined Independents 4 Change.
In January 2019, Dublin City Councillor John Lyons resigned from the party due to disputes with the leadership. Cllr Lyons subsequently was a leading figure in the foundation of Independent Left. He criticised his former party saying: "Solidarity and People Before Profit are the closest fit to us but have a hierarchical, carefully controlled internal life that is not fit for the purpose of socialist change."

Northern Ireland

People Before Profit unsuccessfully ran one candidate, Sean Mitchell, in the 2007 Northern Ireland Assembly election, polling 774 first preferences in the Belfast West constituency. He successfully gained the right to stand in an election by threatening to take the then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Peter Hain, to court if the legal loophole preventing him from doing so was enforced..
People Before Profit ran four candidates in the Northern Ireland Assembly election of May 2011, winning 5,438 first-preference votes between them but no seats in the new Assembly. Its most successful candidate in this election was Eamonn McCann, who won 3,120 first-preference votes, or 8% of the total, in Foyle.
In the June 2011 Belfast West by-election, Gerry Carroll won 1,751 votes, coming in third place and ahead of both unionist candidates.
In the 2014 Belfast City Council election, Carroll became the first PBP councilor elected in Northern Ireland, winning 3rd place in the Black Mountain DEA, with 1,691 1st Preference votes.
In May 2016, Carroll topped the poll in the Belfast West constituency at the 2016 Assembly Election with 8,299 votes, almost 4,000 first-preference votes clear of his nearest challenger, Sinn Féin MLA Fra McCann. This victory secured PBP with their first elected MLA. Eamonn McCann also took a seat in the constituency of Foyle. In 2017, Carroll retained his seat but with a much reduced vote, while McCann lost his.
In the Northern Ireland Assembly, the party designates as neither unionist nor Irish nationalist, but 'Other'.
People Before Profit supported leaving the EU but did not campaign for a Leave vote in the 2016 EU referendum. People Before Profit's support for Brexit attracted criticism from Sinn Féin and pro-remain activists, especially as Northern Ireland voted to remain. This was a factor in the loss of McCann's seat in Foyle.
The party gained 4 seats in the 2019 Local Elections. People Before Profit won 5 council seats, 3 in Belfast City Council and 2 in Derry. It has the second lowest number of seats, just ahead of the PUP.
The party stood two candidates in the 2019 general election, with their best performance being by Carroll in the Belfast West seat: he came second with 16%.

Election results and governments

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland Assembly elections

Westminster elections

Northern Ireland local elections

Republic of Ireland

General elections

Irish local elections

European elections

People Before Profit have only contested European Elections in the Republic of Ireland.
ElectionFirst Preference VoteVote %Seats
201423,8751.5%
201933,8041.9%