The Sustainable Population Party (‘Suspop’) has been formed to provide a voting platform for the large and growing number of our people who recognise that the greatest challenge that confronts us all this century is that of human overpopulation. This problem is particularly severe for England, which is one of the most densely populated countries in the world.

Most of us living in the UK do not give this much thought, but our country has a higher population than it can comfortably support and this is the root cause of many of the stresses and strains on our key public services such as transport, power, education and health services. The UK population is projected to increase by around 10.1 million people between 2007 and 2031 (Palgrave Macmillan: Social Trends) adding more pressure to already strained services and resources. The end result of ignoring the limitations of our country, in terms of space and resources will be degradation of our environment, and eventually, squalor.

‘Suspop’ believes that we should introduce strategies to initially balance our books- to make sure no more people enter the UK than leave each year. Then the only responsible course of action is to put coherent plans in place to reduce our population, gradually and naturally, through education and choice, to a sustainable level – at which our country can provide a good standard of living for its people without diminishing resources, or spoiling the environment, for future generations.

‘Suspop’ is the party for people who are appalled when a government spokesman announces that ‘we must build hundreds of thousands of new homes each year to accommodate our growing population’: as one of the most crowded countries in an overcrowded world, we should not have a growing population.

‘Suspop’ believes that the continuous drive for growth by other political parties is destructive, unsustainable, and ultimately futile; we should instead plan for a balanced economy and population size, living within the geographical and ecological limits of our country.

‘Suspop’ is the party for people who are convinced that the unending construction of massive new infrastructure like ‘HS2’, more airports or runways in the South-East of England, and new ‘Garden Cities’, as well as being hugely expensive, is destructive of our environment, and unnecessary if we plan to reduce our population to a sustainable level.

It is more important that we leave for our grandchildren and their families at the end of this century a beautiful country in which to enjoy their lives, than to indulge in reckless consumption of everything we can lay our hands on (including our green space) in selfish pursuit of ‘prosperity’ today.