Edinburgh People
A new political party
Letter to Edinburgh
Dear Edinburgh People,
Are you prepared to continue being responsible for putting politicians from the main parties into power? A vote for these parties is your endorsement of their repeated incompetence.
The sheer magnitude and all-pervasiveness of the incompetence permeating the City Chambers, Holyrood and Westminster is causing many to ask themselves if it is purely coincidental or not.
Together we can start a revolution in democracy here in Edinburgh. A few of us have founded a new political party, EDINBURGH PEOPLE as an unincorporated association. Five of us are standing in the 2024 General Election in Edinburgh’s five constituencies. We are standing as independent candidates who are all members of EDINBURGH PEOPLE. And we are bound by its constitution which is on our site.
Only the names of your five EDINBURGH PEOPLE candidates will be on the ballot paper so you must remember our names. EDINBURGH PEOPLE will not be on the ballot paper as we were not able to register with the Electoral Commission in time as that takes 2+ months. Please remember these names:
- EDINBURGH NORTH & LEITH: VOTE Caroline Waterloo
- EDINBURGH EAST & MUSSELBURGH: VOTE Jane Gould
- EDINBURGH SOUGH: VOTE Mark Rowbotham
- EDINBURGH SOUTH WEST: VOTE Marc Wilkinson
- EDINBURGH WEST: VOTE Nick Hornig
The slogan for the party is:
Do NOT elect Career Politicians AGAIN! Elect People!
The aim of the party is to represent the interests of Edinburgh People first and foremost. The strategy for achieving our aim is to not rely on career politicians because so far, people have not been able to rely on career politicians.
EDINBURGH PEOPLE is a grassroots member-led democratic political party with voluntary membership fees and with one person one vote where members propose policy and vote on policy. Members also vote to select their candidates and in due course will vote to reselect their sitting Councillors, MPs and MSPs.
For the launch of the party, we have very few members so for this reason we have voted on only a selection of policies which are listed on our website.
Our first Biannual General Meeting will be in September 2024 when all the current and new proposed policies will be voted on by the members.
Join EDINBURGH PEOPLE
We are inviting people who agree with the aim and strategy of the party to join EDINBURGH PEOPLE. Membership fees are voluntary with a £5 per month suggestion. We encourage everyone interested to join, especially before the election.
Below is more detail most which is covered in this 5-minute video if you prefer watching to reading.
Thanks to Rishi Sunak announcing a snap election on 23rd May we have mobilised at an incredible speed and achieved in four weeks what would have otherwise taken four months. We were not able to register with the Electoral Commission in time as that takes 2+ months so EDINBURGH PEOPLE will not be on the ballot paper. Only the names of your five EDINBURGH PEOPLE candidates will be on the ballot paper so you must remember our names.
We raised £4,500+ in funds on the 6th of June just in time to cover our deposits (£2,500) and to build our website (£2,000). We then managed to raise £9,000 to print 273,000 Election Communication leaflets which we delivered to the Royal Mail on 20th June.
I am our current Party Leader, and I have lived in Edinburgh for over 35 years. Below are our candidates for Edinburgh. We are acutely aware that the system of politics needs to be changed as it is not working for the people of Edinburgh.
- EDINBURGH NORTH & LEITH: VOTE Caroline Waterloo
- EDINBURGH EAST & MUSSELBURGH: VOTE Jane Gould
- EDINBURGH SOUGH: VOTE Mark Rowbotham
- EDINBURGH SOUTH WEST: VOTE Marc Wilkinson
- EDINBURGH WEST: VOTE Nick Hornig
Remember our names as our party EDINBURGH PEOPLE will not be on the ballot paper. Our bios are at the bottom of our homepage, edinburghpeople.org.
The single lynch-pin flaw
I have goose bumps when I explain that I have realised the single lynch-pin flaw in our system of politics. The reason being is that I have also realised the solution.
The curse is career politicians putting party interests above those of the people they represent. I have figured out a way to remove career politicians and a way to build a party by the people, for the people.
How often have you heard people moaning that they only have the choice of voting “for the lesser of two evils”. Choosing to vote for ‘The Blue Tories’, ‘The Red Tories’ or ‘The Yellow Tories’ is still a vote for evil.
The tide has changed, and people are not prepared to endorse evil anymore even as a tactical vote to stop the Blues, the Reds or the Yellows.
Together we CAN tackle this political homelessness successfully.
First, let me explain the lynch-pin flaw. Take an architect student. All they want is to become a career architect. It’s perfectly normal.
By the same token take a politician. All they want is to become a career politician. It’s perfectly normal.
As individuals, politicians cannot be faulted for wanting to become career politicians. However, therein lies the lynch-pin flaw.
To become a career politician, they must choose a party. They must tow that party’s line. Despite their good intentions they will discover very soon that their loyalty to their own career and to their own party will become greater than their loyalty to the people who elected them and the people that they represent.
Career politicians are the flaw in our system of politics.
The Solution
Goose bumps? Every time! It is because I have seen the solution to removing this flaw.
The solution is for us to all come together all over the UK and create over 100 local political parties, serving the people of a town, or a city or a region for the purpose of standing for elections in the respective constituencies.
In Edinburgh the party is called EDINBURGH PEOPLE. Each People Party stands as a grassroots democratic party where there is one person one vote. The purpose of EDINBURGH PEOPLE is to first and foremost represent the interests of the people of Edinburgh, at the expense of national interests, international interests, commercial, lobby and other interests.
How can a new party get first past the post?
The answer is three-fold.
- Firstly, we need a single-issue party which will mobilise members from all walks of life. Rich & Poor, Black & White, Left & Right.
- Secondly, we need a single issue which has mass local appeal.
- Thirdly, membership fees will be voluntary to encourage members who are not normally politically engaged.
In Edinburgh the single issue is simply just the two words: Edinburgh People. This is a big enough issue to attract 500 members per constituency within a few months. 2500 members for Edinburgh equates to £12,500 per month and £150K per annum. This would be sufficient for us to have an office and some full-time staff (4000 members would almost certainly make EDINBURGH PEOPLE the largest UK political party in Edinburgh by number of members).
Long Term Plan – 8 People Parties for Scotland
With your help and in time for the May 2026 Scottish Parliament elections the plan is for us to help create a new structure for politics with eight new city and region-specific political parties for Scotland. These parties will coincide with the eight regions for which people elect 7 MSPs per region.
If on the 7th May 2026, Scotland’s eight Regional People Parties secure more votes than the Green Party did in 2021, then we should have 7 MSPs like the Greens have now. A hung Scottish Parliament in 2026 seems likely at which point we would have the chance of negotiating to become junior partners in a coalition government.
Finally, because of the snap election we did not have time to register our party with the Electoral Commission so remember the name of your EDINBURGH PEOPLE candidate.
Thank you very much for reading this far and hopefully there is a passion rising from your heart to your head.
If there is and you want to get involved in helping us distribute leaflets, please send me a WhatsApp message and you can come to my flat to pick up 500 leaflets with a list of streets. It will take you around five hours to distribute and would need to be completed by Sunday 30th June.
I honestly believe that we are at a turning point in history which will become defined as the moment when a revolution in democracy began that changed politics for the better and for the people.
EDINBURGH PEOPLE is YOU! Please JOIN! Please VOTE!
Feel free to email me any questions.
The most fundamental pillar of democracy is for people to be informed so please forward this email to friends & family.
All the best,
Marc
Marc Wilkinson
Party Leader
EDINBURGH PEOPLE
M: +44 7791 843 702
E: [email protected]
W: EdinburghPeople.org
P.S. If you prefer not to join yet but would like to support our campaign you can donate to our Crowdfunder. The big parties will be spending up to the £17,000 limit per Edinburgh candidate. A true test of democracy would be for EDINBURGH PEOPLE to also spend £17,000 per candidate so every penny will help us give our best shot. Please help.
nominees
5 Candidates for Edinburgh
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My career, spanning over 30 years, has been in Operations Management and Supply Chain, working with many businesses, large and small, to help them achieve success by providing workable solutions to complex problems.
Like many others, I am also disillusioned by the failed government and political system, influenced by the global corporations and diktats, that do not serve the interests of the people of Edinburgh. I am standing for office because I would like to bring your policies, your ideas and your concerns “to the table,” and bring my business knowledge and experience, facilitate a process where we work together to find the best way forward. To me EDINBURGH PEOPLE is the best solution.
Originally from Staffordshire, I’m married with four children, and have lived in Edinburgh for 5 years.
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I was born in Edinburgh and have enjoyed living and working in this amazing city all my life. Since graduating from Edinburgh Uni in Computer Science, I worked for various companies in insurance and technology. When I became a mum, I decided to leave the corporate life behind to focus on parenting and since then I have been a partner in a business and more recently, I’m very involved in caring for my elderly mum. I’ve been married for 37 years, and I live with my husband, two sons and rescue dog. My interests include playing music and singing, dog training and psychology, science and nature.
I’ve never been involved in politics before, but I have been moved to act now by joining EDINBURGH PEOPLE and standing. This means you are empowered to vote for people whose allegiance is to the people rather than voting for career politicians, whose primary allegiance is to their party.
I am really concerned by the pervasive influence which unelected corporate and global organisations have on key policies which profoundly affect all areas of our lives. We find ourselves with a system of governance involving all the traditional political parties, which is corrupt, inept and unfit for purpose.
There are many national issues which affect us all, on which Edinburgh people will have a say. Locally, my goal is to give a voice to real Edinburgh people. With no party whips or corporate influence, I will be able to focus on understanding and standing up for the values and wishes of Edinburgh People and to reverse the erosion of the city as a wonderful and viable place for local people to live.
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As a proud son of the beautiful city of Edinburgh, I spent some time abroad in my youth, but I always came home. For the past 26 years I have been a black cab driver in and around Edinburgh. As a father of two I have become more and more concerned about the way things are going. Compared to 25 years ago everything is so different now. I worry about what we are going to leave behind for our kids and grandkids. Younger people think this is entirely normal as they haven’t known anything else, but I don’t agree.
I flung my hat in the ring because we are not going to make any positive change by voting for any of the current parties. No matter which way you vote its more of the same. I think people are ready for some big change, something which puts power back into the hands of people. Some politicians seem to be getting a bit of backlash and others look like they are leaving a sinking ship, whilst honest upright working people are left to deal with the fall out. I was blown away when I heard Keir Starmer admit to Emily Maitlis in a BBC interview that he would choose the unelected club of so called “elites” in Davos, over Westminster. This shows just how far the influence of unelected organisations reaches and the possibility that a potential future PM could be taking his marching orders from the World Economic Forum.
I like EDINBURGH PEOPLE’s “don’t elect politicians – elect PEOPLE” and so I got behind it. As Henry Ford said, “do what you always did, get what you always got” – so it is time for us all to do something very, very different as a matter of urgency.This is just a placeholder headline, we will replace it soon.
Born in the Caribbean I moved to the Netherlands when I was eight years old. As a student studying dietetics, I worked for a service bureau converting paper archives onto microfilm. In my twenties I decided to drop the idea of following a career path and instead packed my suitcase to travel the world. I've lived and spent time in several countries, including China, Japan, Australia, Portugal and Ireland. In my thirties I was asked by the microfilm service bureau I previously worked for to manage the biggest microfilming contract ever - to covert the WWI soldiers' records to microfilm at The National Archives in Kew, London.
After successfully completing the project, I focused my attention on digitisation and information management. From London I moved to Dublin and worked there as a library assistant for the Royal Irish Academy and later the Law Library of Ireland. Simultaneously I studied subjects related to converting analogue records to digital and gained a master’s in information management.
In 2014 I moved to Edinburgh to start a job as digitisation programme manager at the National Library of Scotland. Edinburgh was buzzing and back then felt like a much happier place.
In recent years my concern for food security has grown because of government policies. For this reason, I decided to join EDINBURGH PEOPLE and stand.
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As the owner of Pure Pizza in Morningside and as a proactive campaigner I am acutely aware of the extent to which politicians are not representing the interests of their constituents.
We desperately need policies implemented which will level the playing field for small businesses and most importantly for those businesses that have not been created because the small business landscape is so hostile.
Big corporations benefit from economies of scale and purchasing power. As a result, every sector is seeing more and more consolidation. If this is allowed to continue it will become even harder for small businesses to survive and even fewer people will give it a go.
Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
My dream of inspiring the creation of over 100 new political parties local to a town, city or region will take away the absolute power away from the big parties. Power will then be decentralised to lots of small parties which are democratically run and not capable of being captured.
EDINBURGH PEOPLE has planted a stake in the ground by fielding five candidates in Edinburgh’s five constituencies. We are all members of EDINBURGH PEOPLE. We are standing as independent candidates on the ballot as our party is not yet registered with the electoral commission. So remember our names and vote for your EDINBURGH PEOPLE candidate in you constituency.
