PEOPLE’S PETITION TO STOP THE BLOCK VOTE & THE PARTY WHIP
Sign our petition! It will be sent to your Councillor, MP & MSPs.
Let’s set aside party-political differences, come together and Let’s Fix Politics!
Our Councillors, MPs & MSPs should have the duty to exercise their intellect to investigate issues they are voting on and should have the freedom to cast a free vote on behalf of their constituents. Their voting record should rest on their shoulders. We no longer want Councillors, MPs & MSPs to take instructions on how they should vote from their party or from the majority of the Councillors in their party. If this continues, we will consider voting for our local People Party in the May 2026 Scottish Parliament elections, the May 2027 Scottish Local Council elections and the 2029 General Election and intervening by-elections.
We petition the following elected representatives of ours:
- Our respective ward councillors,
- The Leaders of the Labour, SNP, Conservative, Lib Dem and Green party groups of Councillors in our respective Council Chambers,
- My MP and in Scotland, my constituency MSP and seven regional MSPs.
We petition that you please do all that is in your powers to:
- Encourage as many Councillors, MPs & MSPs as possible to agree with the objective of this petition,
- For Councillors, please lodge a motion for your Party’s Group of Councillors to vote on allowing your party’s Councillors a free vote,
- For MPs & MSPs when necessary, please attempt a coordinated group of rebels who commit to vote against the Party Whip. If too many vote against the whip your party can’t suspend all of you. If they do you should form a new party.
SOME BACKGROUND TO THIS PETITION
It is our opinion that the block vote by the five main parties in the Edinburgh Council City Chambers is flawed as it makes Councillors unaccountable directly to their respective ward constituents whom they represent.
When campaigning for election a favourite of candidates is to claim, “I will be your local champion, and I will represent the interests of the people of our ward in the City Chambers”. Such claims are either ignorant or deceitful as Councillors are usually not able to cast their vote freely.
Imagine, for example, the two of us were both Councillors from the same party and we both felt strongly about voting in a particular way on a particular issue. If together we failed to persuade the majority of the Councillors in our party to vote how we wanted to vote, then both of our votes would be cast in direct opposition to how we both wanted to vote. We wouldn’t be able to vote how we wanted to – let alone how our constituents would like us to. The same problem exists in Holyrood & Westminster as MPs & MSPs are whipped and instructed on how to vote by their parties.
We believe that we have identified the single lynchpin flaw in the current system of politics which is causing so many millions to be so unhappy. We know this is a bold claim. Let us explain and you can be the judge.
THE LYNCHPIN FLAW is political parties are far too large, controlling far too many thousands of people with a top-down control which is becoming more autocratic – evidenced by the Labour Party suspending 7 MPs from the Labour Party within one month of the 2024 General Election for voting against the whip. They voted to end the two-child benefit cap. They voted how most Labour MPs, members and voters would have normally voted and ironically found themselves being booted out of the Labour Party!
Specifically, the lynchpin flaw is the whipping of our elected representatives. When our elected representatives are told that they will be told how to vote that demotes them to the status of a lackey. As a lackey one’s job is to do as you’re told and to not ask any questions. Surely, this is not what we want from our elected representatives. We need our representatives to ask questions (even if that means rocking the boat) for positive societal change. We believe most people don’t want wars or poverty, and that the big parties and their elected politicians have been manipulated into doing what their donors want. We want them to do what the people want.
Now that 7 MPs have been expelled from Labour for voting against the Whip, none who are left dare do that now. No Labour MPs voted in favour of an amendment calling for a National Inquiry into grooming gangs, despite many acknowledging its need. Four Labour MPs publicly called for a National Inquiry but voted against it or abstained.
What will this mean if Starmer decides he wants the UK to go to war? Will any Labour MPs stand up and vote against going to war?
We cannot have a Parliamentary system where our representatives vote against what they believe to be in the public’s best interest – because an autocratic leader can threaten them with being cast out of the Party if they don’t follow their orders.
EDINBURGH PEOPLE has a solution with the potential to Fix Politics: it is to have small regional parties representing the interests of people locally rather than large, national parties. Instead of having a top-down control structure, there is a bottom-up control structure where all the power rests with the members of the party locally within the ward, constituency or region. Similar works in Switzerland where people have the power to challenge legislation by calling referenda. Our solution puts power in the hands of people such that it cannot be captured.
EDINBURGH PEOPLE candidates’ slogan is “Elect me and you will be my boss”. Once elected EDINBURGH PEOPLE Councillors & MSPs will take instruction on how to vote directly from members of the party within their ward or region. Once the voting agenda is available EDINBURGH PEOPLE Councillors and MSPs will email it to their local members explaining how they would like to vote and why. The members will vote to decide how they want to instruct their Councillor to vote. Our membership is free for those who choose not to make a donation. Our core principle is informed consent and that the role of our elected representatives it to represent their electorate.
Thanks in advance.
Yours faithfully, Marc Wilkinson, Party Leader
EDINBURGH PEOPLE
M: +44 7791 843 702
E: [email protected]
