Let's Fix Politics! EDINBURGH PEOPLE Election Campaign Fund -
Politics is broken! Let’s set aside party-political differences, come together & fix politics. The solution is a new local structure for political parties which cannot be captured by corporate donors.
Hello Everyone!
Politics is broken!
Let’s set aside party-political differences & come together.
Let’s fix politics!
The solution is to inspire the creation of dozens of new small parties all over Scotland and the UK.
We have started here in Edinburgh with EDINBURGH PEOPLE: a small party instead of a large party. Instead of having a top-down control structure the party has a bottom-up control structure where all the power rests with the members of the party.
EDINBURGH PEOPLE candidates and elected representatives are bound by the constitution to take guidance & instruction on how to vote from the majority of the members of the party from within the ward or constituency. Membership is free and open to all, so everyone can join and have their say in how their representative should vote.
EDINBURGH PEOPLE’s policies are proposed and voted on by members. Our policies including our policy on Scottish Independence are at the foot of this document.
I believe this Crowdfunder will change Edinburgh. If it changes Edinburgh, it will change Scotland, the UK and beyond. Please share worldwide.
Only relatively few people will see this Crowdfunder. Those of you who do and for whom it inspires have a responsibility to come forward with a donation if you want change.
Bonnie Prince Bob’s 2-minute video, above, is comedy gold. Edinburgh’s problems stare us in the face every day and by all accounts are similar UK-wide. Follow Bob’s YouTube channel Discontent. I am in awe at how his satire cuts.
INTRODUCTION
My name is Marc Wilkinson, and I am the leader of EDINBURGH PEOPLE. Edinburgh’s newest political party by the people of Edinburgh for the people of Edinburgh. The party was founded in April 2024.
For the snap General Election in a panic, we stood five candidates in Edinburgh’s five constituencies. This was a feat of incredible teamwork as we managed within five weeks to secure funding for our five deposits, our website, and to print 273 thousand election leaflets for the Royal Mail to distribute which then resulted in almost 1000 emails to which we replied. We had hustings and press interviews but sadly, we had no time to do any door-to-door canvassing.
In November 2024, I stood in the Edinburgh Council by-election triggered by a Labour councillor becoming MP. I canvassed full-time, knocking on over 1000 doors and speaking to over 650 people. I was very pleased as 485 people gave me their 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th preference vote representing 6.5% of the voters.
There is now another by-election on 23rd of January 2025. This time three of us are standing to give EDINBURGH PEOPLE three times the campaigning power compared to the other parties. I have published our election leaflets here if you would like to read them.
Because of proportional representation (PR) in the Scottish Parliament elections, 6.5% is a bit of a magical achievement. The Lothian Region elects 16 MSPs in total. A party needs to secure 6.25% (100/16) of the votes on the Regional List to have one MSP elected.
Anywhere else in the world with PR this would normally be quite hard to achieve. But, uniquely, not in Scotland! This is the clincher that will allow us to achieve success in the May 2026 Holyrood elections. With the support required from this Crowdfunder it will be relatively easy. All that we will be doing is pushing an open door. Let me explain.
Usually, with any election it is one person one vote, however, for the Scottish Parliament Elections it is one person two votes. Because of the ‘Additional Member Voting System’ each voter has two votes and elects up to two MSPs. Their first vote is for their named constituency MSP who is elected on a first-past-the-post basis and their second vote is for a party on the Regional List which attempts to elect one of the seven MSPs elected through the list.
The significance of people having two votes is huge. It means that we will not be trying to change how people have always voted or would normally vote for their constituency MSP. To my mind when voting in the Scottish Parliament Elections 80% of what people are doing is choosing their named constituency MSP and their vote on the list is a bit of an aside. Most choose the same party on the list as for their constituency vote.
As per our Ultimate Plan our aim is to secure enough funding so that we can inspire the formation of a further seven regional political parties. Voting for your local PEOPLE PARTY is not party-political. People who vote SNP and people who vote Conservative for their constituency MSP can both also vote for their PEOPLE PARTY on their Regional List. This is the clincher. If 6.5% of Scotland’s voters like the idea of Scotland electing eight members of the general public to Holyrood as MSPs who will be free of any whip from a top-down autocratic party, then we will have eight PEOPLE PARTY MSPs in Holyrood in May 2026.
If you read the 5000+ words below, I am certain that some of you who can afford hundreds will donate hundreds and some who can afford thousands will donate thousands. The plan is very ambitious. None of us can afford for us not to try. If we succeed, we will have changed Edinburgh and beyond. So, please do take the time to fathom fully the significance of our plans. At the bottom I have also listed our policies.
EDINBURGH PEOPLE is currently not registered with the Electoral Commission which means that your donation can be private. This is an advantage for anyone who wants to support us without their support being in the public domain. This also applies if we subsequently decide to register the party as we only have to declare our total assets and liabilities to the Electoral Commission at the time of registering.
Our strategy for EDINBURGH PEOPLE is underpinned by the fact that our message is already being incredibly well received. The key to our future success is being able to effectively communicate our message to all the electorate which is why we need you to fund our plans.
Additionally, we need to recruit a lot of potential candidates. This will be a lot easier for us to achieve if the potential candidates know that the funding for their respective campaigns is already in place thanks to this Crowdfunder.
For those of you with funds this is such an opportunity to make such a big difference to so many people’s lives that I urge you to read on and thank you in advance for doing so.
Let’s fix politics!
Feel free to message me any questions on +44 7791 843 702 or info@edinburghpeople.org
Marc Wilkinson, Party Leader,
EDINBURGH PEOPLE
EdinburghPeople.org
THE LYNCHPIN FLAW IN POLITICS
Autumn 2023 was when I first had the idea for EDINBURGH PEOPLE. This potential solution was triggered by identifying what I believe to be the lynchpin flaw in politics.
The established political parties are all far too large. They are trying to control far too many thousands of people. They are becoming more autocratic, evidenced by Labour suspending seven MPs within a month of the July 5th General Election for voting against the whip and ironically for voting for what would normally be a Labour position, to remove the two-child benefit cap.
In 2022 in Holyrood, we had the Gender Recognition Reform (GRR) Bill when the SNP, Labour, Lib Dem and Green parties all whipped their MSPs to vote in favour. The GRR Bill was then proven to be unlawful by the UK Government and the Scottish Court of Session but only after the SNP Government spent £227,866 trying to defend itself.
So, the flaw is the whipping of our elected representatives.
Councillors, MSPs and MPs who are members of political parties are reliant on their party for their election funding and support. If their party tells them they have to vote a particular way (i.e. whipping the vote), then they have no choice – unless they want to resign and stand as an independent, and risk losing their seat because they won’t have the same funding, support and ‘brand recognition’ that the major parties enjoy.
Because the political parties receive donations from major corporate entities (such as private healthcare providers), this means that parties are torn between representing the wishes of the people and meeting the expectations of their donors. And when it comes down to it, they are going to do the bidding of donors – because they need to keep funds flowing to fight the next election.
This is why grassroots fundraising is so essential to what we are doing. To take back power, we must find a way of funding our representatives that’s not reliant on huge donations from corporations.
FUNDING SUMMARY FOR THREE ELECTION CAMPAIGNS
The detail for each can be found in the next section.
The Introduction above explains clearly why Scotland must not let this opportunity pass us by. Especially, as it is almost only* in Scotland that the electoral system makes it easy for our solution to come to fruition. (*Wales & New Zealand have the same electoral system so definitely share this Crowdfunder with those you know there to inspire them).
The targets are based on the Electoral Commission’s spending limits set for previous similar elections. To compete against long-established parties, we want to spend the same amount other parties are allowed to spend. Our initial target is £6,576 for the forthcoming by-election. However, the regulated campaign period for the Scottish Parliament Election starts on the 7th of January 2026, which is only a year away, so we also need to start preparing for these now.
For the May 2027 Edinburgh Council Elections, we plan to recruit eighty potential candidates from March 2025. I know that seems a lot. There are 17 wards which elect 3 or 4 councillors per ward. Our plan is to field 4 or 5 candidates per ward. Each candidate will be allocated around 3,500 homes two years ahead so that they can start supporting their constituents before standing to be elected. A bit like a try before you buy.
Short Term Plan 23rd January 2025 Fairmilehead/Colinton Ward Council By-election: £6,576
We are fielding three candidates which gives us three times the spend limit of the other parties. If 10% of the 12,461 people who did not vote in the November by-election vote for us in January, one of us will almost certainly be elected as we only need to come second as two councillors are being elected.
Medium Term Plan 7th May 2026 Scottish Parliament Elections Lothian Region: £193,000
We will register a new party with the Electoral Commission called LOTHIAN PEOPLE and field a candidate in each of the nine Lothian Region constituencies and on the Lothian Regional List. Because the Additional Member Voting System combines first-past-the-post with proportional representation we expect to have a minimum of one MSP elected if not two. (This is the clincher explained in the Introduction).
Long Term Plan 6th May 2027 Edinburgh Local Council Elections for Edinburgh: £148,786
We will field 80 candidates which will give us three to four times more spending than the other parties and three to four times more door-to-door canvassing capacity by candidates. Especially, if these are recruited two years ahead of the elections.
Ultimate Plan 7th May 2026 Scottish Parliament Elections ALL Regions: £1,351,000
We want to inspire the creation of an additional seven regional political parties called CENTRAL SCOTLAND PEOPLE, GLASGOW REGION PEOPLE, HIGHLANDS & ISLANDS PEOPLE, MID SCOTLAND & FIFE PEOPLE, NORTH EAST SCOTLAND PEOPLE, SOUTH SCOTLAND PEOPLE, WEST SCOTLAND PEOPLE. That way 72 candidates will be fielded in all 72 constituencies and in all eight Regional Lists. Including the deposits, each party will be allowed to spend £193,000 for four months from the 7th of January 2026. If this Crowdfunder is sufficiently successful to stretch this far EDINBURGH PEOPLE will donate funds to the new parties. It will be so much easier for us to inspire the creation of these new parties if the funding is already in place to enable each party to run a campaign equal to that of the established political parties.
Over-and-above this, EDINBURGH PEOPLE will need funding for staff to coordinate this work. This means that some of the funds secured through this Crowdfunder will be allocated to employing staff as decided by the membership.
THE PLANS IN DETAIL
SHORT-TERM PLAN – 23rd January 2027 Fairmilehead & Colinton Ward By-election
Bonnie Prince Bob’s 2-minute video, above, is comedy gold. Edinburgh’s problems stare us in the face every day and by all accounts are similar UK-wide. Follow Bob’s YouTube channel Discontent. I am in awe at how his satire cuts.
There is now a second by-election within 10 weeks in the same Fairmilehead and Colinton ward on 23rd January 2025. This represents an almost heaven-sent opportunity to build on what we achieved last time. Two councillors are being elected as two have resigned so one of us only need to come second to become elected councillor.
A total of six independent candidates are standing, including three EDINBURGH PEOPLE candidates – myself (Marc Wilkinson), David Henry, and Nick Hornig, alongside three others including Bonnie Prince Bob.
As a team, the EDINBURGH PEOPLE candidates have three times the firepower canvassing door-to-door and three times the campaigning spend compared to the main parties who are only fielding one candidate each. Each candidate can spend £2192 so as a team we need to raise £6,576 to give us the maximum allowed fund with which to fight the established parties’ decades of supremacy. This is our initial target for EDINBURGH PEOPLE’s Crowdfunder. Read below to see how we eventually plan for EDINBURGH PEOPLE to become the largest party in the City Chambers in the May 2027 Local Elections.
The three of us are standing as independents, however, if elected, we are bound by the constitution of EDINBURGH PEOPLE to vote as per instructed by the majority of the members of the party from within the ward. We have committed to sign an oath of office which binds us to carry out our duties as Councillor in the best interests of the people of Edinburgh with impartiality.
In the last by-election, 485 people gave me their 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th preference. I’ve connected with many of these and roughly 1 in 4 are going public and signing the Statement of Support. So far thirty residents of the ward have signed a Public Statement of Support for EDINBURGH PEOPLE’s three candidates. The plan is for 100 to sign it before we print 12,000 copies and distribute one to every household in the ward. Here is a link to the Statement of Support with the current signatories:
https://marcwilkinson.substack.com/p/statement-of-support-of-edinburgh
In November, the SNP, Labour, & Conservative candidates only secured 800, 1441 & 1454 1st preference votes respectively. Many of their supporters do not want to vote for them. This is getting worse, not better so I expect their votes to fall in the January by-election.
In November, Lib Dems were THE Protest Vote and they won a seat in the ward for the first time with 2683 1st preference votes. The Lib Dem candidate resigned because of confusion caused by putting their house on the market the day after the election and allegations about moving to Dubai. The Lib Dems have destroyed their chances. Their vote will likely plumet below that of the Conservative candidate. Hopefully 300 Lib Dem voters will vote for us, the protest vote that can bring about real change!
I know an entire family of four who had given up on voting who turned out to vote just for me in November. Only 7,446 people voted in November. All we need is to persuade 10% of the 12,461 people who did not vote in November to turnout and to give us their 1st, 2nd & 3rd preference votes and I could almost certainly become councillor.
This Is Our Moment. This election is about more than one candidate—it is about all of us. Together, we can move beyond division and show that solutions come from collaboration.
Let’s create a brighter future - one where everyone’s voice is heard and where politics works for the people.
Please help us reach our initial £6,576 target. The long-term significance of what we are trying to achieve here is huge. Vote Marc Wilkinson with your donation!
LONG-TERM PLAN – 6th May 2027 Local Elections
With your financial support now, and the support soon of hundreds of Edinburgh people, we can be confident that this Crowdfunder will culminate in EDINBURGH PEOPLE winning 17 seats in the 2027 Local Council Elections.
Proportional representation means our candidates only need to come 4th in the 12 wards which elect four councillors and 3rd in the five wards which elect three at which point we will win 17 seats. We will have taken these 17 seats from the current five established parties so EDINBURGH PEOPLE would then almost certainly become the largest party in the City Chambers with the opportunity to lead the next administration.
From March 2025 we will start recruiting eighty Edinburgh & Leith people to come forward to become potential EDINBURGH PEOPLE candidates in the 2027 Local Elections. We need five per ward for the twelve wards that elect four councillors and we need four per ward for the five wards that elect three councillors.
Initially, these 80 people will be EDINBURGH PEOPLE representatives for local neighbourhoods. They will be assigned around 3,500 homes each (around 7,000 people). They will be responsible for delivering leaflets and business cards to their neighbourhood and canvassing door-to-door to introduce themselves. The team of 4 or 5 representatives per ward will man a weekly surgery by rotation within each ward to help residents lobby their councillors. We will coordinate delegations of residents representing groups of residents on specific issues. These will have a lot more influence over their councillors than half a dozen individuals randomly emailing one of 3 or 4 councillors which represent them. This will benefit the councillors as they will feel they can achieve more representing a group of constituents rather than individuals. Our teams of representatives (potential candidates) will also work closely with the Community Councils and community groups.
In 2026, we will have elections in each of Edinburgh’s 17 wards to select the 4 or 5 candidates who will initially commit to standing in May 2027. For each ward, two front-runners will be selected as we will attempt to win two seats per ward. Based on the allowed spending figures of the 2022 local elections the eighty candidates will be allowed to spend between them a total of £148,786 in the space of 5 weeks. It would be fabulous if this Crowdfunder stretches to secure this now because it will make it so much easier for us to recruit our eighty potential candidates if they know that funding for their election campaign is already in place more than two years in advance.
If by this stage, you have decided that you will be supporting our Crowdfunder please consider sharing it via as many channels as possible. The most effective way of sharing is to WhatsApp* the link to a hundred or so people with a comment like: “EDINBURGH PEOPLE is looking for EIGHTY potential candidates to take over the City Chambers! You should apply!” (*Once you have WhatsApped the message to one person you can very quickly forward the message to five contacts at a time and WhatsApp 100 people in ten minutes).
MEDIUM-TERM PLAN – 7th May 2026 Scottish Parliament Elections
In preparation for the Scottish Parliament Elections, very soon a second political party will be formed called LOTHIAN PEOPLE. It takes two to four months to register a party with the Electoral Commission so soon after this Crowdfunder we will register LOTHIAN PEOPLE with the Electoral Commission. Once registered a £500 deposit will secure a place on the ballot on the list for the Lothian Region. This will secure (based on the 2021 figures) the distribution by the Royal Mail of 401,586 election leaflets. LOTHIAN PEOPLE will only need to cover the cost of printing the leaflets which is estimated at £25,000.
For the 2021 elections the allowed spending limit for the four-month regulated campaign period was £80,000 per party on the regional list. In addition, there was a £12,000 spending limit per candidate per constituency. There are nine constituencies per region so fielding nine candidates would allow an additional spending limit of £108,000 (9 x £12,000). This equates to a total spend limit of £188,000 per party per region. An additional £5,000 will be required for the £500 deposits for each of the nine candidates and for standing on the regional list.
The plan is for LOTHIAN PEOPLE to receive a donation from EDINBUGH PEOPLE to cover the deposits and maximum spend limit of £193,000.
Our hope is that this Crowdfunder stretches to secure this required funding of £193,000 now. Especially, as the regulated campaign period starts on 7th January 2026 which is only a year away.
Please refer back to the Introduction where I explain in detail the significance of people having two votes. Worldwide this is unique to Scotland, Wales & New Zealand. It is this which makes our success in the May 2026 Scottish Parliament Elections both realistic and achievable, given the right funding
CONCLUSION
It is up to us now to set aside party-political differences, come together and fix politics for the better by supporting the creation of new local political parties. We need people to come forward first and foremost with funds but also as members and potential candidates.
The more successful this Crowdfunder is the easier it will be to inspire people to come forward as candidates for upcoming elections.
Finally, read on to be blown away by our ultimate plan. If this Crowdfunder scales heights which would normally be unimaginable, we can implement this nae bother. With the required funds in place the hundreds of people required will step forward. Change has never been more needed than now. The time is ripe. Let’s fix politics!
ULTIMATE PLAN
Our ultimate goal is to within a few months inspire the creation of seven additional Regional PEOPLE PARTIES. For the Scottish Parliament Elections these new parties will field candidates in all 72 constituencies as well as candidates on each of the eight lists for Scotland’s eight regions. The deposits and spending limit for each party for each of the regions is the same as for LOTHIAN PEOPLE in the Lothian Region.
CENTRAL SCOTLAND PEOPLE £193,000
GLASGOW REGION PEOPLE £193,000
HIGHLANDS & ISLANDS PEOPLE £193,000
MID SCOTLAND & FIFE PEOPLE £193,000
NORTH EAST SCOTLAND PEOPLE £193,000
SOUTH SCOTLAND PEOPLE £193,000
WEST SCOTLAND PEOPLE £193,000
TOTAL £1,351,000
This may seem like a big task. However, initially the parties do not need any members. They only need three office bearers to come forward for each party and they can register each party with the Electoral Commission.
For the 7th of May 2026 Scottish Parliament Elections, we will need nine candidates per party per region per list at which point we will have teed up an opportunity of phenomenal proportions.
If we achieve this goal in time for the 2026 Scottish Parliament elections the message that Scotland’s eight PEOPLE PARTIES will have for the electorate will be very appealing:
Here are eight new political parties for people to vote for. One per region for the purpose of representing the interests of the people of each region and for which people can vote for via the regional list.
The clincher is that we will not be asking people to change anything about how they have always voted or would otherwise vote for their constituency MSP. So, if they have always voted SNP, Labour or Conservative for example for their constituency MSP then we will not be asking people to change this.
Voting for one’s PEOPLE PARTY on the regional list is not a party-political issue. This means that SNP, Labour, Conservative, Lib Dem and Green Party voters will all be able to vote for their PEOPLE PARTY on the regional list and at the same time for one of the main parties for their constituency MSP.
We only need 6.5% of the voters to like the idea that Scotland should elect eight members of the general public to Holyrood as MSPs who will be free to speak out on the issues that voters want them to address, and free to vote the way the people want them to, genuinely representing all the people’s best interest without the fear of a top-down autocratic party destroying their career or suspending them. These MSPs will need to scream and shout about what their local members want them to scream and shout about.
While campaigning for the November by-election and speaking to 650 people, I struggled to find anyone who disagreed with the value of Scotland electing eight members of the general public to Holyrood.
If 6.5% of the voters put a cross for their PEOPLE PARTY on the Regional List, then Scotland will elect eight MSPs one from each of the eight regional PEOPLE PARTIES. If 13% of Scotland’s voters like the idea there will be sixteen MSPs from Scotland’s eight PEOPLE PARTIES.
What’s not to like?
Thank you very much for reading this far. Please support this project as much as you possibly can.
Please share widely and consider sending the link directly on WhatsApp.
We need this Crowdfunder to be as successful as possible to inspire thousands of people to get involved from across our nation so please share widely. Let’s Go, Scotland!
People worldwide can support us as EDINBURGH PEOPLE is not registered with the Electoral Commission. Once we succeed in Scotland, I hope that people will copy this UK-wide and beyond. Let’s fix politics!
Yours faithfully, Marc
Marc Wilkinson
Party Leader
EDINBURGH PEOPLE
M: +44 7791 843 702
E: marcwilkinson@edinburghpeople.org
W: EdinburghPeople.org
P.S. For those of you in the Fairmilehead & Colinton Ward please do come out and vote for your three EDINBURGH PEOPLE candidates. Especially if you were one of the 12,461 who did not vote in November. The other parties’ candidates may tell you that they want to be your “local champion” who will “represent you in the City Chambers” -but the actual truth is that when councillors from the Conservative, Green, Labour, Lib Dem and SNP parties vote in the City Chambers over 95% if not 99% of the time they vote along party lines as a bloc vote. They do not consider their local electorate from their ward when voting.
Imagine you and I were both Labour councillors and felt strongly about voting in a particular way. If we failed to persuade the majority of the Labour councillors to vote how we wanted, then our votes would be cast in direct opposition to how we wanted to vote. As councillors we wouldn’t be free to vote how we wanted to, let alone vote how our electorate wanted us to.
A vote for EDINBURGH PEOPLE means that you will be properly represented as our constitution dictates that we take guidance and instructions from the members of EDINBURGH PEOPLE from within our ward on how to vote in the City Chambers on your behalf. If one of us becomes elected, then please do join the party (which is free) so that your voice will be heard.
POLICIES PEOPLE CARE ABOUT
Our party is different to the other main parties. New policies must be proposed by members with the initial backing of 10% of the members. A 2/3rds majority vote by members is needed for policies to become party policy. Our strategy is to not rely on career politicians. We encourage local people to join the party who agree with the party's aim of representing ordinary people. Regarding issues that affect us, our right to informed consent represents real democracy. Please join EDINBURGH PEOPLE so that you can propose and vote on policies at our next meeting. Membership fees are voluntary, so do join us.
EDINBURGH PEOPLE was first founded on 27th April 2024 with a dozen members. As a new and growing party, we are gradually developing our policies. We aim to have a comprehensive manifesto ready for May 2025, one year before the May 2026 Scottish Parliament elections.
Local Democracy
Our elected representatives must take instructions from the members of EDINBURGH PEOPLE from within the ward on how to vote on their behalf. This is true representative democracy: the opposite of autocratic top-down parties which whip their Councillors, MSPs and MPs into voting along party lines or face a disciplinary procedure.
Business Support
Encourage new small businesses to lease empty shops by offering them a 2-year rates relief holiday to help them get past the 18-month period within which most small businesses fail. Increase the VAT threshold from £90,000 to £300,000 to incentivise small one-man-band & family businesses to grow. It will level the playing field with multinationals who enjoy economies of scale and greater purchasing power.
Women’s Equal Rights
Equal rights are a central and important issue to ensure that men and women are treated equally and must be protected. Women’s rights are under threat and the Equality Act 2010 is not sufficiently clear and is not sufficiently publicly supported. The Equality Act 2010 enshrines in law that “Sex” is one of the nine protected characteristics. Equal sex-based rights must be protected to help Scotland be a more equal society and that requires that “Sex” means biological sex. Support all equal rights and women’s equal rights by ensuring that in Edinburgh there is no room for bullying of any group and that women’s rights are protected by the provisions in the Equality Act 2010. It is not acceptable to engage in intimidation by making, sending or posting threats of violence – including towards women who are concerned about their sex-based rights. Law enforcement authorities will be directed to investigate such messages.
Education
Improving literacy and numeracy in Primary Schools is a priority. We will spend time and money researching the best practices so these can be rolled out providing teachers the support they need. We cannot afford to let standards drop further. We also recognise parents’ central role in a child’s education. The Scottish Government’s own Statutory Teaching Guidance for relationships, sexual health and parenthood (RSHP) states: “Parents and carers play a key role in all aspects of their children’s education”. In practice, the Scottish Government fails to inform parents of what their child is being taught and does not proactively seek their consent about controversial subjects. Parents are excluded from the decision-making process and are assumed to have given consent. As well as supporting teachers, parents must be empowered in their children’s education to ensure that every child is offered the best education. Our policy is to ensure parents are informed of the RSHP topics at the start of each term, proactively requesting all parents’ consent or decision to opt-out their child from certain topics. It is time to empower parents.
Scottish Independence Referendum
We support the inalienable right of the people of Scotland to self-determination and we support the right to vote on any constitutional change.
Scottish Independence
Our members have decided to set aside party-political differences, come together and fix politics for the better that way everyone will benefit. Our policy on Scottish Independence is to be neutral and to not have a policy in favour of or against Scottish Independence. Once 2/3rds of the members decide that we should have a policy then we will vote on whether the party should become pro-independence or pro-union. Our members include pro-independence and pro-union members. We have decided on this approach because the priority for EDINBURGH PEOPLE is to have as many members, voters and candidates as possible and to secure as many elected representatives as possible soon.
Social Care
Protect the Social Care budget and oppose any cuts by the Council to these important services. Increase financial support for carers who are caring for loved ones and are facing financial difficulties as a result. Many carers are in extreme hardship due to being unable to keep working alongside their caring responsibility – sometimes having to resort to using foodbanks. No-one should be penalised for caring for their loved ones.
Community Support
The Tourist Tax should fund initiatives for local communities and not for visitors. Enhance the central support and funding for amateur sports clubs across Edinburgh. We will seek to provide new or upgraded floodlit Astro football pitches or other sports facilities in half a dozen outskirt regions of Edinburgh to empower communities to inspire their children to be active and improve their leadership and team skills and their mental wellbeing. We want everyone to be able to enjoy these benefits, wherever they live in Edinburgh and whatever their personal circumstances.
Roads
The Roads Budget should target long-term resurfacing rather than short-term repairs. We propose to learn best practices from other councils regarding coordinating the different utilities digging up the roads. Other councils around the country are a lot better at this than Edinburgh. More detailed policies will follow once we have investigated the best practices.
Climate Change
Our overall shared aim is to have a healthy planet to leave the next generation, with the least possible disruption to human rights and normal life. We want to see research into which environmental measures will work to everybody’s satisfaction (without harming our civil rights). We think people should have a say in decisions that affect them. This means carrying out a harms-benefits analysis for different possible measures.
Some measures that are intended to reduce emissions are not very effective (such as electric vehicles). Others are ‘benefits’ that the majority of people may not actually value – like the ability to replace a defunct computer every couple of years. That’s probably something that everyone would be prepared to swap for other benefits, if we can provide a good alternative, whereas the freedom to choose when and where you wish to travel is impossible to replace with an alternative.
Let’s review “Net Zero” targets. More time is needed to evaluate which policies are working and which are not before they are rolled out.
Reverse and stop the implementation of new Low Traffic Neighbourhoods. Evidence from around the country shows that these are making car journeys longer. Forcing more traffic on the main arteries is causing congestion and more pollution for buses, taxis, cyclists and pedestrians.
The roll out of Electric Vehicles (EV)should be slowed to evaluate how environmentally sustainable this policy is. For example, EVs involved in minor accidents are having their batteries replaced because of the uncertainty over their safety. This is pushing up car insurance premiums higher and is not environmentally friendly. Instead, we should (for example) legislate for longer-life personal electronic items, and for the right-to-repair these; and explore new possibilities for using recycled materials, and non-toxic renewable materials, in construction and fabrication. We should strengthen clean air and water regulation.
We are backing the right of the people to be informed of the costs and benefits of all the proposed measures and plans, and to have their wishes and interests represented.
Farming
Increase the farming budget and focus on supporting smaller farms to keep farmland in use. Productive land must be farmed. Ban arable land from being used for solar farms as Italy recently has – there are better places for solar, elsewhere.
Investigate ways to empower farmers in the uneven power dynamic they face with the big supermarkets who buy their produce. Help farmers sell their produce directly to the public by creating an online ordering and delivery portal managed by Edinburgh Council like offline traditional farmers’ markets are. Change planning laws to support farm shops with zero business rates.
NHS and Health
STOP any further privatisation of the NHS and reverse the privatisation that has already been implemented. The benefits of the NHS’s economies of scale and purchasing power are enormous. What drives the NHS must be improving the care and health of patients and not profit.
Support good nutrition. The more unhealthy and ill people are the more profits there are to be made from ill-health by private healthcare companies and pharmaceutical companies. We believe medical students and nursing students should receive more in-depth education on nutrition, which could prevent much illness. Our policy is to increase the focus on prevention and cures rather than focusing primarily on treating symptoms.
Implement policies to increase the number of doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals. We urgently need to reduce the length of NHS waiting lists – the only way to do this is to hire more medical professionals, and to provide them with the support they need to do their jobs.
Medical Autonomy
Medical interventions should not be mandated and forced onto people, as happened to NHS staff in 2022 with the Covid vaccine. NHS staff were mandated to be Covid-vaccinated by February 2022 or risk losing their job. So many had chosen to resign and lose their job rather than take the vaccine that the NHS mandate policy had to be reversed. Since then, the uptake of the Covid vaccine among frontline medical staff dropped to 24% in Autumn 2023 and 14% in Autumn 2024. It is immoral to violate medical autonomy and mandate medical treatment.
Defence & Foreign Affairs
We will always call for a ceasefire and a negotiated peace in all conflicts. People never want war, only those who profit from war do. With regards to Gaza, we advocate for an immediate, permanent ceasefire & hostage deal in the current situation, and we support a new political settlement that recognises the equal worth of Palestinian and Israeli life.
Oppose plans to increase the Defence budget. We will invest in building peace to make a genuinely secure world to leave our children.
Telecoms Infrastructure
All telecom masts should require full planning consent. Many people are dismayed at the rate at which these 50-foot masts are being erected in their neighbourhoods. In a recent 12-month period there were 4509 objections lodged against 17 planning applications for 5G masts in Edinburgh.
Planning law allows for only properties within 20 meters of the boundary of the property where the mast is proposed to be officially informed about the planning application. Our policy would be to increase this radius to 200 meters for 50-foot telecom masts as these should not be governed by the same law that governs the planning application for a garden shed.
A full planning application is needed in conservation areas because the 50-foot masts might be too ugly for beautiful neighbourhoods. Outwith conservation areas, full planning permission is not needed as permission has already been granted by the government. For these all that is needed is that the planning authority is informed and for them to agree that they do not need planning permission. Our policy is that all of Edinburgh’s neighbourhoods deserve the same treatment because these 50-foot masts are ugly irrespective of where they are.
Our policy includes a fully costed risk-benefit analysis which would include full disclosure of the Telecoms company’s public liability insurance cover, which is currently impossible to obtain. Our policy will inform residents properly and provide them with an effective mechanism for their informed voices to be heard irrespective of where they live.