Whilst we absolutely encourage diversity, personal choice, discussion, development and growth, there are certain requirements that must be met in order for us to operate effectively as a political entity and to maintain a distinct identity.  The following rules must therefore be applied to and accepted by all Members (for the avoidance of doubt, this includes the Party Leader and the Leadership Committee (LC)) with appropriate sanctions for those who are found to have violated them.

IF YOU WILL NOT OR CANNOT ACCEPT THESE RULES AS A REQUIREMENT OF YOUR MEMBERSHIP YOU SHOULD NOT APPLY TO JOIN

1.    The party does not tolerate any form of conscious discrimination and welcomes the participation of those of any and all faiths, genders, sexual preferences, races, and protected and minority groups, so long as the individuals are in agreement with and support the Party’s Core Principles.  
         a.    If any Member or applicant Member believes there may be unconscious or systemic discrimination in party policy or processes this should be reported to the LC as soon as possible, and the LC is obliged to debate the report and determine remedial action where appropriate.  
         b.    The nature of such a report, and the LC’s formal response to it, will be published on this website (note that the identity of the reporting Member or applicant will not be published).

2.    All Members must fully support the Party’s Core Principles in any formal public discussions or debates, even if they do not agree with limited, specific elements of them.

3.    All formally submitted Member policy proposals and party policy positions must align with the Core Principles in a meaningful way (except where a proposal is submitted with the intent to revise a specific Principle).

4.    Members may choose to disagree with specific policy positions in formal public discussions, so long as their objections align to the Party’s Core Principles, however this can only be on a limited basis.  As a democratic party, the SPP agrees to abide by the majority party view, which should be reflected in the published policy positions, so repeated formal public opposition to party policies by a Member may result in sanctions or expulsion.

5.    The Party’s Core Principles are to be reflected privately as well as publicly in Members’ behaviour wherever it is practical and possible to do so, as we cannot expect to influence wider politics if we do not act in a manner consistent with our Core Principles. This particularly applies to LC members overall, and to any individual Member’s tax arrangements.

6.    Debate and compromise are essential to the health of the party, and since all Members should be substantially aligned to the Party’s Core Principles, we each must assume that any Member who disagrees or objects to any topic in any debate is doing so from a place of good faith, rather than to be obstructive or difficult.  Therefore all Members must be open to and fairly consider any reasonable proposals and arguments made by other Members, and engage in any such discussions with courtesy and respect.  Where there is no resolution of divergent opinions or points of view on debated topics between individual members after fair consideration has been given, they must "agree to disagree" and move on to alternative topics.  Where the debate is between several party members, it may be desirable for the issue to be proposed for a party vote to resolve the Party's formal position on the matter.  Please note that bullying or coercion of party members will not be tolerated.

7.    Members’ Votes and Priority Votes will be conducted online through a secure area of this website, with one vote per Member.  The winning vote for resolution of a topic will usually be a simple majority, but the LC may set minimum thresholds for specific votes, to be confirmed alongside the proposal being voted upon (note that Priority Votes to revise existing policy positions, rules or processes will be more likely to have a minimum threshold requirement). Where a vote is held with the deciding outcome being based on a simple majority requirement and there is a tie, the casting vote shall be made by the Party Leader, or, in their absence, by the Deputy Leader.

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8.    These rules may be subject to change at the sole discretion of the Party Leader as the party grows, until the party reaches 50 members, at which point any changes will need to be proposed and voted for approval through the process referenced in rule 7.

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