Fair regulation for non-medical aesthetic injectors
- 5,069 Signatures
Non-medical aesthetic injectors play a vital role in Scotland's beauty and wellness industry, offering accessible cosmetic treatments such as Botox and dermal fillers. While safety is paramount, banning these professionals is neither a practical nor fair solution. Instead, introducing robust regulation would ensure a higher standard of care while preserving consumer choice and protecting livelihoods.
A complete ban risks driving treatments underground, where unregulated and untrained individuals could operate without oversight, significantly increasing risks to public safety. By contrast, regulation would mandate accredited training, ongoing education, and adherence to strict safety protocols, ensuring injectors have the necessary knowledge to perform procedures responsibly.
Proper regulation, not prohibition, fosters a safer, more equitable industry while retaining the diversity of expertise and affordability that consumers value. Let us prioritise improvement over exclusion.
Make non-fatal strangulation a standalone criminal offence in Scotland
- 2,078 Signatures
Non-fatal strangulation (NFS) is increasingly recognised as a severe form of domestic abuse. In June 2022, England & Wales made NFS a standalone crime, followed by Ireland in 2023. Scotland must urgently address the dangers posed by NFS. NFS is a significant predictor of homicide in abusive relationships, with victims being 8 times more likely to be killed. The act can cause brain damage, organ failure, mental ill health, and death. Victims often describe NFS as a near-death experience, with 80% suffering lasting impacts. Women are disproportionately affected, with a 2024 review showing that 81% of NFS victims were women, and 97% of perpetrators were male. The introduction of NFS legislation in England & Wales has revealed the extent of this crime. Between June and December 2022, 8,375 NFS offences were reported, with 971 charges. These figures reflect the prevalence and urgency of addressing this form of abuse. Scotland must follow the example set to protect women and girls by making NFS a standalone crime.
Make it illegal to remove all the hair from a horse’s tail
- 36 Signatures
The tail is an extension of the horse's spine, made up of two parts: the dock, the skin and muscles covering the vertebrae; and long hairs (the skirt) that fall below the dock. It is a vital part of the horse’s anatomy serving several functions: balance and temperature regulation, pest deterrence, and communication of the horse’s mood.
The practice of completely docking a horse’s tail was banned in 1949.
Many horse breeders try to present their horses in a “historic manner”. As they cannot dock the tail, they remove all the hair from the tail, leaving the bare stump. That practice is cosmetic and can cause the horse stress, as well as exposing the horse to, or hiding, other conditions.
An alternative to removing tail hair is braiding which keeps the hair out of harm's way and can be undone easily allowing the tail to function as it should.
Make publicly owned buildings accessible for people with colour blindness
- 54 Signatures
Colour blindness, mainly an impaired ability to distinguish between red and green, affects about one in twelve Scottish men and one in two hundred women. Despite this frequency very little if anything has been done to make life easier for colour blind people, indeed things are slightly worse. For example, once the signage on public toilet doors was 'vacant' or 'engaged' but now it is usually red or green and the recent proliferation of unisex toilet cubicles drives men to use cubicles when before a urinal in a men only toilet would have been used. Hospitals use red and green lines to direct patients and graphs on government documents use colour to differentiate trends.
Just a few examples.
Ensure abortion services are available up to 24 weeks across all parts of Scotland
- 799 Signatures
I previously called for this action as part of [petition PE1969: Amend the law to fully decriminalise abortion in Scotland] (https://petitions.parliament.scot/petitions/PE1969) and feel that this aspect was not responded to by the Scottish Government during the consideration of that petition.
Recent media reports suggest that there is only one doctor in Scotland who is trained to provide surgical abortions up to the legal limit, which is forcing vulnerable people to travel to England to end their pregnancies.
STV news have reported that “the number of women and girls travelling to England from Scotland for abortion care has been rising – going from 42 in 2021 to 65 in 2022 and 68 in 2023. By April this year, 26 women were already forced to make the journey”.
Funding for general practice has always been too low for service provision and currently sits at 8% of the total NHS Scotland budget, while accounting for approximately 80% of the work done in healthcare provision.
The impact of poor funding is multifaceted and adversely affects areas of socio-economic deprivation, like Drumchapel, as well as highland and rural areas. This causes widening health inequalities and poorer health outcomes for communities.
Many primary care buildings are well overdue renovation or complete replacement throughout the country, and often hospital buildings get preference for capital funding.
Improving the building stock of general practice, by ensuring enough treatment rooms that meet health and safety and infection control requirements, will significantly improve appointment availability. Better community health, as well as having a positive impact on presentations to emergency departments, is much easier to achieve as a result.
MSPs continue to ignore Parliament’s motion of 26.09.2012: “Parliament acknowledges the sovereign right of the Scottish people to determine the form of government best suited to their needs and declares and pledges that in all its actions and deliberations their interests shall be paramount”
The First Minister recently stated “I have complete faith in the People of Scotland to take the right decisions about their future. If we give them the tools, they can build whatever country they want” (SNP 2024 Annual Conference)
This petition provides access to such tools - direct Political Rights (e.g. Initiatives and Referendums) applicable to devolved legislation. Access to other ICCPR rights would allow the People to guide nation-building.
The Scottish Human Rights (HR) Commission has stated “The Scotland Act 1998 requires both the Scottish Parliament and Government to observe and implement all the UK’s international HR obligations” (4th Feb.2024 Report to the UN HR Committee, page 15)
Expand ScotRail’s Inter7City routes to include Dunfermline
- 138 Signatures
[The Scottish Government has announced it will seek a replacement for the High Speed Train (HST) fleet which operates on its InterCity routes] (https://www.transport.gov.scot/news/scotland-to-get-new-intercity-fleet-1/#:~:text=The%20Scottish%20Government%20announced%20today,Edinburgh%2C%20Aberdeen%2C%20and%20Inverness.) and is committed to moving more people from road to rail.
This creates an opportunity to expand the InterCity routes to include Dunfermline. This would improve connectivity between all of Scotland’s major cities whilst helping boost the long awaited Alloa-Dunfermline link.
Current express services have seen tangible benefits to similar sized cities of Stirling and Perth whilst boosting access between Inverness, Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, and Glasgow.
Dunfermline has 1 train a day in each direction to Perth; all other services only serve Edinburgh.
Providing hub stations in Fife, at Inverkeithing and Markinch, allows express services to connect with commuter communities. The West Fife area is underserved by rail, which sees huge numbers across all stations, set on the backdrop of new housing developments.
The Education (Scotland) Act 1918 integrated Catholic schools into the public system, ensuring support for their religious identity. However, the absence of standardised demand assessment and funding support has led to regional inconsistencies in access to Catholic education. Councils like Aberdeen face barriers to establishing Catholic schools despite demand, unlike councils in Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Dundee. This petition calls consistent and equitable standards that ensure access to Catholic education across Scotland.
A set, standardised criteria would provide standards to objectively assess demand, which would help local authorities avoid arbitrary thresholds or inconsistent measures in their decision making. A standardised consultation process would guarantee that all community voices are given equal representation, thus creating a more inclusive process.
Grant Scottish rivers, including the River Clyde, the legal right to personhood
- 443 Signatures
The [Universal Declaration of River Rights (UDRR, 2020) was first developed by Earth Law Center in 2017] (https://www.earthlawcenter.org/river-rights) and provides a framework of six minimum rights that are possessed by rivers.
Our podcast, 'Who owns the Clyde?', centres around the unrealised potential of the Clyde due to fragmented ownership and inconsistent stewardship. Granting the Clyde legal personhood would enable ecological and common human interests to thrive.
International examples of granting legal personhood to rivers as a means of protecting natural habitats and the common good include:
* Whanganui River, New Zealand granted personhood in 2017
* Hundreds of Bangladesh's rivers were legally designated as living people in 2019
* 2021, Canada's Magpie River, called the Mutuhekau Shipu by the Innu First Nation, gained legal personhood.
We held three well-attended events joined by residents, Leader of the Glasgow City Council Susan Aitken, Councillor Graham Campbell, Paul Sweeney MSP, Councillor Holly Bruce, and former MSPs Sandra Whyte and Andy Wightman.