Political lobbying

Meetings of a political parties Councillors are not public meetings. This is despite the fact that a political ‘line’ (or ‘The Whip’) will often be agreed at such meetings for an item of Council business that could include the funding of a particular voluntary organisation. Once the ‘line’ has been agreed, unless given special dispensation, Councillors voting outside of the agreed policy can be disciplined by their political party and, in extreme cases, have the ‘Whip’ withdrawn. This means that they can no longer represent their party as a Councillor, and they must withdraw from their party’s group, though their status as a member of the local authority remains.
It is therefore important to find out when the group meeting of the largest party in the Council meets (and/or the political parties whose combined membership is larger than the ruling group) and lobby sympathetic Councillors to argue against the funding cut.
If it is possible to identify supporters who are members of the respective political parties, they can lobby Councillors directly and/or argue in support of the organisation at their political party branch or constituency meetings.
Whilst it would appear to be logical to lobby the local Member of Parliament to put pressure on local Councillors over a particular decision (especially ifthey are a representative of the same political party as the ruling Council group), in practice MPs may be reluctant to interfere with a local decision-making process which is outside of their jurisdiction. This does not mean local MPs should not be lobbied as secondary targets, but it should be recognised that the extent of their influence will be dependent on the quality of their relationship with the Council and individual Councillors.