Take Action 4: Convert your MP!

Step 1: Find out if your MP supports the campaign

First, find out if your MP has already signed EDM 1200, by looking at the EDM website where you can see a list of MPs who have signed EDM 1200. Obviously, if they have signed EDM 1200, you don’t need to ask them to do so again, but you could email or write to thank them for their support for the campaign. You can also use this webpage to check up on your MP to see if they sign up after you contact them!

If they haven’t signed EDM 1200, it’s still possible that they’ve supported this campaign before. In the 2005-06 Parliamentary session, EDM 407 calling for an end to development aid for oil was signed by 137 MPs. Find out if your MP was one of these by looking at the list of MPs who signed EDM 407.

If your MP signed the last EDM, they should be supportive of the Ditch Dirty Development campaign. This is worth bearing in mind when you contact them, and it’s definitely worth pointing out the similarity between the two EDMs and that as they signed EDM 407, they should be happy to sign EDM 1200!

You can also use the recent policy papers published by the Lib Dems and the Tories, which are supportive of the Ditch Dirty Development campaign. Obviously this is great material to persuade Lib Dem or Tory MPs, but you can use it on Labour MPs too - just point out that there’s growing political consensus on this issue from both the major opposition parties and that they’re looking increasingly isolated.

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Step 2: Lobby your MP to sign EDM 1200

You can contact your MP in a number of different ways. The more people who lobby each MP on this issue, the more likely it is that they will sign EDM 1200, so why not use the ideas on this page to get lots of other people to contact your MP too:

• Email your MP

• Write a letter or organise a letter writing stall or event

• Lobby your MP face-to-face

However you choose to lobby your MP, you can make it really easy for them to sign EDM 1200 by either emailing or printing out this EDM table form. This is the form they need to sign and give in to the Table Office in Parliament to add their signature to the EDM.

ACTION 1: email your MP

Emails to MPs can be remarkably effective, and your MP should respond to you individually, just as if you’d written a letter. Writing your own email in your own words will be more effective, and the MP will take more notice than if they receive lots of identical emails.

The easiest way to email your MP is to use WriteToThem.com, a website where you put in your postcode and can send an email directly to your MP.

We’ve produced a sample letter with some key arguments that you can use to write your own email. You can also use the Ditch Dirty Development campaign summary as a reminder of the key messages of the campaign.

Spread the word by emailing the other members of your P&P group, or interested friends, and asking them to email their MP too. This is an action that really doesn’t take long, but the more people who email MPs the more effective it will be!

ACTION 2: write a letter or organise a letter writing event

Writing to MPs is a traditional and effective way to get your point across. As well as writing yourself, it’s easy to organise a letter-writing stall or event to make sure your MP receives lots of letters on the subject.

You can use this sample letter as the basis for your letter. Adapt it and use your own words to make it more effective.

Once you’ve adapted it, why not print out a bunch of the letters for other people in your group to sign at a group meeting, or to use on a stall. You could make sure the print-outs have space for people to write their own hand-written comments too. Print out the EDM table form for people to enclose with their letter to make it really easy for their MP to sign EDM 1200.

This will work even better if you bring envelopes and stamps so that it’s really easy for people to send the letters too.

ACTION 3: lobby your MP in person

Your MP will hold regular ‘surgeries’ in their constituency. These give you the perfect opportunity to go and lobby them to sign EDM 1200. You can go individually, or as a group.

Phone, email or write to your MP´s office to arrange a meeting. Let them know how many of you there will be. If your MP says he or she is not available to meet with you, keep trying. Remember that your MP is not doing you a favour by meeting you - they are simply doing their job.

Before the meeting

Get familiar with the campaign aims and issues. Read the report, if you have time. If not, read the campaign summary and the campaign demands.

Identify a few key points that you want to make and make notes that you can refer to in the meeting. If you´re going as a group, decide in advance who will say what.

Contact the P&P support office for advice and info on the most up-to-date political developments.

At the meeting

Be confident and polite. Remember that you’re important to your MP as they want you to vote for them, and it’s your right to see them and voice your opinion.

Make sure that you stick to your key points. Make sure that you ask them to sign EDM 1200. If they are non committal, politely push them for a response.

If your MP agrees to sign the EDM, thank them and repeat the commitment back to them: “so, you will sign EDM 1200, is that correct?” Why not give them the EDM table form to sign on the spot!

If your MP asks a question that you can´t answer, don´t panic. You aren´t expected to be an expert. Offer to find out the information and send it to the MP after the meeting. You can always email the P&P office if you need help finding answers to any questions.

Take notes during the meeting of what your MP says, and in particular, any commitments he/she makes.

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Step 3: Follow up your action

Whether you write, email or meet with your MP, following up will make your action much more likely to be effective. If you email or write, you should get a response, and if you don’t think your MP has answered your concerns, you should write back to point out why.

If you meet with your MP, it’s polite to write to or email your MP to thank them for meeting with you. This is a good opportunity to confirm in writing, and thank them for, any commitment that they made, which makes it harder for them not to follow up! Send on any information that you said you would find.

Check up on your MP on this list of MPs who have signed EDM 1200. It’s updated every day, so you can keep watch over whether your MP lives up to their commitments. If they don’t sign up, why not send another email to give them a nudge in the right direction.

Keep your MP updated on any other campaigning action that your group takes on the Ditch Dirty Development campaign, and on the progress of the campaign more generally. If they aren´t supportive to start with, showing that your action is part of something bigger might help swing their opinion.

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