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Lobby your MP

If we are going to persuade the Treasury to clean up RBS investments and use it to fund the transition to a low-carbon economy, we need the help of MPs.

The Government now owns RBS. It is your MP’s job to oversee this and represent the interests of their constituents - YOU. However, they will only do this if you ask them to. It is crucial for the campaign that as many people as possible lobby their MP.

How to lobby your MP:

Set up a meeting:

  • Find out who they are. Go to theyworkforyou.com and type in your address/postcode.

  • Google their name and find their website (almost every MP has a website). Get their phone number from their website.

  • Find out if they signed Early Day Motion 880 - a parliamentary petition about RBS and Climate Change. They can’t sign it anymore, but it’ll be good to know if they supported us.

  • Work out what you want to do - if you want to meet them in their office, or if you want to hand them a petition/action cards and get a photo in the student paper, etc.

  • Ring their office and ask for an appointment to see them. Don’t be shy – they are your MP, and they will be pleased to talk to you and hear what you have to say (even if they disagree with you).

Before the meeting:

  • Ring the People & Planet support office on 01865 245678 and speak to our Climate Change team about your visit. It’s really important for us to know who is being lobbied, and we can give you the most up to date info.

  • Agree what you want your MP to do. Our key asks for MPs at the moment are below, but you may have other things you want (like coming to a public meeting, or campaign stunt, or writing to your VC about RBS recruitment on campus). The key asks for your MP are:

a) Write to the Chancellor George Osborne and Business Secretary, Vince Cable, calling on them to use their power over RBS to ensure they switch funds from fossil fuels to renewables.

b) Provide a quote for a press release to your local paper supporting the campaign.

  • Agree who will say what to her/him. You should let the MPs office know if there will be a photo op – they may want to use the photo for their newsletter, and can often help with press work.

  • Read up on the latest developments in the campaign and print off anything you want to make reference to during the meeting

At the meeting - what to ask for

  • Be charming and friendly, but firm. The MP may well want to chat for a while. This is sometimes just because they are friendly, but it can also be because they want to get off the hook. You may need to steer the conversation gently back towards RBS and your key asks.

  • Make sure you give them the briefing paper – ideally at the beginning of the meeting. Also give one to their researcher.

  • If they say they support you, ask them if they will agree to the campaign asks:

a) Write to the Chancellor and Business Secretary calling on them to use their power over RBS to ensure they switch funds from fossil fuels to renewables (and say you can provide a draft letter).

b) Give you a quote for a press release to your local paper/student paper supporting the campaign.

  • If they ask questions, answer them if you know the answers. If you don’t, don’t worry, and don’t make it up. You are not there as an expert. You are there as a concerned constituent. Say you will find them the answer, and get back to them. Write down the question, and contact the P&P office to get the answer on 01865 245678 or email us

  • If they make arguments against, do your best to persuade them. They may just be testing the arguments. Even if they don’t agree with your arguments, you can still ask them to write to the Chancellor - it is their duty as your MP to represent and pass on your views to the government.

After the meeting

  • Email them and their researcher to thank them for the meeting – no matter how well or badly it has gone. If they agreed to do anything, remind them of what it was. If they didn’t agree to do anything offer them the chance to do so again. Attach another copy of the briefing. They have probably lost the one you gave them.

  • Ring their researcher to follow up on any action points. The chances are they will be the person actually doing it.

  • Ring the Climate Change Team at People & Planet to tell us how it went (01865245678). This is really important as we need to monitor who has been lobbied.