How to engage in dialogue with your MP.
Writing a letter
to your Member of Parliament probably
is the best way to start the dialogue.
It's widely reported that
MPs are more likely to read and reply to letters printed on paper,
signed in person by hand and sent in the post than by any other means.
E-mail and social media posts are so quick, easy, anonymous and numerous
they tend not to carry the same weight as an 'old style' letter
signed in person by hand and received by post.
As a starting point you could
use one of the sample letters provided on this web site
- such as 1 - basic
The sample letter text is free to copy from the
web page, paste into any text editor
where it should be
tailored and amended to make it your own.
Ideally a letter to your MP will be tailored to whether they are in government, or the opposition; already strongly supportive of action to address global warming, or not.
So if you can,
find out somebackground on your MP
including their stance and record to date on the Climate Crisis. Most MPs have their own web site, so this is usually a good place to start finding out about them. Your letters can then be personalised which will be much more likely to start a dialogue.
It is generally recomended to
start by introducing yourself,
let your MP know you are resident in their constituency,
describe your personal, heartfelt, concern about Climate Change, and
any personal observations of local evidence being felt of Climate Change and its effects.
It may be temping to express your concern about the lack of action about Climate Change as a negatively framed rant. However this is unlikely to be at all effective.
Your MP is much more likely to engage in a dialogue
if you reach out positively seeking their help.
Rather than regarding them as the enemy.
Building a continuing and constructive dialogue with your MP
is the absolute primary objective
- not getting into a long running argument with them.
The purpose of writing to your MP is to contribute to the issue becoming ever more present in your MP's thinking (and voting). Any single letter or dialogue is unlikely to change any behaviour over night. But your monthly letters combined with a few thousand other similar letters from other voters in their constituency added to ever increasing news stories already evidencing damaging climate change, added to statements from respected mainstream Climate Scientists, the United Nations and others, all builds positive pressure for action.
Dont stop if the dialogue seems to be one sided. Your MP may not even reply. However, they are very likely to count up the number of letters recieved regarding each issue and the more there are regarding climate change the more likley they are to take the issue more seriously.
Seek to build on any positive existing pro Climate Action
your MP has already taken, and urging them very strongly
to do much more is highly recomended
and much more likely to yield results than simply accusing them of failure to act thus far.
Appraising them of varifiable facts which also support the need for action (such as evidence and headline statements from the UN IPCC, UK CCC and the Governments own Strategy to Zero Carbon) can all also be helpful in drawing their attention to objective truths rather than confronting them with merely subjective opinions.
Once you have written to your MP we recommend waiting for 3-4 weeks for a reply.
If your MP does reply, use their response as the starting point for your next letter.
If you receive no response from your MP after 3 or 4 weeks, we recomend sending a follow-up, asking if they received your first, asking for a response and also repeating the call for greater action.
Regardless of whether your MP responds to your letters and engauges in a dialogue, or not, we recomend continuing to send a new one each month, bringing in a new theme each time (such as those given in the sample letters provided on this web site) so that after a period of time there is a body of work which starts to take in the breadth of the many areas that need to be tackled.
Regardless of whether your MP responds to your letters and engauges in a dialogue, ideally we would also recomend asking to meet them in person
to discuss the issues.
This may sound a bit daunting and very serious. But meeting your MP in person is usually a fairly easy and low key affair. Your MP is your elected representative, so bringing your serious concerns to their attention about any genuine issue is what they are there for. They have a duty as your elected representative to listen and note any genuine worries and concerns. Consequently, most people find actually meeting and talking with their MP illuminating and interesting, not intimidating at all.
Ideally, if you have been able to join forces with others, seek to meet with your MP in a small group. it is likely to be even less daunting, more likely to happen, and also carry more weight with your MP. There is more information on this here.
If at all possible,
maintain the dialogue with you MP as long as you can.
If your MP changes at the next election,
start a new dialogue with the new MP.
For most of us,
continuing to nudge, encourage and push those in power
(our elected representatives)
to drastically cut CO2 production by 2030
is the most important and meaningful thing we can do
to limit Global Warming.