Meet your MP with these seven easy steps

My name is Evie and I am a member of Plan’s Youth Advisory Panel. This year Plan International UK has joined a coalition of organisations which are working worldwide to put pressure on governments and international leaders to work on issues like climate change, inequality and poverty. I organised a meeting with my newly elected MP Catherine West to discuss the development of these issues and raise my concerns.

People have told me that they have struggled to organise a meeting with their MP, with the main reason being – lack of response and an expired email address on the website. So I’ve put together a few tips that worked for me and I hope these tips can help you organise a successful meeting with your MP too!

Send an email

Go onto your MP’s personal website (most of them have one) and look at the ‘contact me’ section. This section of the website will normally contain an email address to which I suggest you send an email containing your name, age, your address (they are only obliged to reply if you are a constituent of theirs) and why you want to organise a meeting with them. 

Give them a call

On the contact section of the website there is also normally a phone number to call which is worth trying as often MPs will have a lot of emails to catch up on and a phone call can be more direct, if there is no response try again in a couple of days. 

If all else fails…

If you fail to find any contact information on the website (or they have no website) then you can find every MP’s email and phone number in the United Kingdom on the Parliment website. Most MPs have separate Parliament and a constituency email addresses, so to make sure to use the latter.

Also, MPs hold regular “surgeries”. These are sessions where MPs block out time to meet with local constituents. They usually happen on a Friday or at the weekend. Times are advertised on their websites, or call their office to ask. When you book a meeting, ask how long the meeting will last and let them know if you will bring anyone along with you.

Plan

Know the key areas you want to talk about and outline how your MP can help.

Relax

As I was walking to my meeting I was a little nervous, but the meeting actually went really well so don’t be too worried, politicians tend to be quite good at talking so conversation flows well!  

Take a picture

It is a good idea to ask to take a picture together with the MP, which you can share on social media. 

Follow up the meeting with a thank you

After the meeting, send a thank you email or letter and reiterate any of the points you made, re-state any promises or commitments they made, and let them know that you will be following the progress. 

Good luck setting up a meeting with your MP and if you do, let me know how it goes.

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