Meeting Your MP: Make Big Change With Small Actions

 MPs in every constituency are (or should be) still holding their regular surgeries. I recently arranged an appointment with my MP and although I got the usual scripted answers, I did get one small action - a promise to write to the Secretary of State recording her opposition to vaccine passports in parkrun events. This is of course tiny, but every time an MP agrees to protect one community event from vaccine passports, it helps to hold back the tide of the entire scheme becoming universal. 

Another thing we can achieve from meetings like this is the simple act of making the politicians look you in the eye. The more they have to confront the harm they have done to real people sitting in front of them, the more their conscience will start to stir back to life. We can apply pressure bit by bit and make our voices heard directly to them, making them more likely to do the right thing in the commons. 

So, here are a few things I have learnt from my research and my own recent experience on having an effective meeting with your MP. 

1. Relate your concerns to a local issue. Most MPs will never agree to completely oppose vaccine passports for example, but if you ask them to provide assurance that a specific community event or space will remain open to all (e.g. libraries, parkrun events, parks, job centres) they are much more likely to agree. 

2. Research what issues are important to your MP. This will make them feel important and make them more likely to help you, but also most issues can be used to apply pressure and point out any hypocrisy from them over the last 18 months. Just go to their website and click on the 'Campaigns' section.

3. Prepare notes and leave a copy with them. This prevents them from taking you off-topic with meaningless waffling, and clarifies your points. It also leaves them with a reminder, making it harder to dismiss your concerns. 

4. If they say they will take an action, write it down. They may have someone making notes, but visibly noting it down for your own record shows them that you intend to hold them accountable. 

This site was very helpful in preparing. (If the link fails, DM @antilockdownlogic on instagram and I will send the pdf file) 

So, if we all get one small action out of our MP, and we all make them confront the consequences that their actions have had on their own constituents, slowly but surely we can stir up any ounce of humanity they have left. Lots of small results will combine to make a significant change. 

Let's go!