Communicating for change

How you ask for a politician’s support is just as important as what you ask them to support. Effective communication is essential for getting decision-makers to understand and engage with the facts. It’s not just about sharing information, it’s about explaining why that information is relevant to them, and what they should do about it.

Your representatives want to hear from you

Research shows that politicians highly value hearing from constituents, and that — more so than other sources — it is through contact with constituents that they assess public opinion at large. This can affect how they make decisions in Parliament and in their constituency.

At election time, we can influence who our local politicians are by voting. In between elections, it’s very hard to change who our local politicians are, but it might be possible to bring an issue to their attention, and campaign together to make change. Here’s a case study to get you inspired: How one meeting with my constituents made me take climate change seriously.

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Communicate in a way that is easy for politicians to engage with

The basics. Only contact your representatives, not those of other constituencies. WriteToThem makes this easy — simply put in your postcode. Don’t use threatening, abusive or inflammatory language. Think about writing an email that would make you want to take action.

Make it personal to you. Politicians want to know what their constituents think, but they are wary of mass mailings that they see as having involved little effort from the constituent. Even if you’re supporting a particular campaign or policy, explain why in your own words. E.g. ‘I deeply care about the issue of water pollution as I have seen the decline in water quality at our local beach’.

Make it personal to them. You can use TheyWorkForYou to find out what your MP’s special interests and roles are, as well as their activities within Parliament. Where possible, it’s good to think about how you can make your request align with their personal and professional interests. E.g. ‘I appreciate the work that you do on the Education Select Committee, and as such I know that the issue of Free School Meals won’t be new to you.’

Once you’ve found out who your local councillors are on WriteToThem, it’s worth using a search engine to find out if they’re part of any committees, or if they have social media or a website that helps you understand their political priorities.

If you live in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland, you can use TheyWorkForYou to see how your representatives in the devolved parliaments have contributed to debates, but you may also want to check their personal websites and social media for more background information.

Use research to support your argument. Our Local Intelligence Hub is packed with constituency-level facts and data to support campaigning. The House of Commons Library also produces easy-to-use resources broken down by constituency. You may be interested in using WhatDoTheyKnow to find out new information about public bodies in your local area. When speaking with local councillors, CAPE and Climate Scorecards are excellent resources to see what your council is doing, and how this compares to other councils in your region. E.g. ‘Research from the Local Intelligence Hub shows that fuel poverty in our constituency is 10% higher than in neighbouring areas.’

Make one ask which has a yes or no answer. This will help to drive your issue forward, rather than receiving a simple stock response. E.g. ‘Please will you attend our next group meeting about flooding prevention on 25th September?’ is much easier to act on than ‘Please will you act now to prevent flooding in our area?’

Get 1:1 support. Our friends at Hope for the Future have spent many years researching effective communication between citizens and politicians. There’s a lot more information, including free training webinars, on their website.

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