Meeting with your MP: ‘Common Grounds’ Day of Action

This briefing guides you through meeting your MP on The Climate Coalition’s Common Grounds Day of Action. It’ll cover how to prepare for the meeting, advice on what to say and how to effectively follow-up.

Note for Welsh Local Action Groups – in the context of this campaign ‘government’ refers to the UK Government in Westminster. 

Before your meeting 

For some of you, this could be the first time you have met your MP, or your first meeting with a new MP. If this is you, then we encourage you to sign up for one of the training sessions on meeting your MP that Hope for the Future is running for The Climate Coalition. These will help you with a step-by-step guide to building a positive relationship with your MP and, how to secure a climate commitment from them. You can sign up for these at https://peopleclimatenature.org/resources  

Before your meeting, spend some time researching your MP to understand what makes them tick and how they might be persuaded to support the campaign. You’ll also want to plan what you’ll say, who will speak, who will take notes, and who will take photos.  

Remember that you’re meeting your MP because you’re concerned constituents, not because you’re policy experts. Keep the conversations fairly ‘high level’ and focus on the need for an ambitious, comprehensive and fair climate plan. If your MP tries to get into the detail of one issue, try to steer the conversation back to the need for a good plan. If they ask questions that you don’t know the answer to, say that you’ll get back to them – and ask us if you need to. 

During your meeting 

Below is a suggested structure for your meeting. You can follow it to the letter or choose bits that feel right for you.  

1. Introduce yourselves and explain why you’re here 

Start the meeting by introducing yourselves and your group. Explain that you’re here as part of the Common Grounds national Day of Action for people, climate and nature. 

Here is some suggested wording from The Climate Coalition:  

We are your constituents: voters, local residents, ordinary people from all walks of life, united in wanting to see action for people, climate and nature. Together, we are already acting and leading on tackling climate and restoring nature - look at all the amazing things already happening in your constituency. 

We want you to make standing beside us on climate and nature your legacy. Building on the progress already made here in the UK, we need more projects which are good for us, good for nature and good for the climate.  We want you to be able to tell the next generation, at home and abroad, that you helped create a better future than the one we currently face. 

The urgency to act has never been greater. But we have hope, because the solutions for tackling the climate and restoring nature already exist. With you standing beside us, your constituents, as a champion of climate and nature, we can make a better future, together. 

2. Introduce them to the campaign 

Explain that you are here to discuss a specific opportunity, which will allow them to show their commitment to climate action today.  

Set out the crucial opportunity of the new climate plan. Use your own words, but this might be along the following lines: 

After a successful legal challenge by Friends of the Earth, the UK government has to write a new climate plan next year. This must set out how we will meet the UK’s international commitment to cut carbon emissions by over two-thirds by 2030. We’re currently dangerously off track and urgent action is needed.   

The plan must be ambitious, comprehensive and fair, with policies that add up and enough investment to deliver them.  

We want you to help us get the climate plan that the people of <constituency> and the planet need. 

3. Talk about why an ambitious climate plan is so important 

Although many areas for delivering on the UK climate plan are devolved to the Welsh Government and Senedd in Wales , and Wales has its own climate legislation and plan, further support, funding and action is needed on a UK level in order to deliver on the ambition needed.   

MPs have a role in influencing the wider picture which impacts climate justice in Wales, therefore the UK asks are included here, with those which are primarily devolved in italics. 

Wider benefits 

It’s important to get across to your MP that what we’re calling for isn’t just about tackling the climate crisis, critical though that obviously is. The climate plan we want the government to produce will also benefit people through lower energy bills, warm homes, clean air, better public transport and well-paid green jobs – it’s a win in many areas. Talking to your MP about how the action we want to see will bring all these other benefits will hopefully help get them to support the campaign. 

 
Local benefits 

It’s a truism that MPs represent their constituencies. They’ll want to know how a climate plan  will benefit their constituents. 

You can find lots of useful information about your constituency by using Friends of the Earth’s ‘Near You’ tool at https://groups.friendsoftheearth.uk/near-you/constituency This will provide you with examples you can use in your meeting (and print to hand to your MP) to illustrate the need for action, such as: 

• How many people are living in cold homes that need better insulation. 

• How many people suffer from respiratory problems, aggravated by air pollution. 

• How many people don’t have access to a car and so would benefit from better public transport and cycling and walking facilities. 

• How many people have good access to green spaces. 

 
Tell stories 

Facts are important but stories are vital in illustrating information that can otherwise be rather dry, in providing the human side to what we’re asking for, and in building empathy. They help explain why what you’re talking about matters to you and why it should matter to your MP as well.  

So don’t just bombard your MP with facts and figures – weave in some stories as well. These might be about how the lack of good public transport is stopping you doing what you want, or how traffic levels are aggravating your child’s asthma or how the local foodbank is seeing more people because of the rising cost of heating a cold home. 

The Climate Coalition is running training sessions on how to tell stories to show what you care about and inspire action – you can sign up for these at https://peopleclimatenature.org/resources

Convincing MPs of different parties 

As well as using locally specific information, there are different arguments you can use for MPs of different parties.  
 

For Labour MPs:  

• The government has five key missions’that are at the heart of what Keir Starmer wants to deliver. These are around generating growth, improving opportunity, improving the NHS, making Britain a clean energy superpower and creating safer streets.  You could say that the policies we’re asking for will help deliver the first four of these: generating growth by investing in industries of the future, improving opportunity by creating new jobs, helping the NHS by reducing the health costs of people living in cold homes. 

• Point out that it was the current Energy & Climate Secretary Ed Miliband who, the last time Labour were in power, got the Climate Change Act into law, following the ‘Big Ask’ campaign led by Friends of the Earth. Getting a bold and fair climate plan is building on this legacy. 

• You could say that if there is one thing they can do for the climate, it’s lobbying and working with Ed Miliband to get as strong a climate plan as possible. 

For Lib Dem MPs: 

• The Lib Dems have the right instincts on climate, as was recognised in our scoring of their manifesto. We need them to focus on this and call the government out if they don’t deliver. 

For Plaid Cymru MPs; 

• Plaid Cymru is committed to Wales reaching net zero by 2035 and will understand the importance of the UK government taking action on emissions reduction, and providing adequate support and funding to devolved nations, to ensure all UK nations meet their national and international emission targets.

4. Ask your MP to take action 

If your MP reacts positively, ask them if they will support the campaign for a strong climate plan. We want MPs to do this by writing to Prime Minister Keir Starmer calling on him to ensure that his government writes an ambitious, comprehensive and fair climate plan, and copying their letter to the Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves and Energy and Climate Secretary Ed Miliband. We’ve got a short briefing which will be ready to share with you soon, which explains what we want to see in the climate plan. You can give this to your MP and they can use it if needed in drafting their letter. We have provided a template letter your MP can adapt if helpful to them, although many MPs may prefer to write their own. Ask them to send you a copy of the letter and any reply they receive. 

Before you leave, ask your MP for a photo of you together, holding a campaign sign. You can use the photo on your website and social media. If you’re sending a press release about your meeting to the local media, ask your MP for a quote from them to include. 

If your MP won’t agree in the meeting to write a letter, then try to find out what’s stopping them:  maybe they need more information, if they’re a new Labour MP then maybe they’re unwilling to put their head above the parapet, or maybe they just don’t agree with the campaign. Thank them for meeting you and get together afterwards to think through next steps. If you need advice, please get in touch.   

After your meeting 

Send them an email thanking them for their time and reiterating what they committed to. Include the MP briefing and the photo you took.  

Post your photo on social media using the hashtag  #CommonGrounds and tagging @friends_earth and @foecymrucydd 

Send a press release – including your photo and quote from the MP – to your local media.  

Let us know how it went! We’d love to know what your MP said and any commitments they made.  

If this is your first meeting with your MP, then think of it as not as a one-off but as the start of a relationship. Discuss as a group what your next steps are.