Introduction

• It is of paramount importance that XR brings MPs deeper into issues of climate justice.

• Amplify campaigns of allies so that as many people as possible wrote to their local MP and are encouraged for instance to support the CE Bill and other climate and environmentally related legislation that protects and enhances planetary resilience and protection of climate-vulnerable populations around the world.

• Rather than a simple template letter, write focused, personalised letters on the ways that climate and ecological crises will affect YOU and your community, i.e.: who your MP is ultimately accountable to.

• Personalise your letter to make your MP more likely to respond.

• The more emails and letters, the better. The represent US!

• Sometimes it can be hard to know how to respond to an MP who has written back. Guidance here offers some pointers, based on the experiences and research of fellow XR members and other climate activists.

• Please share this guide with any fellow XR activists and other members of the public who might be interested.

Additional Suggestions For Lobbying MPs

• It's a numbers game. Local MPs will take action on an issue only if there are sufficient numbers of local residents and, more importantly, their Party members within their Constituency flagging up issues.

To that end, Rebels can:

• Organise with other sympathetic groups to produce a petition. 5,000 signatures are needed at County level to ensure a subject is debated.

• Join a local MP's Party to have more of a say; you won't have to vote for that party, come the General Election!

• Find out about the human behind the MP. Their special interests will be on their website, on their social media account, on government websites. Attend events they are invited to and strike up conversation. You and youe topic will be remembered because of your personal, emotional impact. This means they are less likely to reject or deny your information in this non-confrontational situation.

• Without Stalking, try to discover their daily routine. Make sure leaflets are dropped within sight of the venues they visit regularly, such as food banks, churches, clubs and so on.

• Support each other more by duplicating letter writing efforts, or inviting allies along when a politician is known to be speaking somewhere, such as invitations to local community assemblies, or if you get involved in hustings.

• Natural collaborators can come together more through shared passions, rather than shared distress. Find out more about relationship building elsewhere here on the Rebel Toolkit and attend trainings on how to build stronger alliances.

• Set up Working groups around lobbying through leisure activities you are involved in: Golf, Caravans, Gardens, Allotments, Wine Clubs, Swimming (this is how the 'Dirty Water' Campaign can supported, for instance).

• Share information you have about your work on politicians with fellow lobbying groups to minimise duplication and share the load...

If you have any questions, please email the Extinction Rebellion East of England Political Working Group at xr.eoe.political@protonmail.com.