Working with your MP: a guide for communities

Enter your postcode on the UK Parliament website or TheyWorkForYou to find out who your MP is. You can write, email or phone their constituency office, contact them on social media if they accept enquiries there, or go to one of their surgeries. Check their website for surgery times and whether you need to book. A face-to-face meeting is often the most effective way to start.

Your MP can help raise the profile of your work, for example, by attending an event, sharing your project or giving a quote for a press release. They can take up issues with government departments and ministers, help with problems involving other public and private bodies, ask questions in Parliament and support local or national campaigns. Constituency work isn’t party political, so it doesn’t matter whether you voted for them.

This guide from Local Trust is for residents, community groups and community organisations who want to introduce their work to their MP or ask for support with an issue in their neighbourhood. It explains what MPs can help with, when and how to get in touch, and how to prepare for a meeting and follow up afterwards. It includes a template letter you can adapt, and experiences from three Big Local areas: Goldthorpe & Bolton-on-Dearne, Arches, and Warwick Ahead.

The examples were written in 2020, so some details about the MPs involved, such as their roles and constituencies, have since changed.

• What your MP can and can’t help with
• Getting support for local and national campaigns
• When to get in touch, including after an election
• Contacting your MP by letter, email, phone, social media or at a surgery
• Requesting and preparing for a meeting
• Researching your MP’s interests
• Making it personal and asking for something specific
• Following up and building a long-term relationship
• Promoting your MP’s support in the media
• How three Big Local areas worked with their MPs
• A template letter