Notes for a model letter

London4Europe committee member Michael Romberg provides some text to get you started

** Originally published as a blog 4 March 2019 **

Most of us have written several times. But it has to be done again and again to achieve the result we want. Remember the episode in the Shawshank Redemption? The jailed banker wrote a letter a week asking the authorities to fund the library. They finally gave in, saying “here’s a cheque but please don’t write again”. We must be as persistent.

You can see where your MP stands here. If your MP is a Liberal Democrat or Independent Group MP, or a fully committed Labour or Conservative People’s Vote supporter then, it will be enough to write to reassure them of your support. It would also be worth following them on social media and actively protecting them from their opponents there.

Otherwise, including if there is any doubt about the firmness of their support, you will wish to set out the argument more fully.

The more you can personalise your letter the better – have a look at what lands with your MP. The contact details of your MP can be found by entering your postcode here. Or you can look them up on the Parliament website, which has further useful material about each MP.

If you have a connexion to a constituency outside your home – perhaps you were born in what is now a Leave area? – you could try writing to that MP on the off-chance that they will read a letter from a non-constituent who can show some real tie to their constituency.

To make a change from writing, you could send a voice message using this website.

The blogs page of London4Europe is edited by Nick Hopkinson, Vice-Chair. Articles on this page reflect the views of the author and not necessarily of London4Europe

MODEL CONTRIBUTIONS TO A LETTER

• I ask you to back a public vote - a referendum on the terms of Brexit - with the option to Remain (People’s Vote).

• The case for a referendum is clear. In 2016, the Leave campaign did not have a plan. No-one takes a project from idea to implementation without a review of the project plan. The same people as launched the initiative should decide whether to take it forward.

• 2016 could not settle the question as no-one can make a final decision without a plan that makes clear what the decision entails, its costs and benefits, risks and opportunities. So Remain (the no-change option) has to be on the ballot paper

• The case for a referendum stands whether MPs back the Government’s deal or not. MPs who oppose the deal could back it subject to a referendum on the basis that it represents an actually available Brexit which can be put to the people for their final decision.

• If there is public or Parliamentary support for a fundamentally different and actually available Brexit option then the referendum could be held in two stages. Round 1 would choose between different Brexit options. Round 2 would be a choice between the best available Brexit and Remain.

• We now all know so much more than we did in 2016. Electors could either give an informed consent to a concrete Brexit plan; or they could decide to stay in the EU.

• So a referendum in 2019 would ask a different question from 2016; it would not be a re-run.

• A general election could not resolve Brexit. General elections answer the question “Who should form the government?”. They do not answer single-issue questions.

• A delay to Brexit without a clear plan for a referendum would not bring any benefit. We would just continue to have unrealistic debates and fruitless negotiations. So any Article 50 extension needs to be part of a package with a referendum.

• Opinion polls show that the national mood has now moved to Remaining in the EU. So it would be unsafe to proceed with Brexit without further confirmation by the electorate.

• A referendum could be healing if we follow suitable processes, such as a national and local citizens assemblies and exhibitions about the EU and Britain’s rôle in the world to create an informed electorate. However, these would be complements to not substitutes for a referendum.

• Some are bored of Brexit. But passing Theresa May’s deal will prolong the agony. If the people vote to stay in a People’s Vote, Brexit will be over with in a matter of months. If you vote for May’s deal, Brexit uncertainty will continue for years as we try to conclude worse trade deals than those which we enjoy now.

{Give your full name and street address so that they know that you live in the constituency. If you don’t live there but for example run a business there then explain your connexion.}