/ SAVE OUR SCHOOLS
LOBBY OF PARLIAMENT
Monday, 19 July 2010

Getting the most from the Lobby

As their constituents, individual citizens have the right to request meetings with their Members of Parliament simply by turning up when the House is sitting. MPs should be willing to meet their constituents and to listen to their representations. They are generally also happy to meet with teachers and head teachers who work in schools in their constituency.

For perfectly legitimate reasons, however, not all MPs will be available at all times. It is therefore wise for lobbyists to advise their MPs in advance that they hope to meet them, either under the ‘green card’ system (which is explained below) or at pre-arranged times. It is hoped that NUT members will have liaised with colleagues from other unions that are attending the lobby and will be planning to meet their MPs together.

Things to do before the lobby

·  Contact your MP: Please get in touch with your MP as soon as possible and ask to meet them on the afternoon of Monday, 19 July. You can email your MP via the quick and easy to use electronic facility available on the NUT website at http://www.teachers.org.uk/node/11782

·  It is important that NUT lobbyists register their names and contact details with their local NUT Division or Association or their NUT Regional Office as soon as possible. This will allow the Union to assess numbers and encourage further support if necessary. It will also enable the Union to provide the House of Commons authorities with an estimate of likely numbers which they require for health and safety purposes.

·  For people with disabilities: Despite some improvements in recent years disabled access and facilities at the Palace of Westminster are rather limited. Please contact Chris Brown or Emily Evans at NUT Headquarters (Tel: 020 7380 4712 or e-mail / prior to the day of the lobby so that any necessary access arrangements can be organised on your behalf.

Pre- lobby rally

A rally will take place at Westminster Central Hall, Storey's Gate, London SW1H 9NH between 1 and 2 pm. Central Hall will be open from 11.30am. This will give lobbyists the opportunity to register for the lobby; be briefed and ask questions about the arrangements for the day. It will also allow time for networking and any pre-meetings to be held. A map showing the location of Central Hall can be found here.

Pre-arranged meetings with MPs

NUT members have been advised to write to their MPs as soon as possible telling them about the rally and asking to meet on 19 July. If you have already arranged a time to meet your MP, you do not have to join the lobby queue but you should allow up to half an hour to get through the security queue at the new Cromwell Green Entrance.

Committee Room 16 in Parliament has been booked from 2.00 to 6.00 pm to accommodate meetings between lobbyists and their MP.

If you have arranged earlier to meet your MP at a specific time, enter the House of Commons and say that you have arrived to see your MP. Bring written confirmation of your meeting. Westminster staff at the information desk will call for your MP to come and see you at the arranged time.

Lobbying your MP using the ‘green card’ system

Lobbyists without a pre-arranged appointment with their MP will join the queue outside the Commons from 2.15 pm onwards – up until 7.00 pm. Colleagues will be able to lobby their MPs from 2.30 pm. The airport-style security system is very tight and due to evacuation procedures/fire regulations police will allow no more than 100 people into the Central Lobby at any one time. The lobby queue may therefore be very long.

Banners, flags and placards are not allowed in the Palace of Westminster and you should not wear clothing which has any political slogans.

Following entry through the security gates at the House of Commons, lobbyists will be directed to the Central Lobby. There is a desk to the left of the entrance to the Lobby staffed by officials from the Serjeant-at-Arms Office. Go to the desk and ask for a “green card”. Enter your name and address and the purpose of your visit. You must make a clear statement about your reason for visiting. On this occasion it is “to highlight concerns about cuts to the Building Schools for the Future programme and provisions within the Academies Bill”.

This is important because if you do not meet with your MP, the card is then sent on to the MP’s office. You should say on the green card that, if it is not possible to meet on the day of the lobby, you would like to meet them in the constituency.

The desk staff will take the card and attendants will then seek the MP in the Chamber and other committee rooms. You will wait in Central Lobby. If your MP has been found and has arrived your name will be called out. If you do not know what your MP looks like, you might have to listen out for your name. You may find that Central Lobby can be quite noisy and crowded.

When your MP arrives, express your appreciation for the meeting. Your MP may have somewhere in mind for your discussion. If not, politely suggest that if you leave the Central Lobby it will allow other lobbyists in to see other MPs and will make the conversation more comfortable.

If MPs do not appear within half an hour or so of the green card going in, it is unlikely that they will come at all. Sometimes they will send their staff on their behalf if they are caught up in other meetings. You must decide how long you can wait but remember that the longer you stay the less likelihood there is of colleagues further back in the queue being able to enter and submit their green cards. For every lobbyist that leaves, the police will allow another one into Central Lobby.

If your MP is not available, you should not wait for the MP to write to you but send them a polite letter saying that you came to the Lobby but as it was not possible to meet on that day you would like to arrange to see them at another time in the constituency.

During the meeting with your MP

Be clear about your purpose in meeting them. Explain to your MP exactly what it is that you want them to do.

Six Steps for the Lobby

·  Thank your MP for seeing you.

·  Establish how much time you have.

·  Make two or three key points related to the issues raised in the briefing paper (see NUT website). If you have direct experiences which may be helpful in adding weight to the Union’s arguments, then use them when putting forward your case.

·  Seek responses to the questions outlined in the materials downloaded from the website.

·  Ask your MP to convey your concerns to the Government at every available opportunity. If parliamentary convention allows, they may be willing to sign the Early Day Motion No. 135 ‘‘Proposed Academies Legislation’ which calls for proper consultation with parents, staff, pupils and the local community before any school becomes an Academy. Ask your MP to sign the text of the EDM. There is a proforma you can use later in this briefing. Hand any signed documents to a steward. The stewards will hand in the signed copies through to the coordinators at Westminster so that the signatures may be added to the EDM.

After the lobby

You must leave the House of Commons once your lobby is over otherwise the next group of members will not be able to gain access.

If you are in need of refreshment, the Jubilee Café, situated near the North Door of Westminster Hall, is open to members of the public.

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