ILiS Do It Yourself Guide Number 4

Elected Members: MPs, MSPs and Councillors

This ILiS DIY guide:

  • Introduces the role of Members of Parliament (MPs), Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) and Councillors.
  • Tells you a little bit about what they do.
  • Explains when you might use them.
  • Tells you where you can get more information.

This guide is in seven parts:

  1. What is an elected member?
  2. How can elected members help me?
  3. What is lobbying?
  4. Who covers what?
  5. What can I do?
  6. Checklist for action
  7. Where can I get more information?
  1. What is an elected member?

Elected membersare the people we vote for in elections. In Scotland we can vote in five different political elections. This gives us five chancesto change the way decisions are made that affect disabled people.

These 5 levels are:

  1. Elections to European Parliament: these happen every five years.
  1. UK General Elections: these must happen every five years. Sometimes they happen sooner than that. It is the Prime Minister that calls the General Election.
  1. Scottish Parliament Elections: these happen every four years. The next one is 5th May 2011.
  1. Elections to local councils: these happen every four years. There are 32 local councils in Scotland.
  1. Elections to community councils: these are decided locally. Not all local areas have a community council.

A constituencyis the area that an elected member represents. The group of people they represent are called “constituents”. Elected members have a duty to represent everyone in their constituency.

  1. How can elected members help me?

Elected members are funded to do what they do by public money. Elected members can make better decisions if people tell them what their issues are.

Elected representatives need to be aware of the issues facing disabled people. They need to know that they can come to you for your expertise about Independent Living.

Political power is important for disabled people and for the Independent Living Movement. For example:

  • Housing policies are decided at local level.
  • Health and care decisions are made at a Scottish level.
  • Welfare (benefits) changes are made at a UK level.
  • European Disability Strategy issues are decided on at a European level.
  1. What is lobbying?

Lobbying means encouraging an elected member to understand something you feel strongly about.

Lobbying can be more powerful if you get together with others and form a stronger voice. Examples of how you might do this could be:

  • getting a local politician to attend your campaign action group
  • writing a letter as part of a group
  • creating a petition (For information about how to do this read ILiS Guide Number 3 about The Scottish Parliament Public Petitions System)
  1. Who covers what?

You need to make sure that you are talking to the right person about the right thing. You need to decideif you should be talking to an MP, MSP or local Councillor about a certain issue.

MSPs in the Scottish Parliament are responsible for laws and decisions on Scottish issues. These are devolved issues.

Some ‘devolved issues’ that may affect disabled people are:

  • Health
  • Social work
  • Education and training
  • Local Government
  • Housing
  • Justice and police
  • The environment
  • Tourism, sport and heritage
  • Economic development
  • Scottish transport

MPsin the UK Parliament in London make laws and decisions that affect the whole of the UK.

These are called reserved issues.

Some ‘reserved issues’ that may affect disabled people are:

  • Finance and the economy
  • Taxes
  • Tradeand industry
  • National and international transport
  • Social security and welfare
  • Employment
  • Equal opportunities
  1. What can I do?

The first job is to work out who best to speak to.

A helpful website is: If you enter your postcode you get the names and contact details of all your local representatives.

It has lots of other information about who to contact on what issues. It tells you how best to do this. You can also e-mail politicians from the website.

Next you need to be clear about what exactly you want your elected member to do. They could:

  • Ask a question or raise the issue in parliament, council or a committee.
  • Write to a Government or council Department or even to a Government Minister.
  • Set up or join a cross party group.
  • Introduce, vote on or change the law.
  • Ask civil servants to work on the issue. Civil servants are people who work for the government.
  • Raise the issue with the media or speak at a public meeting.
  • Give a statement of support or attend an event.

Elected members get contacted by lots of people every day. You should write a “brief” for them. This is a summary of your issue. The brief should:

  • Explain what the problem is.
  • Give real examples to show how it affects disabled people.
  • Give suggestions on how to solve the problem.
  • Try to keep to one page.
  • Include your contact details.
  1. Checklist for action
  • Think about asking an elected member to help you solve a problem.
  • Work out the right person to contact.
  • Write a brief about your issue.
  • Think how to get their attention.
  • Attend public meetings, ask for a personal meeting, write a petition or get involved in a demonstration.
  • Think what might help you and your elected member. He or she might like some good attention in the local paper for example.
  • Focus on what will get the result you want.
  1. Where can I get more information?

A lot of information is available online. Ask someone to help you find the information you need. Most websites have information available in other formats. If they do not, you could ask them to make their information accessible to everyone.

  • Read the ILiS guides on developing policy and using the public petitions system in Scotland.
  • Look at the website.
  • Look at the website It lets you check what political work elected members have done recently.
  • To contact any MSP at the Scottish Parliament: dial 0131 348 5000. Ask for your MSP’s office.
  • Write to MSPs at The Scottish Parliament, EDINBURGH, EH99 1SP.
  • All Parliament e-mail addresses follow the same formula. First name.surname.msp For example:

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