NCADC Campaigning Toolkit
This section looks at engaging political figures in an individual campaign. It does not look at political lobbying on issues such as changing policy and law, as this falls outside the scope of this Toolkit.
The appropriate people to try and involve in the campaign will depend on the situation. Here are some of the political figures you could think about contacting:
Members of parliament (MPs) can raise your case with the Home Office or, if appropriate, the Home Secretary directly. This could be if you have received a negative decision, have been waiting a very long time for a decision and want a response, if you are detained, or if you are facing deportation.
You can find out who your local MP is, and how to contact them, at TheyWorkForYou.com
Your MP will depend on the constituency you live in or have strong connections to (a constituency is an area of the UK where the voters elect one MP).
It’s never too early to start thinking about meeting your MP. If they already know you, then if you go to speak to them about receiving a negative decision on an application or receiving removal directions, they will be more likely to want to help. You can find out about their surgery times (it’s much more effective to meet them in person than to phone or email – if you’re in detention, ask a supporter to go and see the MP).
Try to research your MP – have they got involved in asylum and immigration campaigns before? Do they have a known anti-immigration or pro-deportation stance? If they have a generally negative stance on immigration, it’s still worth trying to engage them on an individual case. You can find out more about your MP’s interests at the UK Parliament website.
Linking your campaign to an area of the MP’s interest may encourage them to get involved in your case. Think about what an MP can realistically do, and try and talk in a language they can respond to (clearly setting out your objective, what it is the MP can do about it, recognising the obstacles there may to them getting involved but explaining why it is worth them doing it). Be polite, but do not be intimidated.
MPs may get involved in your campaign in different ways. They may attend awareness-raising events for a campaign: the presence of a MP is likely to generate media interest.
More commonly, they may raise your case with the Home Secretary. This can be very useful, as the Home Office have to respond to the MP’s query. This is important not only in anti-deportation campaigning: many people have found that an intervention from their MP has got an immediate response from the Home Office (for example, over a delay in making a decision or lost documents), whereas the migrant’s or supporter’s own inquiries have been ignored for months and even years.
Remember that, while an MP has no obligation to take up your case, they have a duty to respond to their constituents. If they do take up the case, it’s likely that most of your dealings will be a caseworker or other office staff rather than the MP directly.
If your MP is unwilling to get involved, think about whether supporters live in other constituencies and could approach their MP. If you are in detention (probably in a different constituency from the one you lived in), you and your supporters may be able to lobby the MP for the detention centre constituency to look at your case. John McDonnell, MP for Hayes and Harlington, has said that he considers the detainees at Colnbrook and Heathrow detention centres (which fall within his constituency) to be his constituents. Friends, family and supporters who live in the area where you used to live before you were detained can also go and speak to your old MP and ask for their support.
The willingness or otherwise of an MP to get involved in your case is probably not going to depend on their political party – there are some very active MPs on individual cases whose party have a negative stance on immigration.
Note: An MP may decide that s/he will only deal directly with the person at risk of deportation, and not with a supporter, especially if the supporter does not live in the constituency. A recent response from an MP was:
"[the MP] is bound by both parliamentary and Data Protection rules and can only make representations on behalf of his own constituent and not at the request of third parties. I’m afraid our office cannot intervene in *******’s case unless he himself instructs us to do so."
Unfortunately, the person was in detention by this time. Had he been in touch with his MP earlier, it may have helped.
Mike Kaye, of the Still Human Still Here coalition, is a strong advocate of engaging with MPs:
MPs can be important partners in an anti-deportation campaign. However, they are much more likely to be supportive if they already know and trust you and fully understand the work you and your organisation do in the community
