Brexit Facts4eu.org "Brexit Battle Pack" - Part 3:

The Primary Targets: Group 1 – MPs

Toolbox

PLEASE NOTE: This action pack was written in 2018 but the same principles apply today. To see the latest factsheets which you may wish to incorporate, please click here.

In the article on 'Communication Ground Rules' we suggested 5 main methods of direct contact with your MP – visits, letters, calls, emails and tweets.

In addition there are indirect ways of influencing them. These include:

Brexit Facts4eu.org Summary – Indirect Influence On MPs

  • Calls to the MP's constituency office
  • Individual letters to constituency Chairmen and Committee Members
  • Letters to the local newspapers
  • Calls or tweets to local radio phone-ins
  • Letters or emails to the party's central headquarters about the MP
  • Tweets to the party central HQ twitter account, and constituency twitter accounts

Grab them by the ballot box

Whichever methods you use, you must tell MPs that if they fail to respect the Referendum result as you see it, you will not vote for them at the next election. If you're speaking for members of your family, name them, and add that the MP will lose their votes too.

If you feel so inclined you can also state that you will never vote for their party again. You might also add that you will be writing to their constituency chairman to say this, as well as to your local newspaper. And you will contribute to phone-ins on the local radio station.

Tell them that all you're asking is that they respect the Referendum result, whatever they think of it, and that you expect them to respect democracy and deliver it. If they don't, they can 'kiss goodbye' to your vote (and the votes of your family and friends if appropriate). MPs really do care about their majorities.

You are the tip of the iceberg - very important

What follows may sound obvious but it needs saying and your MP needs to be reminded of it.

For every one person like you who takes action, there will be hundreds more who feel the same way but never quite get around to doing anything about it. In effect, you will be representing hundreds of the MP's voters.

Make sure you remind your MP of this fact.

A word about majorities

If you ask an MP a specific question on Brexit, eg "How much faster did the economy grow each year, on average, in the 25 years after joining the Single Market?" they will flounder. (By the way, this is a trick question. It fell from an average growth of 2.4% in the 25 years before, to 2.2% in the 25 years after.)

However, if you ask any MP what majority he or she got at the last election, almost all of them will know.

A trick of maths – majorities and voters switching their vote

If an MP had a majority of 2,000 at the 2017 general election, how many voters are needed to switch in order for the MP to lose the seat at the next election? (All other things being equal.)

The answer is 1,001. If 1,001 voters switched their votes from the current MP to the second-place challenger, the MP would be unseated. Naturally all other votes would have to stay the same, but we're making a general point which can be missed by many people. So, if you look at your MP's majority, remember to halve it when telling the MP that only x,xxx people like you have to switch your votes for him or her to be out of a job by 2022 at the latest.

Example – Amber Rudd MP

Arch-Remoaner Amber Rudd's majority at the 2017 election was 346. If just 174 voters had switched to the challenger, she would have lost by 2 votes.

Remember that just by doing something you are one of the few. For every one of you there are probably many hundreds or even thousands like you in your constituency, who feel the same way but who don't get around to telling the MP. If you live in Hastings or Rye, you could reasonably tell Ms Rudd that she should therefore start looking for another job if an election is called.

Unless she unequivocally starts backing a full, clean Brexit, of course….

There is more about this subject, as well as the MPs who are most under threat, in the first section of our 'Toolbox', further down this page.

Finally, Switching or Abstaining?

A principal argument from the Conservative Party Central Office apparatus to its members and voters is that you must vote Conservative at the next election because the alternative is Jeremy Corbyn.

Readers will have different views on this. Brexit Facts4EU.Org's mission is to ensure Brexit is delivered in full. We must therefore adopt the 'nuclear option'.

As with nuclear weapons, if the other side doesn't believe you'll use them, then they are no deterrent.

We have received countless emails from readers who have always voted Conservative, who tell us that they cannot do so again while Mrs May is in charge and if Brexit is fudged. We have also received a smaller number of emails telling us that however strong their feelings on Brexit, the readers could not in all conscience vote in a way which would put Mr Corbyn in power.

This is a decision that individual readers must make for themselves. We would only say that a possible alternative option for some readers who can't vote for another party may be to go to the polling station and deliberately spoil their ballot paper – an 'active abstention'.

As we suggested above, we believe the threat to democracy from the Establishment is now so severe that the Conservative Party (and its MPs) must believe that they will lose the next election if they don't start respecting the Referendum result unequivocally and in full.

For the purposes of this action plan, actual votes are not required of course. However if you want to be honest with your MP then these are matters you should consider before contacting them

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We would like to add one final point

If you live in one of the many constituencies where it is traditionally a 2-way fight, the one thing your MP will be most scared of is if you said you will be voting for the second-place challenger if your MP doesn't start supporting Brexit. The reason is simple: this would be the most likely to unseat him or her.

If the second-place candidate is a LibDem and therefore also a Remainer, you might even tell your Remainer MP that you might as well vote for the LibDems, as neither the LibDem candidate nor your MP back Brexit and you will simply punish your MP for not respecting the democratic result of the Referendum, as they are actually in Parliament right now.

Contact Details Toolbox

For contact details, we have prepared a 'Brexit Battle Pack Toolbox' containing as much information as we can assemble on MPs, news organisations, local parties, etc. You will find this further down this page.

Naturally this doesn't stop you doing your own research! We ask readers please to send any useful contact details they have collated, and we will add them to our tables.

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