Some notes to consider when writing to your MP (sample letter below). Written letters are more effective than emails, so do write if you can. Ensure you include your address and phone number.
Some things to consider:
- It’s important your letter is about the extension and not about the act of Brexit itself. Focus on the need to pause the transition – not stopping Brexit – make it clear that this is about far more than Brexit.
- Some useful phrases: “Make time to get the best deal for the UK” “No-deal puts us in harms way” “Get Covid done” “Give us a break” “Not another crisis”
- Make sure your letter references your local area, business, shop, yourself.
- The objective is to make it very clear to local MPs that, if there is no extension, there will be severe political damage to them from the consequences of the (inevitable) hard Brexit coming together with Covid19.
The suggested key themes are:
- In December 2020, the population and the economy will be still be suffering from the wholly exceptional Covid crisis (with a possible second wave). They are in no position to cope with the Brexit shock at the same time (and it is not fair, and is ideologically obsessive, to expect them to do so).
- An end to transition will hit jobs and incomes, and drive up prices, at a time when families are suffering the worst recession for 300 years.
- Businesses, in particular SMEs (the major employers in the UK) are unable to prepare for the end of transition: (a) because they have furloughed staff and are wholly engaged in survival in the midst of Covid; and (b) because there is still no clarity as to what the position will be. Many jobs will be lost.
- The resources of government should be fully applied to resolving the health and economic effects of Covid – the largest crisis to hit the UK in our lifetimes. They cannot ‘do’ Brexit properly and should not be diverted to try.
- At a time when the health service has never been more crucial to us (or more respected and admired), there is no case for kicking it in the teeth with the disruption to drugs and other supplies and to the free movement of essential staff that a hard termination will bring.
- Polling shows that 2/3 of the country want an extension (“we have enough to cope with”) including about 50% of Leave voters.
- All independent commentators, including independent authorities, believe that it is the only rational approach. The EU agrees.
It is fundamentally important that the pressure in this respect cannot be disparaged as Remain whinging, but is given the political force that it deserves.
Sample Letter 1
Dear [NAME OF MP]
We are currently experiencing the worst public health crisis in over a century. The outbreak of COVID-19 has had a tremendous impact on our NHS and our economy, leaving many people vulnerable.
The simple truth is that our NHS cannot cope with both the effects of leaving the EU without a trade deal in place and COVID- 19.
Leaving the European Union without a deal in place would cause:
- Delays in importing medicines and other essential medical equipment, including vital personal protective equipment.
- A weakening of the public health response, including the response to pandemics when we leave EU schemes without agreeing to partnerships with crucial EU bodies.
- Disruption of patient care due to the ending of reciprocal healthcare agreements
- In addition, the International Monetary Fund has calculated that leaving without a deal would add a further, permanent loss of 5% to the UK’s GDP – and this is on top of the Office of Budget Responsibility predicting a 35% shrink to the economy in the second quarter because of damage already inflicted by Coronavirus. This means thousands of jobs in [name of constituency] are at risk of being lost.
A majority of people in the U.K. support extending the transition period. But this isn’t about Brexit. It isn’t about who voted leave or remain. It is about doing what is in the national interest. The Conservative party has traditionally been the party of jobs and the economy – we must do what is right for our country in order to protect our economy and our NHS.
Our doctors and nurses are on the front line, fighting this virus everyday. They are risking their lives to protect the public. Please support an extension to the Brexit transition period, so we can focus on getting the best deal possible and protecting our frontline workers in the NHS.
Yours sincerely,
[Your name, address & phone number]
Sample Letter 2
Dear [NAME OF MP]
COVID-19 has not only had an incalculable impact on our health and on our economy. It has also made a nonsense of the timetable set by the British Government for a defining the UK’s future relationship with the EU. No government at present can deal effectively both with the COVID-19 pandemic and with complicated and far-reaching international negotiations.
Reports suggest that so far there have been no meaningful negotiations. Yet if outline agreement is not achieved by the end of June, we will crash out of the EU at the end of the year without a deal.
No responsible government would want deliberately to inflict more damage to the economy and more hardship on an already suffering public. The doctor’s creed ‘First, Do No Harm’ should be the guiding principle. There will not be a lasting solution to the COVID-19 crisis by the end of the year. Meanwhile we must not erect more barriers to co-operation, more disruption to vital supply chains (including medical equipment and medicines), and more constraints on the freedom of movement that enables key workers from the EU to come to live and work in the UK.
The pandemic is the most overwhelming challenge faced by all governments globally. It highlights the essential need for democratic nations to tackle shared problems together. It underlines the ties that bind us.
Our membership of the EU and its predecessors lasted nearly five decades. Time and good will are needed to achieve the comprehensive agreement that meets the aspirations of both parties. Unfortunately the deadline set by the UK government seems likely to prevent this outcome.
We must tackle COVID-19 first. Then we can concentrate on securing a best-in-class agreement with the EU. This requires an extension of the negotiating period.
Recent polling indicates that a significant majority of the British public wants the government to extend the negotiating period beyond the end of this year, including a majority of Conservative voters. I am writing to ask you to do what you can to ensure that the government recognises this legitimate desire and acts on it.
Yours sincerely,
[Your name, address & phone number]