Step 1. Find your parliamentary candidates

You can find your parliamentary candidates on the Who Can I Vote For Website. We recommend emailing your top 2-3 candidates for your local constituency.

For your current MP, make sure you email their campaign email, rather than their parliamentary email, as they no longer have access to their parliamentary email accounts.

Step 2. Decide your political asks

Read Our Political Asks to decide what you want to ask your candidates. We advise focusing on only two policy issues within your email simple and easy to respond to. Generally, if you are unsure we recommend focusing on banning cages and banning low-welfare imports due to their high impact and relative tractability.

Step 3. Draft your email

To ensure you get a response your email must include:

• Full name

• Email address

• Phone number

• Postcode to confirm that you are within their constituency.

To build a rapport can start your email by thanking the candidate for any issue of yours they or their party has previously supported. For example, for Conservative candidates, you can mention the recent ban on live exports of animals, and for Labour candidates, you can thank them for Labour committing to ban the import of foie gras. 

Always remember to be polite and respectful in any correspondence. 

Step 4. Track your progress

Record your emails and any responses in this spreadsheet. This helps us keep track of which candidates are supportive of our asks. 

Important: If you haven’t already, please sign up to be on our list of people interested in MP engagement so we can follow up with you if required! 

Step 5. Don’t forget to follow up

If you receive a response from any of the candidates don’t forget to follow up. This email can include: 

• Thanks for responding to your email. 

• Thanks for any support expressed for your asks and animals in general. 

• Remind them of ways they can increase their support for animals by:

• Raising these issues with their Party HQ 

• Asking questions in Parliament

• Being an active supporter of relevant Bills, and opposition to Bills that harm animals

• Joining their Party’s animal welfare society, e.g. LAWS or the Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation. 

• If relevant, use their position as a Minister or Committee Member to bring about positive change for animals. 

• Inform them you will continue to stay in touch on animal welfare issues. 

If you get a response to this follow-up email, please also add this to the tracking spreadsheet. 

Thank you for taking action to help animals!