The House of Lords is the upper chamber of parliament, but members don’t represent particular localities. Therefore, you can contact any member of the House of Lords, regardless of where you live (as long as it is in the UK). This is useful as some of them are ministers. Also, many members are independent of party, so there is a wider range of views. Because they are not elected, many Lords can be really true to their own beliefs. Many members are real experts, both in getting Acts of Parliament changed as they go through the legislative process and in particular areas of life or law.
Prominent Lords that you might consider approaching in this area are: Baroness Nicholson (mind your language: she blocks those who swear); Baroness Deech; Lord Lucas; and Philip Hunt. In addition, however, you can contact others – here is a handy tool to help you find Lords interested in particular areas.
Contacting Lords is slightly less straightforward. You can find a searchable list of all Lords here; Lords are not all on email. You can, however, search for Lords’ email addresses and email the House centrally, and the internal mail will deliver your message to the member in question.
What are we trying to do?
Unlike with elected representatives, you will mostly want to enlist support in getting legal change in some way. You will want to be sure they are informed about events or the arguments around an issue that might be up for debate. They may be involved in reviewing a policy, and of course, you want them to know that you care enough about this issue to write to them.
What to include:
Your name and address – unless you have powerful reasons not to disclose it.
If possible, keep it short, one side of A4. Then, offer to follow up with more.
Set out clearly why you are writing. Include links to evidence.
Explain why this is an important issue to you and what difference their response will make.
Explain clearly at the end of the letter what you want them to do.
There are some sample letters here.
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