A Bremain in Spain People’s Vote Toolkit
Following on from the incredible success of the People’s Vote March on Oct 20th 2018, we at Bremain in Spain want to provide you with all the information and tools required to ensure that we keep up the pressure and momentum to secure a People’s Vote on the final Brexit deal, with the option to Remain.
We need the support of all of our members and to make things easier, we have brought together links to all current and upcoming campaigns and events. You can choose to participate in as many as you would like, but would suggest that you join in all. Please don’t forget to share far and wide with family and friends – just copy and paste the link into your Facebook timeline or share it on Twitter.
This video below will hopefully motivate you to get writing and clicking! All of the links from the video are listed underneath.
Best for Britain – Demand a People’s Vote on the final Brexit deal – with an option to Remain – by writing to your MP today.
Your voice counts.Tell your MP you want a Final Say on Brexit by leaving a Voicemail.
Politicians have had two and a half years to make Brexit work. Parliament is deadlocked. The best way forward is to take this decision back and let the British people vote. It is time to let us decide.
I want the final say on our terms with the EU, with an option to stay in.
People, not politicians, must have the final say.
Write this Wrong – MPs will vote on the final Brexit deal in just a few weeks. It looks like it’ll either be a bad one or no deal at all.
But there’s another option – a People’s Vote on the Brexit deal. So we can judge for ourselves whether it’s what we were promised.
They’ll only do it if they feel enough pressure from voters. So take a minute now to email your MP:
Personalise the template email. Even just a sentence on why you want a vote.
Include your full address. So your MP knows you live in their area. Be polite…. Your MP is more likely to respond.
Not Buying It – Write to your MP today. People’s Vote have made it really easy:
1 Tell them what worries you most about the Government’s miserable deal
2 They’ll personalise a message for your MP
Write to any Peer
Beginning of email/letter… Dear Lord/Lady X
End of email/letter… Yours sincerely
Envelope… The (Rt Hon. the) Lord/Baroness X
Address your email to a specific member and send to: contactholmember@parliament.uk
Bulk emails to members are not accepted. If more than six copies of the same email are received, all will be deleted and you can only send six per day.
There is a list of some Peers’ personal email addresses in the Files section of the Bremain Facebook Group.
People’s Vote Petition
We, the undersigned, demand a People’s Vote on the Brexit deal.
The Independent Petition
In 2016, the people were given their say on the principle of whether to stay in the EU or leave.
Now the facts are becoming clearer, it’s time for the people to have the final say on the real deal – before it’s too late.
Christian Broughton, Editor, The Independent
The Independent Final Say Petition
Some further useful lobbying tips:
Writing to MPs (Some info courtesy of Scientists for EU and the 48%)
Write a personal message and send it directly to your MP, explaining how Brexit affects you and your family and be clear about the action you are asking them to take, e.g. support a #PeoplesVote referendum, support the Overseas Electors Bills. Ask what you can do to support them to back you. Please also cc the Chief Whips – Julian Smith ( julian.smith.mp@parliament.co.uk ) for the Conservatives and Nick Brown (nick.brown.mp@parliament.co.uk ) for Labour.
Here are some quick and effective golden rules to mention in your letter:
- If you’re disenfranchised, try adding this
‘As a British citizen living in Spain, I, like many others, have no representative in Parliament. Therefore, whilst I appreciate that you are under no obligation to reply to communication from anyone who is not a member of your constituency, I would ask you to make an exception.’
You could also add that you still have influence in their constituency as you have family & friends living there.
- Ask him/her to be prepared to reject the deal if it’s bad (which it will be).
- Tell them that the deal must be judged in comparison to what we’ve already got.
- Tell them that the criterion for good/bad is what it means for the health, security and finances of you (and your family and the community you live in).
- Tell them that they should not support a deal if their constituents don’t.
Writing directly to your representative is one of the most effective means of making your voice heard, and is vitally important at this late stage. If you have already written – your job is to ask as many friends and family members to write too. Offer to help them, show them a copy of your letter, do everything you can to make them pick up a pen (or open their laptops) and get them to write.
If you don’t get a reply, don’t give up and write again. Keeping in regular touch over Brexit is a good idea so keep their inbox full. Just because they may not have responded does not mean that they have not taken notice. The more correspondence they receive, the more concerned they are likely to be.
If you are a member of a political party, you have the right to contact the party Leader directly. As a British citizen, you have the right to contact any member of the Cabinet & Shadow Cabinet – you just need to be clear that you are writing to them in their official capacity i.e. Dear Mr Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union.
Write to regional UK media (Courtesy of Best for Britain)
While many people dismiss local media as no longer relevant, we can be sure of two things:
MPs read and pay attention to it.
17% of people in the UK get almost all of their news from local print media.Almost one in five (17%) use printed local or regional newspapers and one in seven (15%) say they use social media for local news.
Because of this, it’s important that we engage local press and it’s easier than you’d think.
Firstly, make a note of your local papers and how you can get in touch both by email and on the phone. Use a search engine like Google to find the local paper relevant to your U.K. constituency. Next, we can do two things:
Make the local press aware of actions you’re taking as part of Bremain in Spain to
fight for a No Brexit/peoplesvote/Votes for Life option to be on the table.Make sure you mention that you’re disappointed if your MP hasn’t publicly supported a No Brexit option.
Write in to your local paper’s opinion page expressing your unhappiness if your MP hasn’t publicly supported keeping the option of No Brexit/People’s Vote on the table. Talk about how Brexit is affecting you and your family and why you’re disappointed in your MP. The more personal, the better. If they are supportive, then it’s always good to thank them publicly. You can also mention you’re a member of Bremain in Spain.
Social sharing
While you may already be connected with Bremain in Spain on social media, if you’re not already, a great way to influence your friends and family is to share our posts and add your reasons for sharing. You can share articles directly from our public Facebook Page, website or any article once opened in our closed Facebook group. Don’t forget to like and share friends’ posts.
Think about beginning the post with something neutral that personalises the piece like “this matters to me because” or “this is a really interesting read because” as opposed to starters like “another obvious reason why we shouldn’t leave.” We want to try and open up space for a conversation and not shut it down.
If friends and family comment, decide whether it’s helpful to have an exchange or just let it go. This can be the hardest thing to do (we all feel passionately!) but sometimes it’s the best way.
You can check our social media profiles regularly for new content.
If you don’t already, follow us on Twitter (@Bremaininspain) and like and follow our Facebook Page. Join Bremain as a member and receive our monthly newsletter – Bremain in Spain
Petitions
Here’s a link to all Brexit related petitions: Brexit Petitions
Court cases
There are several extremely important Court cases coming up and we would ask that you support them as much as possible either financially by donating or sharing on social media:
Action for Expat Votes – being heard in the EU court in Luxembourg on 26th November, which is fighting for those who could not vote in 2016 and are EU citizens. If this court case wins – a BIG problem for Brexit. This is the case involving Harry Shindler MBE who has been very supportive of our Votes for Life Campaign. Action for Expat Votes
You can also like and follow Bremain’s Votes for Life Facebook Page
UKinEU Challenge – which has been given a 2 hour Oral hearing on Friday 7th December: ”Unusually for this type of matter, the Government will also be attending and making representations via its top Barrister, First Treasury Counsel, Sir James Eadie QC. Sir James represented the Government in the Gina Miller Article 50 proceedings: ‘R (Miller) vs Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union’ As many of you are aware, the lead claimant is our Bremain in Spain Chair, Sue Wilson and the other claimants are Bremain members too. Click for the UKinEU Challenge Crowdjustice page or visit their Facebook Page
Wightman case – will be heard on November 27 at the ECJ to determine if Article 50 is revocable. More information can be found here.
Fair Vote Project – asking for a public inquiry into the EU referendum result and the alleged illegal activity. More information can be found here.
If you would like further advice or support about lobbying, please get in touch with us enquiries@bremaininspain.com
