Originally published at: https://therestartproject.org/get-involved-1/how-to-build-a-relationship-with-your-local-mp/
This is a guest post by Keith Brady, Project Lead for Repair Cafe Gosport
One of the best pieces of advice I have had professionally is “never ask a senior person a question; give them something obvious to say yes to”. So when asking your MP to support your repair group, make sure you know in advance why they will say yes. Here’s what worked for us at Repair Cafe Gosport.
Why build a relationship with your MP?
In our early days, Repair Cafe Gosport wanted to grow, find enough volunteers to make it sustainable and reach all parts of our community. Our local MP was one of a number of people and groups we have engaged with in this effort.
Having a good relationship with our MP has brought wider publicity in our community, with new guests and volunteers coming along. It has also helped build relationships with other groups and brought benefits we hadn’t anticipated, such as an invitation to the annual Gosport Volunteer recognition event that our MP hosts in Parliament. And she has also signed the UK Repair and Reuse Declaration.
Photo: Solent Repair and Reuse
Our 3-stage approach
I love my Repair Cafe, but it’s a mistake to assume an MP will immediately understand its value. An MP gets thousands of emails a week, and the Repair Cafe has to jump out as something they want to support.
We’ve found it’s much easier to get support once people have seen a Repair Cafe in action. Our local MP takes one Saturday a month to visit 3-4 local groups, and we want to be on that list once a year. So any visit has to be of maximum impact to both her and us.
That takes planning and focus. Therefore, our approach to building the relationship had three stages…
Stage 1: build trust
First you’ll need to start a credible relationship before asking for anything. As with any relationship, it needs trust.
Show good governance
Doing good work isn’t enough; it’s also important to demonstrate that your group is well run. Any concerns about poor governance or mismanagement of funds will prevent any relationship with your MP and other local figures. Make sure legal structures and finances are transparent, be ready to explain ring-fenced banking arrangements with multiple signatures and so on.
Make sure you look professional with your own website and domain name for email addresses (such as “hello@yourrepaircafe.org”) Don’t use personal email accounts.
Start local and make the most of special occasions
Start by getting to know your local councillors. Your MP may be more likely to visit if a local councillor from their party has reported back to them first.
You can also use special occasions like anniversaries or International Repair Day to invite prominent local figures and press. We invited the Mayor and our MP to our 1st anniversary party. Getting the local paper to cover it really helped us too.
Make their visit memorable
When your MP (or another prominent guest) does visit, make it worth their time.
- Have someone prepared to talk to them, with key facts and make sure this includes your 30-second “Elevator Pitch”
- Allow volunteers and visitors to talk to the MP and describe the project’s benefits in their own words, without the perception that they have been prepped by the leadership team (even if they have).
- Provide an opportunity to take photos, if the MP is happy to do so, which they can then publish on their social media and/or newsletters
- Follow up after the visit with additional information, e.g. about the environmental or social benefits of your work (as measured on https://restarters.net/)
- Encourage them to bring along a broken item for repair; ideally an item that your team should find fairly easy to fix.
Photo: Solent Repair and Reuse
Stage 2: cultivate the relationship
The second stage is about deepening engagement. MPs and councillors need to be able to talk about supporting their local community, so inviting them back and allowing them to publish their visits will further develop trust.
Invite them back
We have a calendar to invite our MP once a year. It can help to get to know the person who arranges the MPs diary and social media. And avoid political rivals being present at the same time.
Allow them to make a longer visit with their own broken item to go through the whole repair cafe process. Ideally assign them to a volunteer who is not part of the leadership team.
Add extra value to your event
Try to engage them in other ways too. We had a student journalist from a local university interview our MP and publish it in the local paper. It helps to create opportunities for good-quality photographs, including a broad range of people from the community.
Contribute to their wider efforts
Supporting any relevant initiatives that your MP promotes can also strengthen the relationship. Our MP has a volunteer recognition day in parliament, and we have put out volunteers forward to join that.
Photo: Solent Repair and Reuse
Stage 3: introduce your request
Once you’ve built a good relationship, you can start asking for their wider support. These need to be pre-agreed in advance as part of visits. If you’re asking your MP to sign the Repair and Reuse Declaration for example, don’t spring it on them.
Every community and MP is different, so you’ll likely need to adapt our approach to your situation. But I hope our experience in Gosport can serve as a useful starting point and inspiration for your own journey.
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Featured photo: Solent Repair and Reuse