Write to your MP about marriage

Parliament's own advice to anyone lobbying an MP is that a personal letter or email "will have more impact than a template", at https://www.parliament.uk/get-involved/contact-an-mp-or-lord/lobbying-parliament/. A few lines in your own words, asking where your MP stands on marriage, is one of the most useful things any supporter can do, and it takes about ten minutes.

HOW TO DO IT

Find your MP. The simplest way is WriteToThem, a free service run by the charity mySociety, at https://www.writetothem.com. You type in your postcode, choose your MP and write your letter on the page. WriteToThem sends it once you click the link in the email it sends you, and any reply comes straight to your own inbox.

Write it in your own words. The outline below gives you what to say, but please don't copy it out word for word. WriteToThem blocks letters that are the same as other people's, and explains why a pile of matching letters counts for less than one that's plainly yours, at https://www.writetothem.com/about-qa. A sentence about your own marriage, your parents, or your children or grandchildren will do more than any argument we could give you.

Give your full name and address. Your MP represents everyone in the constituency, including people who voted for other parties, at https://www.parliament.uk/about/mps-and-lords/members/. Your address and postcode are how your MP's office knows you're one of them, and WriteToThem asks for both.

Ask a question. Your MP is more likely to give you a real answer if you ask a real question. You can also ask your MP to pass your letter to the minister responsible and send you the reply. WriteToThem's advice, at https://www.writetothem.com/about-qa, is that MPs pass letters on even when they disagree with you.

Send us the reply. When your MP writes back, please forward the reply to admin@c4m.org.uk. It tells us where each MP stands on marriage, and who in Parliament will speak up for it.

WHAT TO SAY

Dear [your MP's name],

I'm one of your constituents, and I'm writing to you about marriage.

[In a sentence or two, say why marriage matters to you - your own marriage, your parents', or what you want for your children or grandchildren.]

I believe marriage between a man and a woman is the best foundation for family life and the best start we can give a child. I'd like our laws and our schools to say so plainly, rather than treating it as one arrangement among many.

[Add one of the paragraphs below, in your own words.]

Will you tell me where you stand, and what you'll do in Parliament to support marriage? I'll be following how you vote.

Yours sincerely,

[Your name, full address and postcode]

ONE ISSUE TO RAISE

Weddings (England and Wales). Every marriage should begin with both people saying, out loud and in front of witnesses, that they consent. Spoken consent is the law's best safeguard against forced marriage. The vows should also carry a promise to stay together and be faithful. You could ask your MP to insist on both whenever the law on weddings is changed. There's more at https://www.c4m.org.uk/news/government-proposes-silent-marriage.

Couples who live together (England and Wales). You don't uphold marriage by building its replacement. You could ask your MP to oppose any scheme that gives couples who never married the rights of marriage when they separate or when one of them dies. There's more at https://www.c4m.org.uk/news/the-governments-plan-to-make-marriage-pointless.

Tax (the whole UK). Income tax is charged on a husband and wife separately, as though each lived alone, as we set out at https://www.c4m.org.uk/news/the-taxman-is-blind-to-marriage-help-us-open-his-eyes. The Marriage Allowance lets a husband or wife pass only a tenth of their personal allowance to the other, at https://www.gov.uk/marriage-allowance. You could ask your MP to press the Treasury to let married couples share their personal allowances in full, so that a family bringing up children on one income isn't penalised.