Contact Your MP (April-June)

The method below was used for the period April => 9 July 2020

First email or a follow-up?

If you have already contacted your MP and wish to send a follow-up letter click here

Please continue on this page and use the guidance below if you have not previously written to your MP about your concerns relating to the Schengen 90/180 day rule.

Preparations for your first email

Think how the Schengen 90/180-day rule might affect you in the future. What would be the effect on you and your wider family and friends if your stay was to be limited?

Get the name and email address of your MP. Enter your postcode in this government website [link]

Writing the first email to your MP

We are making suggestions on what to write because

• we want the proposal to be described in a consistent manner in all correspondence

• correspondence on this matter needs to be succinct to be effective

• we want to make it easy for you

Most second homes are owned by a couple (two voters). If this is the case write a joint email and use We rather than I.

There are template letters for you to use to write to your your constituency MP. They were updated on May 26.

1. If you are a second home owner use this template https://bit.ly/180days-Let-MP-1SH ; or

2. If you are not a second homeowner but want to travel in Europe for long periods of time use this template https://bit.ly/180days-Letter-MP-Trav1

Please add your home address to the email as some MPs may filter out or choose to ignore emails which do not have an address in their constituency.

If you prefer to draft your own email, please take the content of the templates into consideration

Send the email

We are expecting a lot of emails to be sent so for the benefit of the recipients and the effectiveness of the 180days visa-free campaign we ask you to use these guidelines:

1. Use Subject Line: 180 days visa-free EU travel for UK citizens

2. Use the official email address of the MP you got from the government website [link].

Please do not take a scatter-gun approach as this will harm the campaign. If you write to other ministers they will respond with a semi-automated reply about the need to refer to your constituency MP. Other MPs are focused on the needs of their constituency and are unlikely to welcome your email or take any action.

Please remember to tell us which MP you have contacted

Please use form at https://bit.ly/180days-form-contacted-MP

Will your MP respond?

Based on experience:

• You may get an automated email from your MP which acknowledges your letter. This means they got it but nothing else. It takes time for them to review correspondence received

• You may get a reply saying they have forwarded it to the minister for comment

We know MPs are dealing with huge volumes of correspondence so delays are inevitable. Though it may be frustrating to not get a response, we suggest you hold off chasing by email for 3 or more weeks. If nothing has been received then our suggestion is to send a further email along the lines of being saddened and disappointed by lack of response to a constituent.