Return From Summer Recess MP Letter

Update September 14th

We will be announcing a change in the campaign approach in about a week.

Due to the political climate re Brexit we think that sending further emails to MPs will not have the impact earlier letters. We have indicated this by using strike-through in the text below.

Recent correspondence with a number of French Deputes suggests writing to them may be more productive. We will be asking those with second homes in France to send a specific email to your député. It is currently being translated and will be published soon.

What to Do

Sending an email is easy. Copy the text below into an email and follow the bullet points

• Find your MP details. Enter your postcode in https://members.parliament.uk/FindYourMP

• Use the subject line “Has the Government discussed 180 days visa-free travel with the EU?”

• Copy the text below into the email

• Add your MP name at the start

• Add your name and address to the end

Tell us who you have contacted

Part of our success so far is because we have used information effectively. It is really important for us to know how many letters are being sent and to whom. So please, please tell us by using the form:

http://bit.ly/180days-form-recessR-Aweb

Text of the email

Dear MP Name

In answer to a question in the House from Flick Drummond MP, the Government stated that it wants a reciprocal tourist travel mobility arrangement with the EU. In written responses to hundreds of letters from constituents via their MPs, ministers have repeatedly stated over several months that “future mobility arrangements are still subject to ongoing negotiations with the EU”. However, HM Government has failed to demonstrate that these talks specifically cover expanding visa-free travel for UK citizens in the EU.

After several months of talks the Government must surely now be in a position to clearly evidence how it is attempting to satisfy the concerns of frequent travellers and half a million second homeowners whose situation it has previously acknowledged. In less than 130 days, unless HM Government intervenes, UK citizens will have less right to travel to the EU than is being afforded EU citizens visiting the UK. HM Government says it wants reciprocity but it is failing to provide any evidence of its proposals to make this a reality.

The Government has naively suggested, in response to constituents’ concerns that frequent travellers and individuals with a second home in the EU apply to the relevant authorities in member states for a visa if they wish to stay for longer periods. However, in a recent survey of French second homeowners a quarter revealed that they had insufficient income to meet the requirements of a visa. These are people who have owned a modest second home for many years and have found this perfectly affordable. However, in 2021, as Third Country Nationals, it will be deemed that visiting their homes is no longer within their means.

I therefore request that you challenge HM Government to provide evidence of its claim that it continues to actively discuss the expansion of visa-free travel between the UK and the EU. In the absence of tangible evidence, I will conclude that ministers’ responses to the issue of tourist travel mobility have been cynical ploys to pacify constituents and voters like myself with a second home in the EU.

Yours sincerely

Your Name

Your constituency address (otherwise your letter may be ignored)