Join us for a Mass Lobby against Disability Benefits cuts in Westminster on the 21 May
Coalition Against Benefit Cuts, Disabled People Against Cuts, Disability Rights UK, WellAdapt, Inclusion London, and SIC and our co-sponsors Richard Burgon MP and Neil Duncan Jordan MP are joining forces for a mass lobby.
We're calling on disabled people, DDPOs and allies, from across the UK to: write to their MP asking for a meeting at Westminster Hall on the 21 May between 1 and 4 pm, let us know you're coming (even if your MP has not replied), and join our Mass Lobby.
What is a mass lobby?
A mass lobby is where a group arranges a large number of meetings between constituents and MPs for the same time. This is an opportunity to push MPs to vote against these cuts, to show the strength of support and to take up visible space in Westminster.
How does a mass lobby work?
Step one: find your MP
You can find your MP here. This website needs your postcode or location and will then give you the details of your MP, including their email address.
Step two: email your MP
Step three: let us know you’ve contacted your MP
If you can attend, please fill in this registration form here so we know to expect you. Your MP doesn’t need to have replied yet – we’ll ask you to update us via email.
If the registration form is not accessible for you – you can email your answers to [email protected].
Why do we need your information? We’re hoping to get as many MPs as possible in the room and can also follow up with MPs on constituents’ behalf. This helps us know how we’re getting on and work out if there are any specific geographies we need to target.
Step four: arrange travel
Even if you haven’t heard back from your MP go ahead and book travel. To request travel support you can do so via this travel form here. This additional form is so we can reimburse your expenses, thanks to support from Inclusion London and Disabled People Against Cuts.
We welcome anyone to attend, and someone can green card their MP on the day if they have not had a reply via email.
Step five: on the day
On the day, you will arrive to Westminster where stewards will show you how to get to the lobby registration desk.
We will provide you with a briefing of the proposals and some key messages. From here, you and potentially others from your constituency will meet with your MP wherever arranged.
If your MP still hasn’t replied by the 21 May – we’d still love for you to join us, as we feel that this is an opportunity for us to show strength and solidarity in numbers.
Travel support
The team at Disabled People Against Cuts can provide financial support to pay travel costs for those travelling from outside of London. For those travelling within London, the team at Inclusion London are funding travel costs.
This includes travel cost (if economy travel is accessible to you, we would appreciate it), and hotel stays for those coming from outside of London.
To request travel support you can do so via this travel form here.
If this travel form is not accessible to you – please email estimated travel costs and your contact details to [email protected]
What resources and support are available?
If you would like to share anything about the Mass Lobby on your socials that would be fantastic. You can access our graphics and some suggested copy and graphics here.
On the day, will be provided with the following resources:
- A lobby pack (including a briefing and guide on getting to Westminster Hall)
- A short briefing of key asks for MPs
- On the day there will be 2 BSL interpreters and a typist, and volunteers from the organisations involved to assist with access.
If you cannot attend on the 21 May
We strongly encourage everyone to try to attend in person as it is important to have a strong presence. However, if this is not possible we will still send you the same resources if you need to arrange a meeting on a different day locally or online.
We have a template email for seeing your MP in person on a different day, and meeting with your MP online. Both templates are available here.
If you can’t meet with your MP, we recommend still emailing your MP and telling them why they need to vote against these cuts, you can use Inclusion London’s tool to help here.
If you can, we’d appreciate sharing our posts – our Instagram is here, our Bluesky is here, and our LinkedIn is here.
If you would like to post on your own profiles, we have templates, suggested copy, and suggested alt text and image IDs here.
Why is this mass lobby so important?
These reforms are predicted to cause 350,000 people, including 50,000 children, to fall into poverty, 800,000 people are facing losing their PIP and removing Limited Capacity for Work or Work Related Activity will leave disabled people at risk of facing sanctions.
The process of a mass lobby has proven to be successful in the past. The Climate Coalition’s “The Time Is Now” campaign, for example, resulted in significant MP attendance and calls for action on climate change. Similarly, mass actions can raise awareness and pressure decision-makers to address a specific issue.
As the vote on the Green Paper is coming up, this is more important than ever.
MY MP HASN't Replied, what can I do?
Your MP has a duty to listen to your concerns, it is their job, so do not feel bad for making yourself heard and taking up space.
If your MP has not responded to you you can:
Attend the mass lobby and “Green Card”.
This is a time honored way of engaging with your MP, even if they have not replied to you.
- Go through the Cromwell Green entrance to parliament and pass through security (This takes up to 20 minutes.)
- Queue up at the information desk in the central lobby and you will need to collect and fill in a “green card.” This includes providing your name and address and the reason for your visit (to oppose the green paper and welfare reforms).
- Hand the completed green card back to the information desk. The information desk will be able to let you know
quite quickly if your MP is not at the House of Commons. - If your MP is unavailable the fact that you have handed in a green card will mean that your MP will know you have requested a meeting and your MP will have to write to you and it’s an opportunity for you to let them know your views. Sometimes your MP might send a staff member to meet you.
- If the information desk does manage to contact your MP be prepared to wait for a while.
Attend your MPs surgery in your constituency.
Your MP should hold regular surgeries around once a month.
The date, location, and time are usually advertised on social media (Instagram and Facebook).
These are usually drop in sessions – so you do not need to book in to go and see your MP.
Call your MP’s office
The number for your MP can be found on their parliamentary profile. You can search for your MP here.)
Engage on social media
A lot of MPs are active in local community groups such as neighbourhood groups on Facebook. You could comment on their posts or even share a post and tag them in saying you’d like to speak to them.
A note on Sinn Féin MPs
Sinn Féin MPs do not attend Westminster, so you will not be able to meet with them during the mass lobby. However, you can still email them and arrange to meet with them locally.
Your safety and accessibility
Safety and accessibility are at the heart of what we are doing. All of the organisation involved in this campaign are disabled-led.
On the day there will be 2 BSL interpreters and a typist, and volunteers from the organisations involved.
If you need any other accessibility support on the day please let us know ahead of time via [email protected]
Covid-19 and safety
- Our collective safety is priority number one. If you can wear a mask please do so, especially indoors or in crowded areas.
- If you need interpretation support as others will be masking, please let us know in advance via [email protected].
- For those that use lip-reading, do make yourselves known when you arrive.
- We are unsure as to whether MPs will mask, but will have hand sanitiser and masks available throughout the venue.
- Aside from precautions around viruses, we ask anyone who is unwell or experiencing any symptoms of Covid-19, flu, or colds to not attend for the safety of others.
I'm an ally, what can I do?
Allies are welcome to support in any way they feel comfortable doing so.
You can:
- Join the mass lobby
- Write to your MP
- Share our content on your social media – we have some guidance here.
- Support a disabled person to join the mass lobby.
Thank you for supporting the disabled community.
How can DDPOs and DPOs get involved?
We want to collaborate with as many DPOs and DDPOs as possible. We know our reach does not cover the entire UK, so please encourage the people you work with to get involved.
Template social media posts including alt text and image IDs are available for you to download here.
If there is any additional support you can offer, please email [email protected].
Meet the team
We are working as a collaborative team with Coalition Against Benefit Cuts, Disabled People Against Cuts, Disability Rights UK, Well Adapt, Inclusion London, and SIC. Information on this page has been provided by people across all of these organisations. Our co-sponsors Richard Burgon MP and Neil Duncan Jordan MP.
The Well Adapt team members behind this page are:
- Georgia Bondy (they/she), Founder of Well Adapt
- Alice Hargreaves (she/her), Founder of SIC
- Yen Godden (she/they), Disability Rights Activist
- Sean Giles (he/they), Legal and Policy Advisor