contact your election candidates

In 2024, 4 billion people around the world will cast a vote in an election. The UK is one such country, with many commentators predicting either a May or an autumn election.

The period before an election can be a fantastic opportunity for campaigners to engage with parties, candidates, the media and the general public to raise awareness of their concerns. Elections offer an unrivalled chance to secure support for policies that will advance our advocacy agenda over the course of the next Parliament and beyond.

top tips

Find out more about your Prospective Parliamentary Candidates (PPCs) – you can do this through your own research or with your local Results campaigning group. Not yet part of a group? Get in touch at [email protected] and we can connect you up!
Arrange to meet your candidates now, before an election is called. Once the election date has been announced, they will be very busy canvassing (meeting voters and knocking on doors) and will have little time for dedicated meetings with groups of constituents. A meeting well in advance could have much more impact.
If there are ‘hustings’ meetings in your area (where a panel of candidates all get to air their views on a range of topics in public), it can be worthwhile asking a question so the candidates have to express their views publicly (note that hustings don’t always happen in constituencies as candidates sometimes refuse to take part).
If you can’t get to meet them, then writing letters to the candidates is also a good starting point. But they are unlikely to be able to pay much attention once an election is called, so make sure to contact them soon.

talking points

Here is some information about the issues Results will be advocating on during the coming year or more. You can raise these with your PPCs and ask what their thoughts are on these topics:

Results UK advocates for an end to infectious diseases such as tuberculosis (TB) by 2030. The UK has supported the fight against TB through providing finance to the Global Fund to Fight HIV, TB and Malaria since 2002. However, the world doesn’t have adequate vaccines, diagnostics and treatments for TB, and more research and development (R&D) is needed. The UK must remain committed to funding R&D for global health concerns, and to supporting the Global Fund.

Results works to increase political will for all children to receive the full range of WHO-accredited vaccines, protecting them from a range of easily preventable diseases. We are expecting the UK to renew its pledge to Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance in the next year, which has helped save the lives of more than 17 million children since 2000, and hope that politicians including PPCs will feel able to support such initiatives.

Results works to ensure that children have access to good nutrition from the outset, which is foundational to human development. In 2024 France will be convening a Nutrition 4 Growth (N4G) summit around the Olympics. You might consider asking your PPCs’ views supporting the UK’s engagement with global nutrition work.

It is estimated that if all children in low-income countries had access to education that equipped them with basic skills, global poverty could decline by 12%. Results strives to build political will in the UK to ensure that by 2030, an inclusive and equitable quality education is available to all, particularly girls, children with disabilities and children in emergencies. You could consider asking PPCs whether they would prioritise the UK’s financial support for education globally.

Please feel free to contact us at [email protected] for further information about specific topics – we have expert staff working on each of them that would happily tell you and your group more about their issue areas.

your tools

download

our 2024 election toolkit to learn where to look for PPC names and contact details, and to help you take action this month!

attend

our advocacy workshop to learn more about influencing candidates ahead of the election and how to find and approach your PPCs. It will be online on Wednesday 13 March at 7pm.

report

your action to let us know if you have spoken to any of your candidates on these issues, be it in a meeting, husting, or letter, by taking 2 minutes to fill out this form.

take action!

Start planning for the General Election that is expected this year – even though we don’t yet know when it will be! Once an election is called, existing MPs formally lose their role, and all the candidates – of all parties, not just the previous MP – have equal status, and you should try to engage with all of them. By talking to them now about international development issues, it shows them that people in the constituency care, and could be the start of a relationship with the new MP should they be elected.

I took action!

we’re here to support you!

Each individual constituency is different, and whether you have a sitting MP who is likely to be re-elected, or a selection of new faces, there is always a way to raise your concerns effectively.

If you have any questions, we are happy to help you identify a plan of action!

Contact Naveed Chaudhri, Head of Campaigns at [email protected] if you need any advice!