Write To Them

Mark the 75th Anniversary by Writing to Your MP

 

Civil society organisations including Human Rights Consortium Scotland are coming together for the 75th Anniversary of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) on the 4th of November 2025.

We are encouraging all of our networks to write to their MP and ask that they show public support for the ECHR.

As you may know, the ECHR plays a crucial role in protecting human rights here in the UK. Despite this, the UK’s membership is facing growing opposition from politicians and media commentators. The Government have suggested they may weaken its protections, while both Reform and the Conservatives have declared that the UK should leave.

Now, more than ever, it is important that we mobilise in support of the ECHR and make sure future generations continue to have the same safeguards for their human rights.

How do I get involved?

• Find your MP and their contact details: https://members.parliament.uk/FindYourMP
• You can also use your post-code via this website to find how to write to politicians at a UK, Scotland, or local authority level: https://www.writetothem.com/ 
• Send them an email outlining why you care about the ECHR and what you want them to do (suggested template for this below!)
• Celebrate positive responses to your email or statements from your MP – for example by publicly acknowledging them on social media.

 

Tips for a successful MP email:

• Be clear what action you want your MP to take. For instance, do you want them to raise concerns with the Government? Speak out in favour of the ECHR? To meet with you to discuss further? Whatever your ask is, make sure it is clear.
• Personalise as much as possible – make it clear why this issue matters to you and why you want your MP to act.
• Follow up! For example, if you don’t hear back from your MP, you can send a polite nudge to remind them that this issue is important to you, or if your MP takes action, you can email them again to thank them for the support.

 

Template email for you to customise:

Dear [Your MP’s Name]

As the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) marks its 75^th anniversary, I am writing as your constituent to outline my views and to ask that you raise these with the Secretary of State for Justice and consider them when discussing the issue in Parliament.

Over recent months, there has been an increased focus on the UK’s continued membership of the ECHR. I am incredibly concerned about the calls to leave entirely, along with the impacts that certain proposals to reform it may have on the principle that human rights are universal. [Feel free to further personalise why you are concerned]

There are many potential harms that arise from the UK turning its back on the ECHR. Below are what I consider to be some of the most alarming:

[You can add your own reasons for why the ECHR is important, ideas for this can be found here and here]

• The ECHR is the cornerstone of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement, the foundation on which Northern Ireland peace is built. Leaving the ECHR would be a serious breach of the Agreement and undermine the delicate peace settlement which flowed from it.
• Leaving the ECHR would be unprecedented and could fracture an already vulnerable region further. If the UK were to leave, we would be out in the cold with Belarus and Russia – the latter of which was expelled after 26 years, following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The UK should be proud of the role it played in drafting the Convention and at a time when the world stage feels so unpredictable, we should be championing it.
• The ECHR benefits us all – leaving it, or preventing certain groups accessing its protection, ignores the very principle that rights are for everyone, whether they are popular with politicians and the media or not. They are there to protect people who are all too easily made political scapegoats or singled out for vilification. Migrants and asylum seekers have always been targeted in this way and must continue to be protected by the Convention and the UK’s human rights framework. It is only by guaranteeing basic human rights for everyone that we can ensure the human rights of anyone.

I look forward to hearing your views and reading the response from the minister.

Yours sincerely,

[Your name + address including postcode]

 

With thanks to Amnesty International for the above.