Guide for Lobby Day - Sex Matters

Supported by the Women’s Rights Network, Transgender Trend and LGB Alliance

Introduction

On Wednesday 11th September from 1pm to 5pm hundreds of Sex Matters supporters will take action: coming to Parliament to meet their MPs and call on them to stand up for single-sex services and to support our campaign to make the Equality Act clear.

We are telling MPs about the impact of the erosion of single-sex spaces and services and asking them to support an amendment to clarify the Equality Act to remove legal uncertainty for women, and for transgender people.

Hearing from ordinary people – their constituents – about the issues that concern them is a big part of an MP’s job. As someone who cares about this issue, with your individual experiences and perspectives, you are ideally qualified to get your MP to understand why this issue is so important.

There will be staff and volunteers from Sex Matters, Women’s Rights Network, Transgender Trend, LGB Alliance and women from Labour Women’s Declaration, Lesbian Labour, Conservatives for Women, Liberal Voice for Women and Green Women’s Declaration to support everyone who attends.

We will invite you to an online briefing the evening before Lobby Day, and on the day we will give you a meeting crib sheet to arm you with key information and help you frame your argument, and a Stand up for single-sex services booklet to give your MP. But the main thing is to speak from the heart.

Timetable

The timings for the meetings are not precise, as we have a lot of people and a lot of meetings. There will be briefings throughout the afternoon for people who are ‘Green Carding’ MPs.

1pm: Meetings with MPs begin and “green carding” groups begin to head to Parliament

5pm: We all gather for a photograph – time changed from 4pm due to the time it has taken to get into Parliament. Please let others know!

5pm: Meetings with MPs wind up

5.30pm to 9.30pm: Drinks at a local pub (around 15 minutes’ walk from Parliament – location will be shared nearer the time)

If you have arranged a meeting with your MP

You may have arranged to join up with other constituents too.

Go straight to Parliament

Print out our crib sheet to take with you. Make your way straight to the visitors’ entrance to Parliament – the Cromwell Green entrance. Number 9 on this map:

From Westminster underground station: 5 to 10 minutes’ walk
From St James’s Park underground station: 10 to 15 minutes’ walk
From Victoria or Waterloo underground or rail station: 30 minutes’ walk or a short bus ride.
Allow at least 20 minutes to queue and get through security.
Once in, it’s a few minutes’ walk to Central Lobby.
Parliamentary staff are very visible and will be happy to help you.
You will also see members of the Sex Matters team who will be around and can give you a booklet to give to your MP.
Your meeting is likely to last 20 to 30 minutes.

If you have not had a response from your MP
OR
If your MP has said they will meet you on Lobby Day but have not fixed a time

We will give you a suggested time to arrive. This will mean that if there are several people to meet the same MP they are there at the same time.

When you arrive in Westminster you should come to the Sex Matters meeting venue near Parliament. The venue is five minutes’ walk from the visitors’ entrance to Parliament (number 9 on the map above), and ten minutes’ walk from either Westminster or St James’s Park underground station. The exact address will be shared the evening before.

We will be doing an in-person version of the online briefing from the night before, and giving out Stand up for single-sex services booklets to share with MPs (you will also be able to pick these up from Sex Matters staff and volunteers who will be in Parliament).

What will happen when I get to Parliament?

You will be “green carding” your MP. You will be allocated a group and head across to Parliament with them. You will queue up at the information desk in the central lobby so each of you can collect and fill in a green card.

The green card is a short form where you fill in your name, contact details, the name of your MP and a short description of what you want to talk to them about (“Single-sex services and the Equality Act”). You hand it in at the information desk and it will be delivered to your MP’s Parliamentary office. Staff at the desk will let you know quite quickly if your MP is in the House of Commons.

If your MP is unavailable, your green card lets them know you have requested a meeting and they will be obligated to write to you letting you know their position. (You can then reply to this, requesting a meeting again, if this is not offered.)
If your MP is available, you may be asked to wait for some time before they are able to come and meet you.

If you are inside Parliament with time to wait you are allowed to go into the public galleries to see Parliament at work.

Will I definitely get to meet my MP on Lobby Day?

There is no guarantee that you will get to meet your MP on the day. However, it is part of the job of an MP to listen to their constituents’ concerns and represent them in Parliament; if you do not get to meet them on Lobby Day, you can and should keep trying to pin them down to meet you at a future date. Most MPs have a website with details of their local surgeries which are either drop-ins or at which you can book a slot.

If your MP cannot meet you on Lobby Day, but will meet at another time

If you have been offered a different day and time to meet your MP – for example at one of their local MP surgeries in the constituency – you are strongly encouraged to accept this. Use our MP meeting crib sheet to support you wherever you can raise these issues with your MP. These meetings will be just as important for the Stand up for single-sex services campaign as those that take place in Westminster on lobby day.

Should I still come to Lobby Day?

That’s up to you. Anyone who has registered for Lobby Day is welcome to come along, be part of the photograph and join the drinks in the evening. But if you know in advance that your MP can’t meet on the day, you might want to try to meet them in your constituency instead.

Your MP meeting

Meetings are likely to be 20 to 30 minutes long – but this depends on how much time your MP has on the day. It could go on longer or be cut short if the MP is called away.

The important thing to remember in your discussion with your MP is that you are helping them to understand that you, a constituent, are concerned that single-sex spaces, services and sports are being lost, and that something must be done about this.

Your simple “ask” for the meeting is for your MP to commit to contacting the Sex Matters team for a meeting to discuss what needs to be and can be done to clarify sex in the Equality Act.

If you’re a man attending, frame your concerns in a way that reflects what matters most to you, whether that’s gay rights, the protection of children or safeguarding your own personal space. Whether you are a man or a woman, make the issue your own and speak from the heart about why it’s important to you.

You can find more guidance to help you prepare for your meeting in our MP meeting crib sheet.

At the end of the meeting, ask your MP if they are happy to have a photo with you, holding up the Stand up for single-sex services booklet. You can then share this on social media using the hashtags #StandUpforSingleSexServices and #SexMatters.

Other information

What to wear

You won’t be allowed entry into Parliament if you are wearing clothes with visible campaign slogans or if you are carrying banners or anything similar. Other than that, you can dress however you like.

We will provide you with material to give your MP and we will bring banners for the photograph so all you need to worry about bringing is yourself and anything you need to keep you comfortable.

If you have clothing or luggage that you don’t want to take into Parliament you can leave them at the Sex Matters venue.

What to bring

Please remember that on the day you are likely to have long periods where you are waiting around killing time between any MP meeting and the other activities.

Do bring along water, snacks – and waterproofs or an umbrella.

If you can, please print out your own copy of our MP meeting crib sheet to bring: see sex-matters.org/mp-crib-sheet.

If you have any of the following items when going through security, you will need to hand them in and collect them when you leave from the entrance at which you were screened:

Swiss army knives, scissors and cutlery; screwdrivers and tools
padlocks, chains, and climbing gear
whistles and items that make a noise
banners, placards or flags
open liquids or semi-liquid foods with the exception of baby milk or food.

For more information about security see www.parliament.uk/visiting/access/security

Obviously please do not place stickers or graffiti anywhere on the Parliamentary estate, on any public land or on others’ private property.

Facilities and accessibility

There is a small Tesco just outside Westminster underground station and a few other shops and cafés in the area – Itsu and Pret A Manger on Great Peter Street and a café inside 4 Millbank). On the Parliamentary estate there is a café (open 9am to 5.45pm) and a gift shop.

There are plenty of toilet facilities inside Parliament, but no public toilets outside. There will be toilets, water and tea and coffee at the Sex Matters venue.

There is step-free access to the cafe and Westminster Hall. If you need step-free access to Central Lobby, please contact us in advance at [email protected]. For more information about disabled access see: www.parliament.uk/visiting/access/disabled-access.

Photographs

You are allowed to take pictures in Westminster Hall (the big hall you come into first) but not in most of the rest of the Palace of Westminster. You can take pictures of your meeting with your MP if they agree.

Feedback

After your MP meeting (whether on Lobby Day or another time) please fill in the short feedback form at sex-matters.org/lobby-day-feedback. This is vital to ensure that we get the most out of Lobby Day – it will help us understand where we have support in Parliament to help us achieve change, and where there is more to be done to help politicians understand the seriousness of the issues.