Lobby a Lord

Help us raise concerns about the proposed changes to the NHS by writing to a member of the House of Lords. They aren't as used to individual lobbying as MPs, so receiving personal contacts from members of the public should get their attention. Of course, one of the reasons they don't get much contact is that they don't have a direct group of constituents.

There are a couple of online initiatives to help you get around this.

One has been set up by the TUC called Adopt a Peer. They’ll match you at random to a member of the House of Lords and help you to contact them, either directly with a posted letter, or by email.

Another initiative - Peer Pressure - lists peers and their contact details along with their likely opposition to the bill.

Composing an individual email or letter is likely to gain more attention, but read some of the concerns and criticism we have listed on this site to help you construct your letter.

Lobbying a Lord really could make a difference to the outcome of the Health Bill. Researchers at the Department of Political Science at University College, London, have concluded that while the House of Commons attracts the most media attention, the House of Lords can be just as important in the progression of a bill. The following extract is taken from the research:

“Defeats in the Lords do often ‘stick’: it would be a misapprehension to believe that the vast majority are overturned in the House of Commons. In fact, roughly six out of ten Lords defeats result in some kind of lasting policy change, and around four out of ten could be considered to be resolved more in the Lords’ favour than that of the government. Not only is government regularly defeated in parliament, in defeats which are rarely brought to the attention of the public, but it is also regularly forced to compromise with the opposition parties in order to get its legislation. The most visible such compromises are those that result from Lords defeats. But what is more significant (yet far more difficult to quantify) is the extent of compromise that goes on ‘in the shadow’ of Lords defeat.”