Issue 24; 21 October 1999

Advice on Lobbying your M.P.

Advice on Lobbying your MP
Following the events of Wednesday 13th October 1999 in which the IR35 Clauses in the House of Lords were deleted from the Welfare and Pensions Reform Bill there are two scenarios:

1. The Government will attempt to reintroduce clauses 71/72 in the House of Commons at the time of "Consideration of Lords Amendments".

2. They will abandon the Welfare Reform and Pensions Bill, as far as we are concerned and, introduce the IR 35 legislation, in total, in the Finance Bill 2000.

In either case, our attention must now swing back to members of Parliament. We would ask that all Contractors now write to their MP. Even if not a member of the PCG your views could make a difference.

Lord McIntosh cited, in the House of Lords the case of two workers sitting side by side which we believe demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of how we work.

We have prepared a comprehensive brief for your local MP. We believe that it clearly demonstrates the difference between the relationship of the directly employed, the Consultancy employed and, the small business.

Therefore the task is now to:-

• Write to your Member of Parliament. You can find out who he or she is at http://www.locata.co.uk/commons/
• You write to them at:-
  The House of Commons,
  London,
  SW1A 0AA
  
  You write a letter saying who you are, what you do for a living and, how you believe IR 35 will have the effect of putting your business at risk.
• Include the briefing document and ask them to complete the attached questionnaire; Questionnaire; 29Kb, 4 pages - PDF File
• Offer a meeting if they need a personal briefing to understand the issue.
• You can say that the matter of ir35 could well be coming back to their House, how would they vote?
• Ask for as written reply and, if one is not forthcoming within 10 days, phone them up in The House of Commons. 0171 219 3000 and ask when you might expect to receive a reply (you probably will not get the MP, more likely a secretary or researcher).
• If by the end of a further 5 days you still have not received a reply write a second letter asking for a reply to the original.

Keep a copy of any response, as we will be modifying the web site to allow you to record these. They will remain as a permanent record until the next election.

At this stage, please, do not write to the House of Lords.

Kind regards
David Ramsden
Campaign Director
Professional Contractors Group