This is the place for us to share our campaign successes and failures with each other. If you receive a reply from your MEP, have a good conversation about the campaign with some friends, meet a politician...we all want to hear about it! Go to our contact page to contact us . We'll put your news on the website so others can be encouraged.

18/1/08 - Lobbying a government minister

Thanks so much for praying for our meeting with Gareth Thomas last Tuesday. It was great! I had never lobbied a government minister before so wasn't quite sure what to expect, but I came away realising that it isn't as intimidating as it might seem, and that it really does make a difference. Although he didn't agree to all of our requests, he took away some action points and has agreed to meet us again. The UK has recently made some improvements to the National Contact Point, which is something to be thankful for and to keep an eye on.

The government steers towards voluntary guidelines, such as the Ethical Trading Initiative. While these are positive initiatives, we need to remember that the OECD guidelines are unique because they are international, and have a complaints procedure. This is why we want to campaign for them to work more effectively.

What struck me about the meeting was his comment that we were only the second group to lobby him face-to-face on this issue. It made me realise what an impact it makes to talk to our representatives directly, as this really is how they gauge what is important to their constituents. Obviously there are not many other people pressing the government on this important, so every action we take really does make a difference. So let's keep up the pressure through the MP3 petition, contacting our MEP's and of course, the Big Dress!

-from Hannah Kitchen