How to engage with your candidates during the General Election

Find out which candidates are standing in your local area here: Who Can I Vote For?

This can be a powerful way to influence the candidates priorities and emphasise why it’s vital to address alcohol harm in Parliament. These meetings do not need to be formal - you can arrange to meet them in a setting where you feel most comfortable and you could take along our general election manifesto. For example, you can meet them at their campaign office, in a public coffee shop, or a public event they are attending in your area. If you’re unable to organise a 1-2-1 meeting with your candidates, remember that they will be door knocking or canvassing throughout the next couple of weeks, hopefully giving you another great opportunity to speak to them directly.

Don’t worry if you’re not comfortable to meet your candidates face-to-face – you can still engage with your candidates by writing a letter or email to them! You might want to share our key policy asks and a link to our manifesto, and you could ask them what commitments they are willing to make to help reduce alcohol harm, if they’re successfully elected as an MP. If you need help getting started with your letter, please use this template, or email us at [email protected] and we can provide you with assistance!

If you hear back from any of your candidates about their views on reducing alcohol harm, we’d be grateful if you could email us a copy of their response, so we can make sure they stay well-informed if they become an MP.

There may be an organised hustings event in your local area, where candidates will present a quick pitch detailing why you should vote for them and answer questions from attendees. This is a great way to meet your local candidates and ask them to commit to ending alcohol harm in Parliament if elected. You can check if a hustings or debate event is being held in your local area through your local news platform or emailing your candidates to find out.

Sharing your story can be a powerful tool to help your candidates understand why tackling alcohol harm is important to you and many people across the country. They may not have direct experience themsleves, or appreciate that wider harms caused by alcohol affect all of us in society – from poor sleep to the impact on relationships and families.

If you feel comfortable sharing your experiences publicly, or your reasons why you think all MPs should take action to end alcohol harm, you could post a short written or filmed reflection on social media.

Remember to tag us @AlcoholChangeUK to connect with other campaigner, and use our hashtag #EndAlcoholHarm.