Why it is worth the bother

You have more power than you think

Almost nobody writes to the people who represent them. It is not apathy — it is that the whole thing feels like it is meant for somebody else. It is not. Here is exactly how it works.

What this means

You have two people whose job is to deal with you: an MP in London and an MSP in Edinburgh. Between them they are paid over £176,000 a year, by you.

You do not need to have voted for them. You do not need to know anything about politics. You just need to ask them a question they have to answer.

I write the email. You read it and press send. It takes about a minute.

What they are paid

Your MP

£98,599

Basic salary from 1 April 2026, before expenses and before any extra paid for other roles.

The body that sets it has said it intends to reach around £110,000 by the end of this parliament.

Your MSP

£77,711

Basic salary from 1 April 2026, before expenses and before any extra paid for other roles.

That is public money, and dealing with people who live in their area is not a favour they are doing you. It is the job.

What happens after you press send

Four things. None of them depend on your MP liking you or agreeing with you.

It gets logged
Your email arrives at their office and goes on the record. Staff sort the post by subject, so what people are writing about gets counted.
Every MP and MSP office keeps a record of constituent correspondence. That record is how an office knows what its area is worried about.
They should write back
You live in their area, so they deal with your case. It can take a few weeks, and the reply is sometimes a standard letter. That is still a reply, and it is still on paper.
Answering constituents is a long-standing expectation of the job rather than a law. What it means in practice is that ignoring a constituent is a choice an office has to make deliberately.
You now have something to check
Both emails ask what they will do, and what they expect your area's figure to be in five years. Once they have answered, you can hold them to it.
This is the part that matters most. A promise with a number and a date attached can be checked later. A promise without one cannot.
Enough letters change what gets raised
One email is a person. A hundred emails from the same place is a problem an office has to manage. Subjects that fill the postbag are the subjects that get raised.
I are not going to pretend there is a magic number. What is true is that offices prioritise by volume, because that is the only signal they have about what their area cares about.

The bit almost nobody knows

Your MP can make a minister answer in writing

An MP can put a formal written question to the government. A minister has to answer it, and both the question and the answer are published where anyone can read them, forever.

The expectation is an answer within about seven days. That is a long-standing convention rather than a hard rule.

This is what a paper trail means. It is not a phone call nobody remembers. It is a permanent public record with a date on it.

Why nobody used to bother

Five separate jobs stood between a person being angry and a person being heard. That is why almost nobody did it. Every one of them is now done for you.

What used to stop you

What happens now

Work out who your MP even is

I find them from your postcode, or straight from your area's page

Find an email address that works

I take it from the official parliamentary records

Find figures for your own area

Already in the email, with the source

Work out what to ask for, and who can actually do it

Each email only asks for things that person controls

Write the thing

Written. You read it and press send

Five jobs. Every one of them already done before you arrive.

The bit nobody explains

What is the difference between an MP and an MSP?

Lots of people are not sure, and nobody ever explains it. Here it is in plain words. You have both of them. Two different people, in two different cities, deciding two different sets of things.

Your MP

Works in London

The UK Parliament

Decides the money almost everyone gets.

Things they help decide

Universal Credit and most benefits
Help with the rent if you rent privately
Tax, and the State Pension

Your MSP

Works in Edinburgh

The Scottish Parliament

Decides things that are run here in Scotland.

Things they help decide

The Scottish Child Payment
Council houses, and help if you are homeless
Schools, childcare and the NHS in Scotland

Both of them work for you. You do not need to know which one is in charge of what, and you do not need to pick.

That is why I write one email to each, and why each email only asks for things that person can actually do. You do not need to have voted for them — they still have to answer you.

Straight answers

Questions people ask

Is emailing my MP a waste of time?

No. Your email is logged, and offices sort what comes in by subject — that is how they know what their area cares about. You will usually get a reply, and the reply is a record you can check later.

How much is an MP paid?

An MP's basic salary is £98,599 a year from 1 April 2026, before expenses. An MSP's is £77,711. Answering people who live in their area is part of the job they are paid to do.

Do I have to have voted for them?

No. An MP or MSP represents everyone who lives in their area — people who voted for them, people who voted against them, and people who did not vote at all.

What is a written parliamentary question?

A formal question an MP puts to the government. A minister has to answer it, and both the question and the answer are published permanently where anyone can read them. The expectation is an answer within about seven days, though that is a convention rather than a hard rule.

Where these facts come from

IPSA confirms decision on MPs' pay for 2026-27 — Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority
MSP salaries, Scottish Parliament Salaries Scheme — Scottish Parliament
Written questions and answers — UK Parliament
Written questions, answers and statements — UK Parliament (Hansard)

I do not publish figures for how often MPs reply, because no reliable national figure exists. Where something is a convention rather than a rule, I say so. Read the methods.

Right — who represents you?

Put in your postcode. I find your MP and MSP, put your own area's figures into both emails and write them for you.

One simple next step

Find mine and write the emails See my area's figures first