RFUK urges supporters to lobby their MPs to attend the MIR Petition Debate on the 20th of January.
The Petition Committee has confirmed that there will be Debate in Parliament of the Petition to “Don’t increase the income requirement for family visas to £38,700” which reached the 100k signatures in June 2024 and will finally be debated in Parliament the 20th of January 2025 at 4.30 PM.
It is incredibly encouraging that the Petition reached 100k signatures and RFUK would like to thank our dedicated volunteers for their remarkable and relentless hard work and determination to hit that extremely high target.
We have prepared two resources which will be useful when engaging your MPs ahead of the debate:
- A video on how to engage your MP in relation to this debate
- A template letter to use when to contact your MP. However, always remember that personal correspondence with your own personal experience of the rules are the best way to make sure that MPs will read your letter and act on it.
Whilst the Debate will not change the family migration rules it will help to create more awareness of the issue amongst parliamentarians and help create a swell of support in the next 6 months which are key for our issue as in June it is when the MAC will present the report to the Government which will then make a decision on whether to implement the MAC’s recommendations.
Do not underestimate the importance of getting your MP on side to advocate on this. The more parliamentarians know about the issues and sufferings caused by the rules to their constituents the more we are likely to see pressure for a positive change of the rules.
Practical Information for the debate:
Date and Time: 20th of January at 4.30 PM
In relation to the debate itself, here is some info below which the Petitions Committee have confirmed with us:
- Entrance to the debate itself – you don’t have to have ‘tickets’ to the debate and the process is to simply arrive early and join a queue to attend and it’s a first come first serve basis
- The debate starts at 4.30, so we advise arriving at 4pm if you want to try and get a seat. You will not get entry earlier so do not arrive in the am in the hope you will get a seat later in the day
- The public gallery in Westminster Hall can only hold around 20 seats. Please bear this in mind if coming from long distance. [To note, when I went to the last one there were only a few of us and some seats remaining]
- It is important that you conduct yourselves accordingly – remaining in a respectful silence. We are there only as observers so appropriate behaviour must be observed otherwise anyone behaving inappropriately are likely to be removed
- The debate is live on parliament tv and Youtube (once links are available we will update this website accordingly).
Once the debate has taken place, Hansard [the House of Commons official record] will write up the transcript of the debate and it will be published online. If the Committee choose to continue monitoring the issue, then further activity may take place but that is wholly up to the Committee. The Petitions Committee will also share the transcript and recording with petitioners.
