An apology: emails on tax credits

I want to apologise for a mistake we made this weekend as part of our campaign to protect tax credits from cuts – cuts could push many families into poverty.

In some constituencies we sent some 38 Degrees members an email which mistakenly implied that they had a Conservative MP. It also meant that some of the suggestions we made about what members could include in emails to their MPs were inaccurate. We’re very sorry about this – it’s unfair to both our members and MPs.

Yesterday we sent apology emails to every 38 Degrees member who received the incorrect email as well as the MPs affected, letting them know about our mistake and highlighting times when opposition parties have spoken out against the cuts.

38 Degrees is all about making it easier for people to engage meaningfully with politics, so this is a really serious mistake for us to have made. The staff team are very sorry and more than a little embarrassed. We’ll be sitting down together this week to work out how this happened and identify any processes we need to change in order to stop it happening again.

Despite our mistake, it’s encouraging to see so many 38 Degrees members are campaigning against the cuts – 38 Degrees members in Conservative constituencies have so far sent around 10,000 emails about tax credits to their Conservative MPs.

And every MP still has power to affect the decision over tax credits – after all, they’re elected to represent us. Just this weekend, the SNP and the Labour Party have been speaking out against the cuts – and yesterday the Labour Party confirmed that it’s officially opposed to them. [1] The Green Party and the Lib Dems have spoken out against the cuts too. [2]

If you’d like to email your MP to thank them for their party’s opposition to the cuts – and to encourage them to do all they can to publicly oppose them – please click here:
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/thank-your-mp-tax-credits

NOTES:
[1] Here are some examples of when opposition parties have spoken out against tax credit cuts:
Labour: The Telegraph: John McDonnell overules senior ministers over cuts to tax credits:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/11939124/John-McDonnell-overules-senior-ministers-over-cuts-to-tax-credits.html
SNP: The Independent: SNP conference 2015: Nicola Sturgeon attacks George Osborne over ‘iniquitous’ tax credit cuts:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/snp-conference-2015-nicola-sturgeon-attacks-tories-over-iniquitous-tax-credit-cuts-a6698276.html
[2] Liberal Democrats: Politics.co.uk: Even after everything, Lib Dems still love Nick Clegg:
http://www.politics.co.uk/blogs/2015/09/21/even-after-everything-lib-dems-still-love-nick-clegg
Green Party: The Mirror: Iain Duncan Smith claims tax credits were a ‘bribe’ and attacks ‘ranting and screaming’ anti-cuts protests:
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/iain-duncan-smith-claims-tax-6584065E