Finding your local Councillors, MSPs and MPs
There are 1,223 elected councillors and each person in Scotland is represented by eight MSPs and an MP. Find out how to identify who represents your area.
The quickest way to find out who your local elected representatives are, is on the Write to Them website. It is worth making sure that you contact the person who is best placed to help you, so spend a little time reading the Who Should I Contact section. Once you have noted their names it is easy to find their contact details.
Councillors
There are 32 directly elected councils in Scotland and 1,223 elected councillors. Councillors are involved in making local budgetary decisions, can influence local planning decisions and decisions regarding local service provision. You can find out who represents your area by searching on your local council website, a list of which you will find on the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) website.
Scottish Parliament
Each person in Scotland is represented by eight Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs): one for their constituency and seven for the larger region in which they live. MSPs can influence national decision-making and prove instrumental in awareness raising in their constituencies. Depending on your event, you can choose to invite: MSPs from a particular political party, those that you have heard of locally or those that you know have a keen interest in a particular subject.
To find your MSPs go to: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/msps.aspx – by entering your postcode, you will get a list of all the MSPs in your area, including their email addresses, as well as their biographies, which mention any particular interests and membership of cross-party groups.
You can also use a map search: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/msps/constituency-maps.aspx
UK Parliament
The United Kingdom is currently divided into 650 parliamentary constituencies, each of which is represented by one Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons. There are 59 constituencies in Scotland.
To find your MPs (Scottish Constituencies), go to: http://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/mps/?search_term=Scotland. You can also narrow down the search by entering your postcode.