The new government has promised to end the detention of children. This is a major step, and will be the first major liberalisation of detention policy for many years. The Liberal Democrats have made a manifesto pledge to reduce the detention of people who cannot be deported. Both governing parties are committed to a renewed focus on civil liberties and to large cuts in public spending. For all these reasons, now is a historic opportunity to push for widespread reform of the detention system.

LDSG is asking all our supporters to write to their MPs to lobby for detention reform. We want MPs to encourage the new Home Secretary to reject UKBA proposals to build new detention centres and to establish an independent inquiry into the detention system. It is a particularly good moment to lobby Lib Dem or Conservative MPs, or newly elected MPs who are less likely to have established opinions.

A standard letter that you can send to your MP can be downloaded here. If you do not know who your MP is, you can find out at http://www.theyworkforyou.com. The download contains three versions of the letter: a letter to Lib Dems is on page 1, Conservatives on p3, and Labour MPs on p5. If your MP is not newly elected, please change the first line of the letter to "re-election". The letters can be posted to the House of Commons address, or emailed. MPs' email addresses are usually in the format camerond@parliament.uk.

Please let us know if you are writing to your MP, and especially if you receive a reply. We want to identify the most sympathetic new MPs so that we can focus our lobbying.