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You may be aware of the cuts being proposed by the current Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne. These cuts will affect the arts in terms of jobs, pay and the development of new and existing work for years to come. Now, just because Mr Osborne has announced the cuts doesn't mean he gets to implement them (taxes are different however). To implement the changes the government needs to pass the Finance Bill and to do that they need a simple majority across a number of votes at each stage of the bill as it passes through the House of Commons.

The coalition government has a majority of 78 votes over all the other parties combined. To defeat the Finance Bill vote at any stage you need to push 40 votes over to the NO side of the fence. That's where the 57 Liberal Democrat MPs come into play, because 57 is more than 40. Listed below are the contact details for all 57 Liberal Democrat MP's. If you want to know how they are going to vote and why, then all you have to do is ask them.

It doesn't matter if you don't live in their constituency because this is a national issue, not a local one and they work for you whether you voted for them or not (or even if you didn't vote)

When you contact them you probably won't speak to the MP directly at first if at all but you must always be studiously polite, don't give them a reason to ignore you. Be firm, be direct, but be polite. Ask them how the MP will vote and why and explain your objections to the cuts, the same goes for email.

Here in TheLab™ we'll be going through the list to get their responses but since we're not the New York Times then it could take a while, let us know how you get on in the comments.

You might not be able to win, but you, and a lot of other people, might just be able to make the government lose enough support to make them nervous and change some of the draconian cuts they have proposed which many analyst are predicting will be somewhat calamitous for the country you live and work in. Moving to a Scandinavian country is not an option!

Trying to get hold of people like this is not a lot of fun, if you can't reach them on the numbers below try The House of Commons switchboard on 020 7219 3000.

[ The Finance Bills Progress Through Parliament ]
[ Budget Analysis Polly Toynbee Guardian ]
[ Budget Analysis Larry Elliot Guardian ]
[ Election Information from the BBC ]