The effect of a photoisomerising dye in a ferroelectric liquid crystal host has been investigated. A nitroazo dye incorporating the same three-siloxane unit as an organosiloxane ferroelectric host has been used to insure good miscibility and high dye concentrations. The effect of photoisomerisation by 300-400 nm UV of up to 430 mW.cm(-2) has been investigated in two mixtures with 25% and 50% molar weight of dye. The 25% mixture has an I-SmC*-crystal phase sequence, while the 50% mixture has I-SmA*-SmC*-crystal, Transition temperatures of both the mixtures are reduced by increased UV illumination. For the first mixture at a constant temperature, the spontaneous polarisation in the ferroelectric phase is reduced by UV illumination. For the second mixture both the spontaneous polarisation and tilt angle of the SmC* phase are reduced by UV illumination and the phase is changed from SmC* to SmA* at temperatures close to the transition. The change of tilt angle and observations of micrograph textures indicate that this is a macroscopic change of the material rather than any phase separation of the dye and host materials.