HASTINGS MP REFUSES TO CONDEMN GENOCIDE - YET AGAIN!
We planned for a delegation to meet MP Dollimore at one of her coffee mornings this week. This was after she published two statements calling for the increase in armaments funding, and for cuts to disabled people. We published the open letter 'To Helena Dollimore MP: We want welfare not warfare.' This was signed by local groups representing more than a thousand people and 165 constituents including local councillors.
We wrote to her stating our intention to hand the letter to her by a delegation representing some of the groups - the PSC, trades unions, disabled groups, peace groups, religious organisations, mental health and parents groups. With short notice, she replied that she did not want us to hand the petition in at the coffee morning and instead she would meet with three constituents the evening before at what is an inaccessible venue. As constituents were not able to change plans, we advised that we would attend the coffee morning as planned, which all constituents are invited to.
At the coffee morning she agreed to come out to meet us and accept the petition. She then changed her mind, for no cogent reason, and refused to do so. She allowed just one of our group to go into the event to discuss the contents of the letter, refusing to allow the meeting to be recorded, although she had a note taker. When it was conveyed to her that those waiting outside who she refused to meet were hugely discontent at her change of mind she showed no interest and offered no apology. Her response instead was, 'You should be mindful that you're putting vulnerable constituents off attending the coffee morning by being outside'. She was asked what she meant by this, who we had put off and why she had refused entry to disability rights groups sitting outside for two hours. She had no answer to this. We did not prevent anyone from attending and were on the other side of the road from the hall.
She had a well-prepared spiel that she delivered as a true career politician, speaking over the constituent she had agreed to speak with and failing to listen. She often side-stepped questions or refused to answer them.
Asked why her government is arming Israel she referred to embargoes on some companies, she was advised that this is only applicable to a very small percentage of the total number of arms companies; the UK has also approved military export licences to Israel since these embargoes.
When advised that the International Court of Justice is charging Israel with genocide, her response was that it will take many years to investigate this. When it was suggested that she could use her position to influence change, she said it is for the courts and not politicians to create change.
Asked why she was not speaking out against the genocide in Gaza, she said she is doing so and had spoken about Netanyahu in Parliament and the need to protect aid workers. When asked what she had said about Netanyahu, she refused to answer.
Asked why she had never attended a rally to voice her concerns about Gaza - she said in a threatening way. 'I recommend that the local PSC considers how it positions itself if it wants politicians to come and speak'. She was asked what she meant by this and replied, 'That's all I'll say.' She was advised that representatives of other parties had spoken at local rallies: Greens; Independents; Lib Dems.
She claimed that there had been a rise in anti-semitism locally, the same rhetoric that her predecessor Conservative MP Sally-Ann Hart used. She was reminded that the Chair of the local PSC and many of its members are Jewish and that there is no anti-semitism stemming from Hastings and District PSC. Her stance very much appeared to be the misguided and uneducated one that being pro-Palestine equates to being anti-semitic, something we had hoped she would have moved on from by now.
She reiterated unsubstantiated, wild allegations against the local PSC that have been raised with her before and for which she has not apologised.
This is the third open letter we have sent to her. We still haven't had her condemn Israel's genocide; and she still hasn't called for a total arms embargo on Israel. And we still haven't received a satisfactory answer as to why she supports cutting £5 billion from benefits to sick and disabled people. It looks like we will have a long wait!
10 April 2025
We wrote to her stating our intention to hand the letter to her by a delegation representing some of the groups - the PSC, trades unions, disabled groups, peace groups, religious organisations, mental health and parents groups. With short notice, she replied that she did not want us to hand the petition in at the coffee morning and instead she would meet with three constituents the evening before at what is an inaccessible venue. As constituents were not able to change plans, we advised that we would attend the coffee morning as planned, which all constituents are invited to.
At the coffee morning she agreed to come out to meet us and accept the petition. She then changed her mind, for no cogent reason, and refused to do so. She allowed just one of our group to go into the event to discuss the contents of the letter, refusing to allow the meeting to be recorded, although she had a note taker. When it was conveyed to her that those waiting outside who she refused to meet were hugely discontent at her change of mind she showed no interest and offered no apology. Her response instead was, 'You should be mindful that you're putting vulnerable constituents off attending the coffee morning by being outside'. She was asked what she meant by this, who we had put off and why she had refused entry to disability rights groups sitting outside for two hours. She had no answer to this. We did not prevent anyone from attending and were on the other side of the road from the hall.
She had a well-prepared spiel that she delivered as a true career politician, speaking over the constituent she had agreed to speak with and failing to listen. She often side-stepped questions or refused to answer them.
Asked why her government is arming Israel she referred to embargoes on some companies, she was advised that this is only applicable to a very small percentage of the total number of arms companies; the UK has also approved military export licences to Israel since these embargoes.
When advised that the International Court of Justice is charging Israel with genocide, her response was that it will take many years to investigate this. When it was suggested that she could use her position to influence change, she said it is for the courts and not politicians to create change.
Asked why she was not speaking out against the genocide in Gaza, she said she is doing so and had spoken about Netanyahu in Parliament and the need to protect aid workers. When asked what she had said about Netanyahu, she refused to answer.
Asked why she had never attended a rally to voice her concerns about Gaza - she said in a threatening way. 'I recommend that the local PSC considers how it positions itself if it wants politicians to come and speak'. She was asked what she meant by this and replied, 'That's all I'll say.' She was advised that representatives of other parties had spoken at local rallies: Greens; Independents; Lib Dems.
She claimed that there had been a rise in anti-semitism locally, the same rhetoric that her predecessor Conservative MP Sally-Ann Hart used. She was reminded that the Chair of the local PSC and many of its members are Jewish and that there is no anti-semitism stemming from Hastings and District PSC. Her stance very much appeared to be the misguided and uneducated one that being pro-Palestine equates to being anti-semitic, something we had hoped she would have moved on from by now.
She reiterated unsubstantiated, wild allegations against the local PSC that have been raised with her before and for which she has not apologised.
This is the third open letter we have sent to her. We still haven't had her condemn Israel's genocide; and she still hasn't called for a total arms embargo on Israel. And we still haven't received a satisfactory answer as to why she supports cutting £5 billion from benefits to sick and disabled people. It looks like we will have a long wait!
10 April 2025
