Local Greens and MP tussle about Gaza

A heated correspondence duel is under way on what to do about Gaza. The dispute is between local Labour MP Helena Dollimore (Hastings & Rye) and the local Hastings & Rye Green Party Chair (Justin Wynne). Bernard McGinley reports.

An open letter to Helena Dollimore by the local Green Party (‘sharing it publicly with the local press’) was sent on 1 June (dated 29 May). The letter concerned the situation in Gaza. On 16 July the Greens alleged a non-response and sent the open letter again. That same day Helena Dollimore replied with a long statement (dated 20 June) on Gaza. Nevertheless sources of friction remain on the best way of dealing with a major catastrophe and crimes against humanity.

Constituency office low standards

The MP’s record in dealing with correspondence is not good. Constituents’ concerns go unaddressed, or are dealt with offhandedly or inaccurately, often with severe delays.  In the 2024 General Election, Helena Dollimore in a bright big leaflet stated as a promise that if she became MP:

I will open a fully staffed full-time office for people to access help.

The whereabouts of the office is unknown, and seems to be a secret.

The party chair’s address is one issue among many. The open letter stated:

Many constituents have reported that their emails to you regarding Gaza have gone unanswered.

The MP has a growing reputation for lack of engagement and not responding to constituents’ concerns — or replying clumsily. One query was raised politely seven times in nine months — before getting a curt, off-the-point and unapologetic response.

Many think that a Hastings & Rye Green Party email letter to the MP for Hastings & Rye should not be met with quibbling about an address. The same happened when Amnesty International Bexhill & Hastings branch wrote by email to Helena Dollimore. Asked about a non-response, the MP’s office told HOT it had no address to reply to, which is petty and untrue. Clearly these are constituency organisations.

Eyeless in Westminster

In May, Amnesty International Bexhill & Hastings branch called on local MPs to ask the government to inquire into ‘the recent killings of Palestinian medics and rescue workers by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF)’ — but apparently without success. Helena Dollimore has written:

this incident must be independently investigated and those responsible held to account

— but not indicated by whom or how.

These killings in Rafah of 23 March 2025 are among a long and ever-growing list of atrocities, including mass starvation and ethnic cleansing. Her elusiveness to constituents on the day of the mass lobby of Parliament on 14 May was noted, though she denied it, and spoke briefly on Gaza in the House of Commons on the same day.

The crimes on and since 7 October 2023 have a context that was detailed in the Amnesty report of 2022 on Israel and apartheid. The outlook for the surviving hostages and surviving Gazans gets steadily bleaker.

Ceasefire and peace

In her long letter Helena Dollimore is forthright about a number of things:

The Israeli government’s actions are appalling. We all want this war to end immediately, for Hamas to release all the hostages, and for Israel to release all the restrictions on humanitarian aid.

I strongly oppose the expansion of military operations in Gaza by the Israeli military. I agree with our Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s recent joint statement with the leaders of France and Canada that the level of human suffering in Gaza is totally unacceptable. The Israeli Government must cease its military actions immediately, reengage with the UN, and allow humanitarian and aid groups full access to Gaza. I support the efforts led by the United States, Qatar and Egypt for a long-term ceasefire and peace agreement.

There is no mention – or attempted refutation – of the suggestions of genocide, dispossession or apartheid. Additionally the long letter and Parliamentary statement of 14 May is not on the Dollimore website — which says nothing about Gaza. The writers of an open letter could hardly object to an open reply.

The Greens’ replied to the long letter, and pointed out that four specific requests of their original letter had not been addressed in full:

 1.  That you submit a parliamentary question asking whether the UK has carried out an updated risk assessment on arms exports to Israel since October 2023. 

2. That you sign Early Day Motion 1310, which calls for an immediate suspension of arms exports to Israel and full transparency over UK involvement.

3.  That you make a public statement to local constituents outlining your position.

4. That you call for a ceasefire and full humanitarian access.

The last point is superfluous given the MP’s letter quoted above.

EDM 1310 (point 2) has in over two months gathered 45 signatures from MPs. Last year the MP was asked to support Early Day Motions 58 (July 2024, on British arms exports to Israel) and 221 (October 2024, on the UN General Assembly’s resolution on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine, and sanctions) — but she didn’t. In her letter of 20 June 2025 however she wrote:

The Labour Government will continue to sanction illegal settler outposts and organisations that have supported and sponsored violence against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank.

. . . I condemn the illegal settlements being built there and the state-backed settler violence against the Palestinian people.

To date, point 1 on asking a relevant Parliamentary Question has not been acted on, though PQs are weightier than EDMs. Point 3 – on addressing her constituents – has also not happened.

The positions of the two sides in this Hastings dispute are not hugely apart, and both say they commend constructive dialogue. Government policy at the margin is the key difference:  how to change the unacceptable. What of constituents however? It is said that Helena Dollimore is not representing her constituents, or engaging with their views on war crimes being committed. She is unlikely to oppose Westminster and Whitehall complicity — on whether British-made F-35 components should be going to Israel, for instance, or on whether settlers in the West Bank are pursuing a policy of territorial expansion tantamount to Lebensraum.

On 16 July the Secretary of State for Business and Trade wrote to the Chair of the House of Commons International Development Committee on British policy, and especially the question of F-35 components:

. . . it is not possible for the UK to unilaterally prevent Israel receiving UK-made F-35 components through the F-35 Programme. The Court accepted that the only way for the UK to ensure that its components do not reach Israel is for it to suspend all exports into the F-35 programme . . .

Meanwhile ‘residents feel unheard’, and the war goes on. To some the Old Testament is of direct relevance, as the Israeli government treats its enemies as the ancient Israelites treated the Amalekites:

Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.                    (1 Samuel, xv: 3)

Local hunger too

While all this has been going on, the local Greens wrote a separate letter to the MP about local child poverty and holiday hunger. As with Gaza, no comment on the issue is to be seen on the MP’s website (despite a fully staffed full-time office). The child poverty situation was touched on in HOT in March, and looks to have a long future. 

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