To: Helena Dollimore MP, Member of Parliament for Hastings and Rye

We express our deep opposition to the planned cuts to disability benefits, which will strip away up to £400 per month from people who rely on these benefits for survival. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) admits that over 450,000 disabled people will be affected by these cuts but the Office for Budget Responsibility has projected that only a tiny fraction (about 3%) will be able to move into work as a result of the policy.

We note that you have signed up to the Get Britain Working Group of MPs, which is championing these cuts on the basis that they will "liberate" disabled people into work. This is crass and insulting. Many disabled people want to work but your government refuses to impose any additional statutory obligations on employers to employ disabled people or to make workplaces accommodating. Without such requirements, this policy punishes people for their disabilities rather than helping them find employment.

Furthermore, we condemn Health Secretary Wes Streeting’s outrageous claim that mental health conditions are being “over-diagnosed.” He has no medical expertise but is cynically using culture war rhetoric to scapegoat disabled people. Funding for mental health services and Special Educational Needs (SEN) provision in schools has been slashed; long waiting times, lack of access to school-based counsellors and a shortage of NHS mental health professionals mean that many people are left without the help they need. Instead of addressing this crisis, your government continues to cut vital support services while demonising those in need.

Your government claims it must make "tough choices" but chooses to target the most vulnerable instead of introducing a wealth tax on the richest individuals and corporations. Why should disabled people suffer when the powerful continue to benefit from a system rigged in their favour?

Despite Hastings having high levels of poverty, sickness, and disability, your voting record demonstrates a failure to stand with the most vulnerable. You voted to keep the two-child benefit cap, limiting financial support for larger low-income families. You supported scrapping the winter fuel allowance, restricting payments to only pensioners on means-tested benefits. 

We demand better of our MP.

We demand that you:

1. Oppose the disability benefit cuts and vote against them in Parliament.
2. Reject the rhetoric that stigmatises disabled people
3.  Fight for increased spending on SEN provision and ensure that schools in Hastings and Rye receive the funding they need to support all children.
4. Call for immediate investment in mental health services, including school-based mental health support and faster access to NHS services

We will not accept a government that balances its budget on the backs of the poorest. We urge you to stand with disabled people, carers, and advocates—not against them.