To Helen Hayes MP,

Urgent: Demands from your constituents to alleviate the suffering of innocent Palestinians.

We write to you on behalf of your West Norwood constituents and our local collective, West Norwood 4 Palestine (WN4P). WN4P is a local independent group that works tirelessly to raise awareness in the community of the plight of Palestinian people, including your own constituents. We organise activities and protests to amplify Palestinian voices, including a recent film festival, and share information about wider national actions in solidarity with Palestine.

According to official estimates and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), over 64,000 people have been killed by Israel in Gaza between October 2023 and January 2025, 13,000 of which were children, and 110,012 have been injured - with thousands more missing under the rubble (Ministry of Health in Gaza). A July 2024 report by the medical journal The Lancet concluded that if we included the 10,000 people who have been lost beneath the rubble and also those who have died or will die due to destroyed health-care infrastructure; severe shortages of food, water, and shelter; the population's inability to flee to safe places and the loss of funding to United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the total death count could be as many as 186,000 people.

We know this is an issue which you have previously raised your concern for in Parliament, but your voting record does not reflect this. We therefore ask you to go further in your advocacy for the Palestinian people as backed by the constituents you represent.

We have canvassed your constituents who ask you to support the demands below:

Firstly, we call for your support and action to divest Lambeth Council’s Local Government Pension Scheme from companies complicit in Israel’s ongoing oppression and illegal occupation. Research undertaken by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign identifies the sum of these investments is at least £10.4 million. We ask that you spearhead this campaign alongside other councils such as Tower Hamlets Council, Waltham Forest Council, Islington Council and Lewisham Council.

Secondly, we ask that you join the initiative to bring injured children from Gaza to the UK for urgent treatment in the NHS, and ensure that medical aid is guaranteed access to Gaza. In light of the destruction of the healthcare system in Gaza, without access to urgent medical care, the deaths from Israel’s invasion will continue to rise. As your colleague, Anneliese Dodds said on Sky News on 4th December, “medical supplies are not being allowed into Gaza”. We would ask that you speak in Parliament to ensure that comprehensive medical aid can be effectively deployed in Gaza. Deaths among children could be further mitigated by the UK Government implementing a scheme similar to that which it provides for Ukrainian children, facilitating their evacuation and treatment in the UK. We ask that you urgently write to the relevant Ministers to show your support for this.

Thirdly, we ask that you support a permanent ceasefire in Palestine - in both Gaza and the West Bank - and an arms embargo on Israel. Whilst the current 6 week ceasefire is positive news, we remain extremely concerned about the urgent situation for Palestinians for multiple reasons including food, clean water, sanitation and aid shortages; ongoing violence in the West Bank and the significant arms licenses which the UK Government still have in place with Israel. We ask that you support an arms embargo and the early day motion 757 that rejects the US proposal for Gaza and any attempts to forcibly displace Palestinian people.

Given the gravity of the situation, we ask that you listen to these demands made by your constituents, the names of whom are enclosed below.