Today Rethink Mental Illness along with five other mental health charities have had a letter published in The Times asking Conservative leadership candidates to confirm they will deliver the Government’s commitment to a new Mental Health Act. 

Our letter reads: 

Sir, It has been six months since the independent review of the Mental Health Act was published and Theresa May, who commissioned it, is stepping down without the government having given a proper response. Meanwhile, people in mental health crisis are enduring racial discrimination and indignity because of legislation that is three decades out of date.

We need urgent action from our next prime minister. The review offers a once-in-a-generation opportunity to move towards the kind of crisis care that we would want for ourselves and our families, giving people a voice in crucial decisions when they are most unwell. We wholeheartedly backed these recommendations when they were published last year but progress has stalled because Brexit has dominated parliamentary debate.

The Conservative leadership candidates and the leader of the opposition must commit that, as prime minister, they would deliver all of the review’s recommendations, through immediate action and a new Mental Health Bill.

Paul Farmer, CEO, Mind; Mark Winstanley, CEO, Rethink Mental Illness; Emma Thomas, CEO, YoungMinds; Sarah Hughes, CEO, Centre for Mental Health; Mark Rowland, CEO, Mental Health Foundation; Jemima Olchawski, CEO, Agenda, the alliance for women and girls at risk.