Last night in Parliament every Sussex MP apart from Caroline Lucas either voted for a Bill to further reduce benefits to certain people in our nation, or abstained in the vote or simply did not vote at all. Based on what I have seen on TV and heard on the radio, the argument that seems to have driven Labour MPs not to oppose the Government on this Bill is that a sizeable majority of UK residents did not vote for Labour in May’s general election and this was a policy that the Conservatives proposed as part of their manifesto. Whilst I understand that it is tradition in the Lords for them not to oppose legislation that is a manifesto promise, I had not appreciated that Labour had adopted the same thinking.  During the General Election campaign, I was canvassed on many occasions by Labour Party members who argued that a vote for Caroline Lucas was a wasted vote. I recall how her Labour opponent, argued that Caroline could not make a difference in Parliament in the way a Labour MP would. We have no way of knowing how Purna Sen would have voted, I suspect that had Nancy Platts been elected in Kemptown that she would have rejected the Labour Party strategy and voted alongside Caroline, sadly Peter Kyle in Hove did not. It is early days in this Parliament and with the Summer recess beginning and a Labour leadership contest underway, perhaps things will be different in the Autumn. For the moment I am grateful for the difference that Caroline Lucas is making as I for one do not support this Government in its priorities or actions.