It was very encouraging to read that Bob Blackman who is the Conservative MP for Harrow East has submitted a document in Parliament in celebration of the Holocaust Memorial Day this year. The piece can be seen here on their website. The document from Bob was initially submitted on the 10th January and two days later on 12th January five more MPs formally sponsored the document which is necessary because of the Parliamentary documents require a total of 6 signatures to be approved. The first three of them were Plaid Cymru MPs (Liz Saville Roberts, Hywel Williams and Ben Lake) and then two SNP MPs (Stewart Hosie and Patrick Grady) approved the document. The following last week was when a number of 31 other MPs so far have endorsed the document in preparation for the next Friday. This means there are currently 37 MPs who have endorsed the document which is listed below. There are currently 31 other MPs and which are 11 SNPs, 7 Labours, 4 Liberal Democrats, 3 Conservatives, 2 DUPs, 1 Alliance MP and 3 Independent MPs. The settings for these MPs is 16 in Scotland, 4 in London, 4 in Wales, 3 in Northern Ireland, 3 in East area, 2 in Yorkshire and the Humber area, 2 in South West and 1 in North East in Merseyside and 1 in North West in Tyne and Wear.

This week so far there have now been 7 more signatures. One is the Conservative from Scotland and there is also an SNP who is from Scotland and there is a DUP from Northern Ireland and the others are 4 Labour MPs, one from Yorkshire, one from Midlands, one from North West and an MP from Norwich. It would clearly be good to see some more MPs from other areas this week. Meanwhile the text for the document is as follows.

That this House notes that, on 27 January 2023, the UK will observe Holocaust Memorial Day, marking the 78th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, where more than 1.1 million people died, including nearly one million Jewish men, women and children; commemorates the six million victims of the Holocaust and the millions of other victims of Nazi persecution; further notes that the House pays tribute to the commitment of Holocaust survivors and Kindertransport refugees who share their experiences with young people across the country; acknowledges the importance of the Holocaust Educational Trust’s work in schools across the UK and in particular the Lessons from Auschwitz Project, which has so far given tens of thousands of students and teachers the opportunity to visit Auschwitz-Birkenau; welcomes the establishment of a permanent National Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre adjacent to Parliament; pays tribute to the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust for organising the national Holocaust Memorial Day event; and urges all Right hon. and hon. Members to observe this day so that the appalling events of the Holocaust are always understood by future generations.

In addition there was an amendment submitted by the MP for Worthing West, Peter Bottomley who has submitted this element

Line 10, leave out from ‘Centre’ to ‘pays’ and insert ‘in a place and manner consistent with the features and facilities listed by the United Kingdom Holocaust Memorial Foundation’s ‘Search for a Central London site’ in September 2015 on page 6 and in the area illustrated and considered to be sufficiently central to meet the visions set out by the Holocaust Commission on page 10′.