Last week there were many events that arose in Parliament which involved several Sussex MPs and a range of many other MPs. There were some bizarre vote decisions which included Sussex votes and there was also an intriguing debate on two public petitions although no Sussex MPs took part. Another significant debate that took place was a discussion that Caroline Lucas submitted last Wednesday under the title of “Rosebank Oilfield: Environmental Impacts” although sadly she was the only Sussex MP involved in the session.

It is also useful to recall that today there is a conversation focussing on a public petition. The MP who is organising it is Elliot Colburn who is the Conservative MP for Carshalton and Wallington, entitled “Approved Mileage Allowance Payment rate” and the petition that is setting out the discussion is entitled “Increase the HMRC Mileage Rate from 45p/mile to 60p/mile” There are nearly 42,000 signatures for this petition and they include 1144 (2.75%) from Sussex which covers East and Sussex more than in Brighton and Hove. It will be interesting if any of our local MPs will take participate.

The two petitions that took place last week entitled as “Road User Charging Schemes” and the person who organised it was Nick Fletcher the Conservative MP for Don Valley. The government minister was Richard Holden and one Labour and one Liberal Democrat took part along with the other eleven Conservative MPs so it appears to be very limited. It is noteworthy that the largest petition that was closed down in May last year is entitled “Revoke local government powers to charge CAZ, LEZ, and ULEZ” and the 55,520 petitions only include 122 in the whole of Sussex. The focus was dominated in the Manchester area where a number of constitutions included more than 2,000 signatures. The other petition is “Amend the 1999 GLA Act to remove the Mayor’s power to impose road use charges” which is not closed until the end of August and it has only 26,247 signatures currently but that includes over 500 signatures here in Sussex which represents 2% of the Nation.

A few days ago there were some strange vote events in Parliament. Last Monday there was a subject called “Financial Services and Markets Bill” and the Minister who spoke about it was Andrew Griffith who is the MP for Arundel and South Downs. There were 3 votes that took part. The first was “Clause 25 – Regulatory principles: Net Zero emissions” with 298 aye votes which were Conservatives and a few DUPs which included all of the Sussex Conservatives apart from Jeremy Quin. The were only 48 no votes which were primarily the SNP, Liberal Democrat and Plaid Cymru MPs and no Sussex votes. The next vote was entitled with the same text and it involved 298 aye votes but the no votes extended to 200 which included many Labour MPs including Lloyd Russell-Moyle from Brighton along with the SNP, Liberal Democrat and Plaid Cymru but not Green. The third vote was entitled “After Clause 71 – Politically exposed persons: money laundering and terrorist financing” and the aye votes were 298 which was the same as before but only 36 no votes which involved SNP and Plaid Cymru MPs.

Later on Monday there was a discussion on “National Security Bill” and the discussion was “After Clause 14 – Foreign interference in elections: duties on political parties”, there were 288 aye voters which were Conservatives and a couple of DUPs. Interesting all of the Sussex Conservatives MPs including Jeremy Quin took part on that debate. The no voters represented 198 MPs which involved Labours including Lloyd Russell-Moyle, SNP, Liberal Democrat and Plaid Cymru. However Caroline Lucas did not vote for it.

On Tuesday a consultation that took place under the headline of “Mortgage and Rental Costs” and the Minister who contributed was Andrew Griffith. There were two votes that took place. The first obtained 212 aye votes with Labour including Lloyd Russell-Moyle, SNP, Liberal Democrat, Plaid Cymru and Caroline Lucas. The no votes were of 287 Conservatives and they covered all of the Sussex MPs apart from Peter Bottomley and Maria Caulfield. The second vote involved 283 aye votes which were only Conservatives and in Sussex they covered all apart from Peter Bottomley, Maria Caulfield and Tim Loughton. There were 197 no votes which were Labour including Lloyd Russell-Moyle, SNP but no Liberal Democrat and only one Plaid Cymru and Caroline Lucas.

The final votes that took place last week were on Wednesday. The first was entitled “Deferred Division – Education” with 373 aye voters which included nearly 240 Conservatives including most Sussex MPs apart from Caroline Ansell, Sally-Ann Hart and Henry Smith and more than 120 Labour MPs and also Caroline Lucas and some Liberal Democrats and Plaid Cymru’s. The no votes were 28 MPs involving some Conservatives and DUPs. The second vote was “Holocaust Memorial Bill: Instruction” which involved ten ayes involving Conservatives and a DUP including Peter Bottomley and Tim Loughton. The no votes represented 371 MPs including 240 Conservatives and almost 130 Labours. Those people included Caroline Ansell, Mims Davies, Nusrat Ghani, Nick Gibb, Sally-Ann Hart, Gillian Keegan, Jeremy Quin and Lloyd Russell-Moyle.

It will be fascinating for us to observe how Parliament provides voting in the future given that our MPs are acting for us and are meant to be responding on behalf of their local constituent members.