When Parliament is closed for the Summer, it presents the potential for us to review what has taken place. One aspect of Parliament during active periods is the opportunity for all MPs that are not members of the Government to create or sign Early Day Motion (EDM) amendments. If they are agreed by a number of their colleagues it enables our MP’s to raise important issues for Parliament to discuss.

The final day that any MPs could submit an EDM this Summer was on Thursday 20th July but the next date that they could be signed is on Monday 4th September when parliament opens. It was noticeable that four MPs submitted EDMs on the 20th July, three of them from SNP and indeed one of which submitted five pieces on that day. The only other MP who contributed a EDM was Peter Bottomley who is the Father of the House of Parliament and the Conservative MP for Worthing West. His current document was entitled “Holocaust Memorial and Victoria Tower Gardens” and the contribution of the debate was

that the Government said in proposals in September 2018 that the Holocaust Memorial would take up 15 per cent of the area of Victoria Tower Gardens and that that percentage was later reduced to 7 per cent; questions whether one calculation was of the green space and the other related to the whole park; and asks the Government to ask the President of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors to make sensible, reliable, consistent calculations, including an estimate of how much of the gardens would be blocked off for what period if present proposals are not changed.

It will be very interesting to review if any of his colleagues will endorse it in September when Parliament reopens. Along with these eight EDMs that were submitted on the 20^th of July, there were another 295 EDMs that emerged from the 5^th June when Parliament opened from its previous holiday week. On most days there were about 10 EDMs each day, although a couple reached 20 sessions but on the 5^th June there was an notable number of them with a total of 40 EDMs.

The only Sussex MP who contributed on that day was Peter Bottomley. He only contributed his two documents but added a third on the final day. One was entitled “Covid booster vaccinations in care homes” Over those seven weeks it received only three additional signatures. It was significant that there was one Labour Party, one DUP and one Alba Party member. The other he submitted on that day was “Advice to hon. Members” and no one has signed it. Apart from the three EDMs he has only signed one other which was called “Fire Safety Remediation in Blocks below 11 metres” that was published by Hilary Benn a Labour MP which received 30 signatures which also included Caroline Lucas who is the Green Party MP for Brighton Pavilion.

Along with that signing Caroline has signed another 61 EDMs in this session. In addition Caroline has published one EDM over those seven weeks. Her piece submitted on the 10th July was entitled “Expansion of Gatwick Airport”. The publication describes  

that Gatwick Airport is applying for a Development Consent Order to bring its emergency runway into regular use; considers that if granted this will de facto create a second runway at Gatwick without the appropriate public consultation and scrutiny required for such a major planning decision; further notes that this will lead to thousands of extra flights a year, along with more road-building to get freight and passengers to the airport; is aware that scientists have already found noise levels close to Gatwick above the recommendations by the World Health Organization and particle number concentrations in the air similar to those measured close to a highly trafficked road in central London; notes that the proposal will mean increased noise for residents close to the airport and under the flight path, alongside increased air and light pollution; recognises that expansion at Gatwick is incompatible with addressing the climate crisis; further recognises that 2022 analysis puts the estimated cost of cleaning up carbon emissions alone from Gatwick expansion at £9.1 billion, of which only 7% will be paid for by the aviation industry; urges the Government to listen to the advice of the Committee on Climate Change Chair that there should be no net airport expansion across the UK; and therefore calls on the Secretary of State for Transport to reject Gatwick Airport’s plans for a second runway.

Sadly, this was only signed by two other MPs, both Labour MPs, one of them was the person who also signed the Peter Bottomley item. The only other Sussex MP who has participated in any of these EDM’s during that period was Lloyd Russell-Moyle who is the Labour MP for Brighton Kemptown. He did not publish any pieces personally but signed a total of five documents and indeed four of those were also signed by Caroline. It is clearly disappointing that in the last seven weeks none of the other five Sussex MPs have referenced EDMs which were instigated by the Government as a mechanism for MP’s for raising really important matters. Perhaps we could contact our MP’s and ask them to consider signing and providing EDMs in the period from the 4^th September and consider signing the current elements from Pete Bottomley and Caroline Lucas.