(This article was published in the Brighton Argus today – 20th November 2023) This afternoon Parliament will debate several e-petitions organised by a number of people during last year entitled ‘Relating to pay and financial support for healthcare students’ organised by Marsha de Cordova, the Labour MP for Battersea London. This debate was originally planned for the 11th September after it was promoted in July just before the Parliament summer break and yet it is only now being debated. None of these e-petitions have been reached with 100,000 signatures, the level for Parliament to discuss them, but all of these e-petitions are essential subjects.

The first is “Ensure student nurses are paid for placement hours” which has 13,076 signatures with two Sussex areas, Wealden constituency and Hastings and Rye, having a high number of signatures. The second is “Extend 30 hours free childcare to student midwives / nurses / paramedics” with 11,366 signatures and Worthing West constituency and Wealden holding the largest Sussex signatures. Then the “Minimum wage pay for all healthcare students for placement hours worked!” has total of 11,763 signatures with largest signatures in Hastings and Rye.

Another e-petition event planned for next Monday is organised by Nicholas Fletcher the Conservative MP at Don Valley. His petition, “relating to legislation in respect of dangerous dogs” The smallest e-petition is “Repeal the current Dangerous Dogs Act and replace with new framework” which has 107,099 signatures with Sussex holding the largest signatures in Hastings and Rye, Bexhill and Battle, Brighton Pavilion. The other one is noteworthy because it was only formed on the 13th September and so far, has more than 600,000 signatures and is currently the 7th largest e-petition in the UK. It is entitled “Bad owners are to blame not the breed – don’t ban the XL bully”, the largest Sussex signatures are Hastings and Rye, Brighton Pavilion, Crawley, Bognor Regis and Littlehampton. Many of us will be hoping for other e-petitions to be discussed in Parliament very soon. It is clear that are several recent e-petitions holding importance for the UK and which have many Sussex supporters.

King Charles III had his 75th Birthday last week and made several contributions that corresponded to the Parliament debates. His Birthday report from the BBC stated “The King’s birthday plans will also involve him hosting a reception for NHS nurses and midwives.” They described; “The centrepiece of the public side of the King’s birthday has been the official launch of his Coronation Food Project, with the King and Queen visiting a surplus-food distribution centre in Didcot in Oxfordshire. The project is designed to tackle the double problem of increasing numbers of people unable to afford food, while millions of tonnes of surplus food is being thrown away.” The King actually said: “Food need is as real and urgent a problem as food waste.” and “too many families and individuals missing out on nutritious meals”.

Although it was good to read that the Conservative Party Conference held discussions with the Trussell Trust and two Sussex MP’s Mims Davies and Caroline Ansell but they could go further in promoting the Government to take more notice of the Kings words and to understand more about the work of the Charity FareShare which positively impacts Sussex in both of their constituents.  Our Nation would benefit if the Government would eliminate the need for food banks by focussing on commitments which make sure the UK is properly fed.

Interestingly another theme that was revealed during the Kings Birthday celebration was that “He will be travelling to speak at the COP28 climate change summit in Dubai at the end of this month.” As it happened last Thursday in Parliament a session entitled “COP28 General debate” took place. The discussion lasted ninety minutes and involved many MPs, but sadly no Sussex MPs took part.

Other interesting items for Sussex included two Voting sessions both presented by the Labour Party, and rejected by the Conservative Government and their MPs. The first “Economic Growth” included two Sussex Conservative MPs speaking before the vote. All MPs apart from Jeremy Quin voted and Sally-Ann Hart and Henry Smith spoked in the discussion session. The second event was “Violence Reduction, Policing and Criminal Justice” but no Sussex MPs spoke about it. Most of them voted for all three items in opposition. Two MPs that did not vote at all were Nusrat Ghani and Maria Caulfield and Caroline Lucas and Lloyd Russell-Moyle voted in favour of two of the themes and Peter Kyle only voted for one of the themes.

Another significant item was entitled “Examination of Witnesses” that took place on Tuesday with contributions by a number of MPs. Lloyd Russell-Moyle, was the only Sussex MP who spoke with passion of fifty one occasions. His first comment was “As per my entry on the register of interests, I receive some support from campaigning organisations that support my office and that campaign on this issue; and I have lodgers at my house.”

Importantly last week was the information that Nick Gibb, the MP for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton stating his intention to stand down as Education minister. “To enable me to do so I have asked the Prime Minister if I can step down from the government at the reshuffle and he has agreed.” At least two other Sussex MPs are also stepping down at the next General Election.

Another eventful week in Parliament with world events even more pressing to respond and contribute a resolve.