During this week MPs are not based in Parliament because of a planned Government Recess from the end of last Thursday opening again on Monday 19th February.  However, the House of Lords will hold their own discussions for three days this week. Today there several events which include “School capacity to identify and implement a plan of support for special educational needs” and also “Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill”. It would be good to get information from our House of Lords members that are connected in Sussex.

Last week on Monday the proposed e-petition item “e-petition 608237 relating to prescription charges for people with chronic or long-term health conditions” organised by Tonia Antoniazzi did not take place at all.  There is no information about why the petition did not get an airing. However last Tuesday the Conservative MP, Pauline Latham from Mid Derbyshire introduced an unplanned e-petition session that was not announced on the ‘TheyWorkForYou’ website. It was set out as “Homes for Ukraine Scheme: Potential Extension” in two parts. They were “e-petition 642280, Provide Ukrainian refugees with settled status to enable a stable life in the UK” and “e-petition 632761, Give Ukrainians on humanitarian visas rights to extend stay and settle in the UK”. The first one had about 35,000 signatures but there is another month for it to finish. There were signatures across Sussex and the second which finished six months ago only has 20,659 signatures and it was also supported from all over Sussex. Sadly, although there were about thirteen MPs that took place in the discussion, none came from Sussex.

On Monday there were three votes for the Finance Bill, clause 6 – “Assessment of the impact of permanent full expensing” and Clause 7 – “Review of multipliers used to calculate higher rates of air passenger duty” The third item, Schedule 6, – “Administration of creative sector reliefs”. The clauses were rejected by the Government and endorsed by Labour and a number of other Political parties. The Schedule was endorsed by the Government and only opposed by the SNP and Liberal Democrats. Most of the Sussex Conservatives MPs endorsed both the clauses and the Schedule. However, Huw Merriman only endorsed the Schedule and did not oppose the two Clauses and Jeremy Quin and Henry Smith did not vote for any of them. Lloyd Russell-Moyle voted in favour of the two Clauses but he ignored the Schedule item. Peter Kyle and Caroline Lucas did not vote on any of the Finance Bill items.

On Tuesday there was a vote that took place entitled “Miscellaneous” promoted by Labour, SNP, Liberal Democrat and Plaid Cymru parties. The debate before the vote included Lloyd, who stated in the early part of the discussion with

“My right hon. Friend has mentioned many Secretaries of State. We also had a short-lived Prime Minister, who is entitled to some payments for the rest of her life. Should we not also look at whether it is appropriate for people who leave in disgrace to end up with lifelong pay cheques?”

After the discussion he voted in favour of the item but neither Peter Kyle or Caroline Lucas voted for it. Most of the Sussex Conservative MPs voted against it and so the event was not opposed.  The only two Sussex Conservatives that did not vote either way were Jeremy Quin and Henry Smith. 

Further on Tuesday two other Sussex MPs participated in discussions.  Caroline Lucas spoke on the Topical Questions that was managed by Jeremy Hunt the government minister. Caroline opened her comment

“Last week, the International Monetary Fund joined many others in urging the Chancellor to prioritise public spending and investment above tax cuts. Rather than seeking to appease his Back Benchers with tax cuts in the next Budget, will he finally deliver the level of public investment this country is crying out for, including in a nationwide energy efficiency programme that would shield households from volatile gas prices, get their fuel bills down for the long term and create jobs? Or is he yet another one who is running scared of green investment?”

Jeremy responded with

“I am sure the hon. Lady understands that I cannot talk about what will be in the Budget ahead of the Budget because no decisions have been made. I celebrate with her that the UK recently became the first major economy in the world to decarbonise by more than 50%, ahead of France, Germany, Japan and the United States.”

Last Tuesday Sally-Ann Hart spoke on the “Knife and Sword Ban” debate. Her first comment was

“On tougher sentences—I know that the Government are bringing in very tough sentences for knife crime—does my hon. and learned Friend agree that it is not just about tough sentences? Knife crime is due to a number of factors, including socioeconomic factors, gang activity, the county lines drug trade, which affects us in Hastings and Rye, and social media influence. Does he agree that building trust between communities and law enforcement is as important as effective community policing and tough sentences, and that as part of that building of trust, raising awareness about knife crime and educating young people about the risks can deter them from carrying weapons?”

Such significant subject matters deserve the attention of all of our MP’s. It is important to observe comments three Sussex MPs and to identify which voted and which did not.