Parliament is closed for two weeks and some of us wish an election would occur in May but there is no information about an voting listed for debate this week on the Government website. Many Sussex MPs however contributed to several other debates just before Parliament closed.

Last Tuesday the theme of RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution) Bicentenary was raised and one of the speakers was Therese Coffey, MP for Suffolk Coastal, who said

To date, I do not believe that there has been any other similar peacetime operation, although there may potentially be situations currently off the Sussex and Kent coast. It is right that we recognise the contribution of all these people in Hansard once more. Lives could have been lost.

On the same day the government minister Lee Rowley spoke on a Building Safety discussion involving Peter Bottomley. One of the themes that Lee referred to was

On enforcement, I gently say that it is absolutely incorrect to talk about reactive, piecemeal announcements. If we go down the list of what is being announced in the league table today, we can see clear evidence of progress being made all across the country: London Fire Brigade, 94 statutory enforcement notices; Greater Manchester, 32; East Sussex, 26; West Yorkshire, 14; and Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, 11. I could go on and on and on.

On Monday 25th March Parliament held a voting session for the “Investigatory Powers (Amendment) Bill” a bill for public authorities in the UK which ended with the third reading but before that took place there were requests for three changes that were supplied by the House of Lords. The Government rejected the changes made in the House of Lords but they then endorsed the reading of the Bill. The Sussex Conservative MPs endorsed the third and final reading apart from Nick Gibb of Bognor Regis and Littlehampton who did not vote at all. Two of the amendments were supported by Labour and the Liberal Democrats but they ignored the “Low or no reasonable expectation of privacy” and the third reading of the Bill. The SNP endorsed all of the three changes in the House of Lords but they voted against the third reading. Lloyd Russell-Moyle supported his two Labour colleagues but Caroline Lucas and Peter Kyle both did not vote for any of the amendments.

The previous working day, Friday 22nd March, included contributions from Sussex MPs. One of the themes that had previously been arranged for that day was from Lloyd Russell-Moyle for his Bill “Conversion Practices (Prohibition) Bill”. This began on the 1st March and at the end of that session it was proposed for discussion on 15th March and was then shifted to the 22nd March. However, information published on that day stated “Hon. Members: Object. Debate to be resumed on Friday 17th May.” I will be interested to see if that Private Member’s Bill actually takes place in seven weeks. 

On the 22nd March a debate entitled “Hunting Trophies (Import Prohibition) Bill” that has been created by John Spellar, the Labour MP for Warley in Birmingham. The Bill makes provision prohibiting the import of hunting trophies into Great Britain. It had two sponsors, Henry Smith from Crawley and Janet Fookes, a Conservative of the House of Lords. Forty-nine MPs endorsed Johns Bill with no oppositions. Interestingly the support for John Spellar from 26 Conservatives included Mims Davies, Henry Smith and Maria Caulfield from Sussex and also 20 Labour MPs 1 SNP and 2 Independent MPs, one of which was Jeremy Corbyn the previous leader of the Labour party. John Spellar initially began his comment with

I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time. Often in debates that have had a long genesis and been considered many times in the House, there is that hackneyed phrase: everything that needs to be said has been said, but not everyone has said it. One cannot even use that phrase now, because everyone has said what they need to say many times over. Of course, that is not true in this case, not least because of the Bill tabled and pioneered very ably by Henry Smith in the last Session of Parliament.

Sussex MP, Tim Loughton spoke although he did not vote. His first words were

I agree with everything that the right hon. Gentleman has said, as well as paying tribute to my Sussex colleague, my hon. Friend Henry Smith, for having persevered with this issue for so long.

Surprisingly Tim did not vote for the item. Henry Smith spoke four times with his initial comments

“It is a great privilege to follow John Spellar. I pay tribute to him, and to many other Members from across this House who have worked so hard, not only in supporting my Bill when it was before the House last year, but in campaigning to end the importation of hunting trophies—the body parts of endangered species —to this country. It has been a fantastic effort. As we have heard, the Bill enjoys the support of well over four fifths of the British public. Indeed, there was a commitment to do what the Bill proposes in a manifesto on which I stood for election four and a half years ago, and I understand that that commitment has been reflected in the manifestos of many other parties represented in this House.”