It was evident that Parliament had planned to open following the May Bank Holiday break holiday as articles had been planned for discussion from the 23rd May. However, the announcement for the General election vote on the 4th July seemed to take everyone by surprise. There are still a small number of updates on the Government website ‘TheyWorkForYou’ listed over the next three weeks most of which relate to Committee’s. Today there is the Public Accounts Committee: The UK border: Implementing an effective trade border and there are no Sussex MPs listed. However, on Tuesday 4th the “Foreign Affairs Committee: Work of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office” involves Henry Smith from Crawley who is leaving the Government early in July. On Wednesday the 5th there are three items two of which are legislation committees. They are “The Tribunal Procedure Immigration and Asylum Chamber” and “The draft Coroners Suspension of Requirement for Jury at Inquest: Coronavirus”, with no Sussex MPs listed on those groups. The final item is the “Public Accounts Committee: NHS England’s modelling for the Long-Term Workforce Plan” which does not include any Sussex MPs.
One arrangement that was made before the Election was called was an event intended to take place this coming Wednesday 5th June at 4.30pm, organised by Hastings and Rye MP Sally-Ann Hart. The event was named as ‘The World Ocean Day’. It will be interesting to find out if Sally-Ann or any other MPs will be able to present the event again soon or if any new MP’s will focus on the theme in the future.
In the week before the Election announcement there was an important session on Tuesday, the 21st May, relating to the tragic subject, the “Infected Blood Compensation Scheme” which had contributions from several of our current Sussex MPs as well as other MPs and the Government. The first Sussex contribution came from Peter Bottomley who started with the words,
“It is 36 years since I was with the first of my friends who I knew had been infected, and 33 years since that person died. Friendships got fractured, and families were changed forever.”
His final words raised questions about how compensation may affect those involved
“My final point is this: people are not being awarded lottery sums, although in some way they make up for some of the losses and recognise some of the hurt. For some families who may not have been used to having much money around—indeed, most of them are used to having very little money because of the consequences of infection—there may need to be mediation services in case they do not agree. It would be a good idea if Sir Robert, or others, could consider whether such services could be made available, in the same way that other people who have suddenly come into some degree of money can get some kind of help. Families sometimes do not find it easy to decide how money should be shared.”
The next Sussex person who contributed was Caroline Ansell with these words
“I pay tribute to one campaigner in particular in my own constituency, whom I will not name but she will know that I am speaking of her. She lost her mother and can never be compensated for that, but she also gave up her job and her income. She does not regret that for a moment, but it has left her financially fragile in these later years, to the point that I have advocated with her mortgage lender for a stay of execution—breathing space—ahead of any potential compensation. I know that my right hon. Friend cannot comment on individual cases, but can he restate that, as a child of a victim, she has been affected?”
The third person was Lloyd Russell-Moyle
“This report is some vindication, but justice will not be served until the campaigners have seen all aspects of the report being implemented. I want to ask a few specific questions. The Minister said that he could not set the interim payments above £210,000 because of a fear of the safety of those payments. Is he therefore implying that £210,000 is the potential minimum payment that he expects? It is lower than the minimum interim payment for sub-postmasters, so I would like some clarity on what that means. The Minister also says that he expects the payments to start within 90 days. Does he mean 90 days from now, to be completed by the summer, or a 90-day period in the summer? That was not quite clear.”
The final Sussex MP to participate was Caroline Lucas who stated
“I pay tribute to all those who fought so hard for justice for so long. It is impossible to imagine the pain and harm done to so many, including to some of my Brighton constituents who have shared with me their deeply harrowing stories. The setting up of the Infected Blood Compensation Authority is very welcome, and I echo those who have called for the body to be made accountable to Parliament, but will the Government consider going further and potentially setting up an independent body to monitor and follow up all such recommendations and inquiries? Without such a mechanism, without such a body, there is a risk of a significant accountability gap, because no one is directly charged with the effective oversight of the implementation of all these recommendations.”
ianchisnall 