Last Wednesday many from the whole of the UK and of course from within Sussex were interested in the opening of the new Parliament. There was a discussion in Parliament that took place after the Kings Speech entitled the “1st Day Debate on the Address” involving a number of MPs. However, only one Sussex member took part, Sian Berry, the Green MP for Brighton Pavilion. She stated

‘I am so honoured to be here in this historic Chamber today as part of a brand-new group of Green colleagues, who I must now call my honourable Friends. We are very pleased today to hear a wide range of new Bills being proposed. We welcome some measures. Some we will seek to improve and some we will seek to change or add to. Listening to people in my constituency during the election, it was hard not to be affected by the strength of public feeling and distress about the climate emergency and the degradation of our natural environment, and by the huge desire to defend social justice and public services. This Parliament must seek to deliver for them. This is my maiden speech; I stand here thanks to the votes and values of the fantastic people of Brighton Pavilion. They have put their trust in me and the Green party, and for that I extend my heartfelt thanks and appreciation. Brighton has always been a truly special place, from its origins as a fishing village and Roman villa complex, to its Regency and railway booms, with its huge sense of spirit and a warm welcome to every visitor to our famous beach’.  

Keir Starmer joined the Labour Party when he was 16 back in 1978. He was active until he became an MP in May 2015 aged 52 representing Holborn and St Pancras. When Keir became an MP, he became the leader of the Labour Party following Jeremy Corbyn who ran in the General Elections in 2017 and 2019. Prior to becoming Prime Minister his London ward had a second place vote for conservatives but this year the Conservative vote in Holborn and St Pancras was fourth place and an independent candidate came second followed by a Green Party candidate.

The Labour Government has only selected one Sussex MP for a ministerial role in the Cabinet even though there are six Labour MPs in Sussex. Peter Kyle is the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology. The Conservatives will bring challenge even though they are at their smallest now compared with the last fifty years at 30% the size of the Labour Government. In Sussex Mims Davies is the Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities and Andrew Griffith is the Shadow Secretary for State for Science, Innovation and Technology. There are now a total of 411 Labour MPs across the UK. The Liberal Democrats have seen the largest increase in this election compared to the last 50 years in Parliament. Another significant change this year has been the impact of the SNP group in Scotland which is now only made up of nine MPs. There were 56 in 2015, 48 in 2019 and 35 in 2017. Before then there were six or less over the last 50 years and eleven in 1974.

The state opening of Parliament saw a number of Bills published. The Democracy Bill, to introduce automatic voter registration, fulfilling the manifesto commitment to redraw constituency boundaries so that the total population is reflected and to reduce the UK voting age to 16. The Fiscal responsibility bill includes legislation to empower the economic watchdog to make independent forecasts about major fiscal events. The Housebuilding bill plans to create more houses by overhauling the planning system and reintroduce mandatory housing targets. The Take Back Control bill to give more power to local communities. The Workers’ Rights bill with collective bargaining, flexible working rights and equal pay protections for minority ethnic and disabled workers. The Border security bill includes proposals to empower authorities to treat people-smugglers like terrorists. The Crime and policing bill intends a crackdown on antisocial behaviour, make criminal exploitation of a child a specific offence and to tackle county lines drug smuggling. The Energy independence bill outlines how the Government meets the goal of establishing a UK electricity system fully based on clean power by 2030. The Railways bill whereby a new public body would inherit contracts when they expire and take on responsibility for running services. The Lords reform bill is expected to remove the rights of hereditary peers to sit and vote, and to introduce a mandatory retirement age of 80. The Football governance bill is expected to include plans to establish an independent football regulator in England. This was a policy of the Conservative government but was not enacted before the election. The Smoking ban bill will enact the Conservatives promised generational smoking ban by raising the legal age for buying tobacco products by a year every year. Other Bills included the Budget Responsibility Bill, National Wealth Bill and Planning and Infrastructure Bill.

Once a new Petitions Committee is set up by the House of Commons, petitions will start again but Early Day Motions by MPs started on the 17th July included a “200th anniversary of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution” from Helena Dollimore, the Hastings and Rye Labour MP which was endorsed by Peter Lamb from Crawley and Dr Beccy Cooper from Worthing West.