A number of events have taken place in Parliament since 17th July and although there were no previous debate contributions from Sussex MPs, there were voting responses following a reference to the ‘Economy Welfare and Public Services’ part of the Kings speech introduced by the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt and the MP for Godalming and Ash. He started on the 22nd July with “King’s Speech (Motion for an Address)” referred to as to as Amendment (h).

“I beg to move an amendment, at the end of the Question, to add: “but humbly regret that there is no mention in the Gracious Speech of the improved economic conditions the Government is inheriting, with the fastest recorded growth in the G7, inflation at the Bank of England’s target for the second month in a row, and unemployment at half the rate that it was in 2010; further regret that there is no mention of how to make necessary savings on welfare;
urge the Government to meet the commitment set out in the Labour Party’s manifesto not to raise taxes on working people;
regret that the Gracious Speech fails to make a commitment not to use changes to reliefs to raise taxes;
and call on the Government to increase income tax thresholds to prevent income tax from being charged on the State Pension.””

The vote on this Amendment was endorsed by five Conservative Sussex MPs Kieran Mullan, Alison Griffiths, Nusrat Ghani, Andrew Griffith and Mims Davies. It was rejected by Sussex Labour MPs, Peter Kyle, Helena Dollimore, Beccy Cooper, Tom Rutland and Peter Lamb and Siân Berry from Green. It was interesting that there was no response from Chris Ward, the Labour MP for Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven and no Liberal Democrats.

On Tuesday 23rd of July there were three votes under the “Immigration and Home Affairs” part of the Kings speech, referenced as Amendment 1, the Conservatives approved this but no other part. The Labour and Green MPs rejected it. There were no Liberal Democrat responses. Again, there was no response from Chris Ward and no response from Nusrat Gharni from Sussex Weald.

The debates relating to Immigration and Home Affairs formed part of the so-called “Maiden Speeches” of all of the new MPs These speeches are lengthy and include honouring of previous MPs as well as commenting directly into the debate themes. Beccy Cooper from Worthing West said:

“Politics is often the frontline where we grapple with the issues that arise from inequality and inequity… For people like me in public health and politics, there is a wealth of data and evidence—as well as, I would contend, basic common sense—showing that when resources are not allocated fairly to allow everyone’s basic human needs to be met, we all suffer for it. People do not thrive without clean water, clean air, access to green space and good food. Our physical bodies become far less resilient to illness when those are not available to us, and the same is true of poor housing, poor education and poor jobs…. Inequalities in life expectancy are increasing, especially for women. In Worthing West, a woman living in one of our poorest areas will live an average of 8.3 years less than a woman living in one of our wealthiest areas, and for the population as a whole, the time spent in poor health is increasing. As Sir Michael Marmot so saliently put it, “If health has stopped improving it is a sign that society has stopped improving.””

Josh Babarinde the Liberal Democrat from Eastbourne included comments about food banks:

“While our town benefits from more sunshine hours than any other in the country, that blaring sun sometimes casts shadows, too. I am gutted to say that Eastbourne is also home to the busiest food bank in the country. Last year, it distributed more food parcels per head than any other food bank in the UK, according to the Trussell Trust. That is why, working with Eastbourne food bank’s inspirational CEO, Howard Wardle, I led Eastbourne to become the first council in the country to declare a cost of living emergency and to unlock emergency funding for those struggling most.”  

Kieran Mullan the Conservative MP for Bexhill and Battle said:

“I welcome the opportunity to speak in today’s debate on immigration and home affairs, which are two areas that are important to me. I believe that how we tackle illegal migration will be a totemic political issue in the coming decades, not just because of its probable global scale but because it will test whether Governments in the UK and elsewhere are willing to face down often well-meaning but misplaced ideas about how best to protect the rights and welfare of individuals while preserving community cohesion and overall fairness in society.”  

Helena Dollimore from Hastings and Rye said:

“We are at a time in history when more children are growing up in conflict than ever before. Rightly, much focus has been devoted recently to the appalling events in Israel and Palestine—there, too, it is children bearing the brunt of war. We must redouble our efforts to bring about peaceful solutions to all these conflicts, and must remember that all the global issues we face, from climate change to migration, can only be solved by working across borders with our international allies and through strong, multilateral institutions such as the United Nations.”