A few days at the end of the Parliament in July there was a discussion for “Education and Opportunity” set out by Bridget Phillipson, the Secretary of State for Education, Minister for Women and Equalities and a Labour MP near Newcastle upon Tyne. A number of MPs corresponded including Nusrat Ghani the Conservative MP for Sussex Weald and Tony Vaughan the Labour MP for Folkestone and Hythe in Kent. Here are the first few comments from Bridget:

I beg to move, That this House has considered education and opportunity. It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Madam Deputy Speaker, and I congratulate you on your election. I am grateful for the opportunity to speak about the Labour Government’s mission to break down the barriers to opportunity. We are bringing change to this nation. However, I know that any change we deliver will be brought about in partnership with our wonderful workforces, so let me take this opportunity, at the end of the academic year, to thank them for all that they do for our children, our young people and our country.

Here are Nusrat’s comments:

I call the shadow Secretary of State.

As we have many maiden speeches to enjoy and Back-Bench contributions, may I ask those on the Front Bench to keep their speeches short? I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.

Order.

We come to our first maiden speech this afternoon—I call Darren Paffey.

As a former maritime Minister, I visited tropical Southampton Itchen very often. I call Sarah Dyke.

I call Aphra Brandreth to make her maiden speech.

Tony Vaughan’s statement:

Folkestone and Hythe today is a cultural hub. We have arts festivals, comedy, theatre, open studios, open gardens, the Folkestone Music Town initiative and live music to suit every taste. The Royal Gurkha regiment is based in the constituency, and we have one of the largest Nepalese communities in the UK. It is hard to beat a Nepalese curry from Folkstone. The constituency has around 20 miles of beautiful coastline, from the border with Dover down to the Kent-Sussex border near Camber. It is little wonder that Folkstone and Hythe is a tourist hotspot, a creative and digital magnet, and a place to find solitude and peace. We also have a large windfarm in Romney Marsh, which was opened by the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, my right hon. Friend Ed Miliband in 2009. It was a privilege to visit it with him earlier this month, following his announcement about dropping the ban on onshore wind.