The opening up of Parliament takes place next Monday. I had hoped the new Government would have created some opportunities for e-Petitions to be presented soon after the 17th July. It will be interesting to see if they will open this area of Politics in September? The previous Government published a statement about e-Petitions;
“We’re waiting for a new Petitions Committee. Petitions had to stop because of the recent general election. Once a new Petitions Committee is set up by the House of Commons, petitions will start again.”
During this holiday period there have been opportunities for any MPs, not part of the Government to take the time to ask questions that can be published for their responses. These opportunities exist each holiday period but so far there has only been one Sussex MP who has contributed. Andrew Griffith, the Conservative MP for Arundel and South Downs, has requested questions, three of which were on the 1st of August and six of which on the 2nd of August. In his first statement there were two questions for the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and one for Public Expenditure. The other was the Life Sciences Council and the Department of Health and Social Care that referred to Clinical Trials. On the 2nd of August, he asked six questions, all for the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology of which one was “Mathematics: Education” and all of the others were Public Appointments. I will be interested to see who takes up answering and if there will be any more questions from other MPs.
One of the other themes was connected to Early Day Motions which took place during the period before the holiday although they can be reflected at a later time. There were ninety-four EDM’s produced across the UK for the Government to consider. A large number on the first day of 17th July and also large groups on the next two Mondays before the Parliament closed. A total of 37 Liberal Democrat; 26 Labour; 10 DUP in Ireland, 7 Independent; 6 Plaid Cymru Wales; 3 SNP Scotland; 2 Conservative; 2 TUV group in Ireland; and 1 Green MP. Some of these EDMs include; Public ownership of water, Pharmacy provision and Health services, Carers support, Child poverty and the two-child benefit cap pension age, State Pension 1950s-born women and Peace in Israel and Gaza State. So far there are no Sussex Conservative MPs that have responded or requested any EDMs but a Conservative MP in London and one in Yorkshire have created an EDM each.
There were two Sussex MPs that have contributed to the EDM processes. The first was Helena Dollimore the Labour MP for Hastings and Rye who published a document, but she has not signed any other EDMS so far. Then the second was Jess Brown-Fuller, the Liberal Democrat for Chichester who provided a document and she has also signed thirteen other items including Helena’s item.
Two Sussex Labour MPs endorsed Helena’s item are Peter Lamb, Crawley who also signed another and Dr Beccy Cooper, Worthing West who endorsed three others. Along with Jess the other Liberal Democrat, Josh Babarinde, Eastbourne endorsed Helena and four other LD EDMs. Three Sussex Liberal Democrat MPs endorsed Jess Brown-Fuller’s item who also endorsed extra Liberal Democrat EDMs. John Milne, Horsham endorsed five, James MacCleary, Lewes signed six and Alison Bennett, Mid Sussex five items.
Helena Dollimore discussed the “200th anniversary of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution” published on 17 July. So far there have been 51 people who have endorsed the publication comprised of 39 Labour MPs, 4 Plaid Cymru, 6 Liberal Democrats, 1 DUP and 1 SNP. The detail of it is
“That this House congratulates the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) on its 200th anniversary of saving lives at sea; thanks all crew members who have risked their lives to save over 140,000 lives at sea; and pays tribute to all volunteers past and present who support this vital work.”
The first six Members who have signed to support the motion as the primary sponsors did not include any other Sussex MPs but there was one other Labour, three Plaid Cymru’s and a Liberal Democrat. Subsequently, an extra forty-five MPs including Sussex MP Peter Lamb, Dr Beccy Cooper, Jess Brown-Fuller and Josh Babarinde endorsed it.
Liberal Democrat for Chichester Jess Brown-Fuller produced an EDM about “Southern Water, Havant Thicket Reservoir” endorsed so far by fifteen other MPs. The detail is
“That this House notes with concern that Southern Water proposes to introduce recycled waste water into the spring-fed drinking water supply at the Havant Thicket Reservoir; further notes that this method of reverse osmosis will be the first of its kind in the United Kingdom and is a system used primarily in countries with an insecure water supply; expresses concerned that this project does not fit within the articles of association for water companies to put the environment and customers at the heart of their objectives; asks why a capital investment of £1.2bn can be financed but no such investment is forthcoming in wastewater management; and requests that all proposed customers of this drinking water supply are consulted before this national infrastructure project creates a blueprint for all water companies to do the same.”
The first six Members included John Milne and James MacCleary who are Sussex colleagues and Alison Bennet was one of the other ten supporters.
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