This week is particularly significant as Parliament opens today and at the end of next week there will be Annual Party Conferences. Parliament will then effectively re start on the 7^th of October. The Liberal Democrats host their conference here in Brighton on the 14-17 September. A week later the Labour party conference opens in Liverpool and then a week later Conservatives in Birmingham. The Green Party Conference is taking place at the end of this week over in Manchester. The Green party describe their conference as;

“The three days will be a busy mix of policy discussion and voting, speeches, panel debates, topical fringe sessions and socials on 6-8 September in Manchester Central. There will be: Panelson Nature Friendly Farming, Fascism, and Hope and Change; Fringeson a wide range of topics from Justice for Palestine to the Marketisation of Tertiary Education; Training/ strategy / feedback sessions looking at what we can learn from our General Election 2024 successes; Plus opportunities to meet our new MPs and pay tribute to Caroline Lucas; Socials and receptions and much more. And this year for the first time we are running an off-site day of radical thinking sessions open to the public, Hopeful Humanity.”

The Labour Party state that their conference will have

“inspiring speeches, invaluable training and an events timetable that makes the most of every minute, it’s a real opportunity to be a part of democracy in action.”

The Liberal Democrat Party claim that their conference is where their party “makes decisions” and “every member has an equal right to attend, an equal say and an equal voice” The state that their conference is

“a chance to catch up with friends, participate in discussions hear from experts, vote on motions ask questions visit the exhibition and get world class training – there’s something for everyone”

The Conservative Party has not yet released a statement or its agenda for their conference. The group for TheyWorkForYou has published information for this week but no Sussex MP’s have any items to contribute. There were a number of Sussex MPs that made contributions to Parliament business in the first 10 days of July. However, there are no statement records from Chris Ward MP for Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven, Peter Lamb the Labour MP for Crawley or John Milne the Liberal Democrat for Horsham. The information this week lists the subjects for debate starting today with;

“Technology in public services; Access to banking services in rural Northumberland and Housing, Communities and Local Government (including Topical Questions) Tomorrow: Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Bill: Committee of the whole House and Remaining Stages; Potential merits of a cross-Government strategy on unpaid carers; HM Treasury (including topical Questions); Healthcare provision in the East of England; Legacy of Team GB performance at the Paris 2024 Olympics; Potential merits of an international special tribunal on crimes of aggression in Ukraine; SEND services in Somerset and Fly-tipping. Wednesday:  Budget Responsibility Bill: Committee of the whole House and Remaining Stages; Closure of the police station in Royal Sutton Coldfield; Scotland; Prime Minister’s Question Time; Preventable baby deaths; Government support for the space sector; Future of sheep farming; SEND provision in Hertfordshire and Central Bedfordshire; Security in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Thursday: Business Questions to the Leader of the House; Great British Energy Bill: Second Reading; Great British Energy Bill: Programme; Rail and road connectivity in northern Lincolnshire; Business and Trade (including Topical Questions); Waste crime in Staffordshire and SEND provision”.

A week ago, I focused on two of the ninety-four Early Day Motions that were created during July. Some of the remaining items have been endorsed by our local MPs. The Sussex Conservatives have ignored all of the EDMs and indeed only two UK Conservatives have published any and with small numbers of support. The three largest EDMs have all benefitted from all of the five Sussex Liberal Democrat MPs and also Sian Berry the Green MP. These are “State pension age and 1950s-born women” which has 84 supporters and “Child poverty and the two-child benefit cap” which has 77 supporters, they were both published by Wendy Chamberlain from Scotland. The third one was “Peace in Israel and Gaza” which was published by Layla Moran, from Oxford and received 67 signatures. The fifth largest EDM’s is “Cumbria coal mine court appeal” from Tim Farron in Cumbria which two Sussex Liberal Democrat’s MPs supported and Sian Berry along with forty-three other supporters. “Consumer water bills” which Sarah Olney from Richmond created and three Sussex Liberal Democrat MPs, Sian Berry and two other MPs supported. Finally, the “UK arms exports to Israel” created by Layla Moran from Oxford signed by two Sussex Liberal Democrat MPs along with Sian Berry and with 41 other MP’s. It was interesting that Sian signed 21 EDMs, many more than any other Sussex MPs. Her colleagues had several EDMs but there was one significant Green Party created EDM in July which was “Public ownership of water”, created by Ellie Chowns from Herefordshire. It was signed by all four Green MPs one Liberal Democrat, two Labours, four Plaid Cymru MPs and five Independent MP’s including Jeremy Corbyn.

Helena Dollimore from Hastings and Rye created the EDM “200th anniversary of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution”, published on 17^th July. It was one of 26 EDM’s raised by the Labour Party and the fourth largest item with fifty one signatures.