Today in Parliament there is a plan for “e-petition 638449 relating to career breaks for parents of seriously ill children” described as “Require employers to offer career breaks for parents with a seriously ill child”. It obtained 102,316 signatures since December 2023. The Sussex areas with the most signatures were Mid Sussex, Bognor Regis and Littlehampton and Crawley. Brighton Kemptown had the largest signing in East Sussex. I will be interested to see if any of our MPs take part. Robbie Moore is organising the debate today who is the Conservative MP for Keighley and Ilkley in West Yorkshire.

Currently there are not many items listed that involve Sussex MPs this week but there is a committee on Tuesday afternoon from 3pm-4.30pm; the Finance Committee (Commons)which is simply listed as Private Meeting. Nusrat Ghani, the Conservative for Sussex Weald and James MacCleary, the Liberal Democrat for Lewes are part of the group and the Chair is Steve Barclay, Conservative MP for North East Cambridgeshire.

At the beginning of last week there were several debates. One was the ‘Creative Industries’ with Nusrat Ghani, John Milne the Liberal Democrat for Horsham and Sian Berry, the Green MP for Brighton Pavilion. There was also a debate about ‘Road Safety: Young Drivers’ involving John Milne and Alison Bennett, the Liberal Democrat for Mid Sussex. Later on, there was a discussion about ‘Airport Expansion’ with a significant contribution from Sian Berry, John Milne and Alison Bennett also contributed and Mike Kane, Labour MP for Wythenshawe and Sale East responded.

Sian Berry began with: “To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if she will make a statement on Government policy on airport expansion.”

Mike Kane responded and the debate continued for some time. At the end of her comments Sian Berry asked:

“Has he seen research from the New Economics Foundation estimating that approving airport expansion plans for Heathrow, Gatwick and Luton airports alone will serve to cancel out the carbon savings of the Government’s clean power action plan? The Government’s arguments that I have seen appear to rest on the idea that there are new technologies ready to go that will cut carbon emissions and allow large airport expansions. In reality, does the Minister accept that such innovations, many of which are still not ready for commercial use, cannot be relied upon? Will he act in line with the science and our climate commitments, do the responsible thing and rule out a reckless airport expansion policy?”

Mr Kane commented with: “There is always a trade-off to be had, if applications come forward, between noise, carbon and growing our economy. We recognise that Heathrow has operated at over 95% capacity for most of the past two decades, which has presented limited opportunities for growth in route networks and passenger numbers. We live in an interconnected world, where people want to visit their family members and do business across our planet. This Government have moved faster in the first six months than the previous Government did in 14 years, by introducing the sustainable aviation fuel mandate, so that 2% of all fuel sourced from 1 January this year must come from a renewable source. Where was the hon. Member when we introduced that in this House? It is one of the most forward-thinking, sustainable measures that we have brought to this place. In the next few months, as part of His Majesty’s legislative agenda, we will be introducing the revenue certainty mechanism to create a world-class SAF industry here in the UK. I hope to see the hon. Member supporting the Government from the opposition Benches as we clean up our transport sector, our aviation sector and our economy as a whole.”

During the debate John Milne asked:“Will the Minister confirm what compensating measures the Government will take, if airport expansion is to go ahead, to ensure adherence to carbon budgets? They must have already been agreed on by now.”

Mr Kane responded with:“I thank the hon. Gentleman for his considered approach in all these matters. I was pleased to receive him at the Department the other day to talk about a particular constituency issue that related to Gatwick. We do not have a development consent order, but noise and pollution are the tests to meet our climate commitments, and they will remain the tests. It will be up to the Chair of the Transport Committee, my hon. Friend Ruth Cadbury, and Members across this House to hold the Government’s feet to the fire on this matter.”

The last Sussex contribution was from Alison Bennett who stated: “The expansion of Heathrow feels a bit like the Schrödinger’s cat of expansion at the moment—it is both happening and not happening, depending on what one’s perspective is today. I realise that the Minister will not be tempted to comment on Gatwick either, as it is a live DCO process. Given that the shadow Minister, Gareth Bacon, and the Minister have both asserted that growth is an inevitable consequence of airport expansion, can I ask the Minister what evidence he has to support that assertion?”

Mr Kane replied:“I thank the hon. Lady for her question, but I do not think I will take any lectures from Liberal Democrat Members about sitting on the fence. I am sure the hon. Lady will have her opportunity to raise her concerns at a later date in this place.”