ianchisnall

[ianchisnall]

Bishop of Leicester asks questions about Employment

The Bishop of Leicester, Martyn Snow, has been involved in the House of Lords for nearly 18 months and he recently asked two separate questions about ‘Employment: Disability’. The first was here and the second here. So far there have been two people who did not like the second question!. The person who responded was Labour Baroness Sherlock, Maeve Sherlock. Interestingly the Bishop of Leicester…

[ianchisnall]

A Surrey MP spoked about of the local YMCA's

On Tuesday 8th of April in the Easter Adjournment events as here. Rebecca Paul, the Conservative MP for Reigate commented about the positive impact of the YMCA “and East Surrey YMCA to cut crime and foster pride in the town”. She mentioned the YMCA Sovereign Centre but also nearby in Guildford is the YMCA Downlink Group, part of the Sussex YMCA, a group that I was part of number of years ago. The…

[ianchisnall]

Bishop of Oxford has raised several questions in April

A number of Church of England Bishops are involved in the House of Lords to contribute to Westminster politics. One of them is the Oxford Bishop, Steven Croft who in 2013 was the Bishop of Sheffield becoming Bishop of Oxford in 2017. His commented for the first time in February this year regarding a discussion about Artificial Intelligence: Regulation and then at the end of April  Steven  raised…

[ianchisnall]

The Archbishop of York asked Azerbaijan for Red Cross

Stephen Cottrell was the Archbishop of York from 2020 and before that he was the Bishop of Chelmsford for many years. The previous Archbishop of York was John Sentamu from 2005 to 2020. He is still at the House of Lords after he retired. The comments from Stephen Cottrell came on the 4th of April this year and he spoke last year in December, July, March and February. Here is the question which…

[ianchisnall]

Lewes MP presses for UK-EU customs union

Today MPs consider ‘e-petition 707189 relating to the rules for political donations’ arranged by Irene Campbell, the Labour MP for North Ayrshire and Arran. The e-petition was created by Jeremy Stone described as ‘Tighten the rules on political donations’. He provided the initial comments “We want the government to: Remove loopholes that allow wealthy foreign individuals to make donations into…

[ianchisnall]

MPs call for action for the WASPI women

Today the ‘e-petition 700005 relating to the UK joining the European Union’ has been arranged by Paul Davies the Labour MP for Colne Valley, London. It was created by Robert McMaster in October 2024 which achieves 133,000 signatures in the UK. In Sussex the largest areas of support are Brighton and Hove and followed by Lewes, Hastings and Rye. Brighton Pavilion ward is the largest in the whole of…

[ianchisnall]

MP organises a debate on domestic abuse

This week in Parliament there is a planned event to debate ‘Domestic abuse offences – Josh Babarinde’ scheduled for today. Recently on 9th January 2025 Mr Babarinde stated “If we do not have the data that we want on domestic abuse offences, how can we measure whether we are halving violence against women and girls over this decade, and whether our interventions designed to reduce reoffending…

[ianchisnall]

A Bishop spoke on Prenuptial Agreements

At the end of February there was a discussion in the House of Lords, ‘That this House takes note of the law relating to prenuptial agreements, ‘set out by Ruth Deech, an Independent Crossbench Peer. Several of colleagues spoke about it including the Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham, Paul Williams. One of his comments was ‘I believe it would be detrimental for all parties if prenuptial…

[ianchisnall]

MP organises debate on Owens entertainment

Today, Helena Dollimore, the Labour MP for Hastings and Rye is organising an Adjournment debate ‘Closure of Owens in Hastings and Town Deal funding’ as part of Upcoming business in the main Chamber. In 2024 she had expressed her concerns about the Owens amusements entertainment being boarded up even when a £400,000 grant was awarded from Hastings Borough Council. This Friday, MPs will publish…

[ianchisnall]

Call for more support for maternity services

Today in Parliament the ‘e-petition 701268’ described as ‘Don’t apply VAT to independent school fees, or remove business rates relief.‘ is set to be discussed. John Lamont, the Conservative MP for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk is leading the debate. So far, there are 115,000 signatures across the UK. The largest location for Sussex signatures is Arundel and South Downs although every area of…

[ianchisnall]

Kent MP asks more questions about Brighton & Hove

On Tuesday 18th February the Sevenoaks in Kent Conservative MP, Laura Trott, asked the Government about Brighton & Hove Schools, which I published here last week. I subsequently read that Laura asked several other questions on Monday 24th February is here and then on Tuesday 25th February she asked for two questions which are here. The Minister who responded to Laura is Catherine McKinnell, the…

[ianchisnall]

MPs debate use of social media by the under 16s

Today in Parliament the ‘e-petition 700086’ will be discussed ‘relating to a minimum age for social media’ arranged by Tony Vaughan, the Labour MP for Folkestone and Hythe. It is described as ‘Introduce 16 as the minimum age for children to have social media’ set up by Kim Campbell with about 128,000 signatures. In Sussex the two largest signatures are Mid Sussex, Hove and Portslade. Kim Campbell…

[ianchisnall]

A Kent MP asks about Brighton & Hove Schools

On Tuesday last week there were several questions asked by MP’s and one of them was published by Laura Trott, the Conservative Kent MP for Sevenoaks. Her request was to the Minister of State (Education), Catherine McKinnell and the response from Laura was “what assessment she has made of potential impact of Brighton and Hove City Council new schools admission policy on school children.” Catherine…

[ianchisnall]

Ipswich Bishop raises questions in House of Lords

The Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich, Martin Seeley has been listed at the House of Lords since May 2022 and he comments occasionally each year. In November 2024 he asked a question to the Armed Forces Commissioner and in early December he raised three questions which are linked to Armed Forces: Housing all of those can be seen here. He has recently contributed to a discussion in late…

[ianchisnall]

MP in plea for U-turn on farm inheritance tax

Today is the start of a week’s closure in Parliament. Last week there was a significant item from the e-Petition, 700138 described as ‘Don’t change inheritance tax relief for working farms’ created by Tim Burt. He started with “We think that changing inheritance tax relief for agricultural land will devastate farms nationwide, forcing families to sell land and assets just to stay on their…

[ianchisnall]

The Welsh Parliament recently spoke about FareShare

Sadly, there has not been a reference about FareShare from the UK Parliament since April 2024. I have written about FareShare several times and the most recent one was at the beginning of December which can be seen here. In mid-October, two Welsh Members of the Senedd referred to FareShare, Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan and Huw Irranca-Davies. The document I published in December provides the…

[ianchisnall]

House of Lords member referred to Pets: Insecticides

On Tuesday in the House of Lords one of only two Green Party politicians asked a question about  “Pets: Insecticides” and interestingly referred to “a recent University of Sussex study indicating the presence of insecticides, commonly used on companion animals and livestock, in the nests of songbirds” The comment came from Natalie Louise Bennett listed as Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle, who is…