Labour and Co-operative Member of
Parliament for Kemptown and Peacehaven
Policy
Conversion Practices (Prohibition) Bill
On the 1st March 2024 the House of Commons will get a chance to debate and possibly vote on the bill to ban Conversion practices. The final version is available from the House of Commons website from the evening of the 23rd February, this will include a full set of explanatory notes. All...
Read moreWhere next for the Labour Party after May 2021 elections?
Geographies don't vote, people do. When we say traditional Labour heartland what we mean is traditional Labour people. But in last week’s elections Labour failed to regain people, we lost in 2019 and didn’t break through enough with people in some of the southern and shire seats we needed;...
Read moreWhy I’m withdrawing my amendments to the overseas operations bill
This week I have withdrawn my amendments from the committee stage of the overseas operations bill, the government-proposed legislation that puts time limits on the criminal responsibility of British service persons.
Read moreWhy Labour should review its strategy of abstention on second reading
In the aftermath of the shock election defeat of 2015, Harriet Harman determined that the electorate had spoken and that we should respect their wishes and abstain on the now infamous welfare bill. In doing so, many members and Labour voters believed we left behind a core Labour value of...
Read moreWe are creating and destroying at an alarming rate. We must move to a circular economy
This week the government introduced legislation to ban the supply of single-use plastic straws, single-use plastic-stemmed cotton buds and plastic drink stirrers in England. Finally, something we can applaud the government for – until you dig a little deeper and find it is once again an...
Read moreConfirmatory Public Vote
Every day, the Brexit process delivers something more unbelievable than the last. Sometimes this takes the form of living satire, like yesterday when the House of Commons is forced to suspend its sitting because it is literally raining inside. Sometimes it takes a more alarming form. If we...
Read moreLGBT+ Rights and Brexit
Last year in the House of Commons, I came out as one of the 100,000 people in the UK living with HIV. While there has been huge progress in treating HIV, it remains just one of many issues which disproportionately affects gay men. Gay men like me are also more likely to earn less, be diagnosed with...
Read moreCouncil-run Schools
More than 100 years ago Ambrose Gorham set up a fund to support primary education in Telscombe Village. He did this because he knew that education is at the heart of community. It is often schools that bring generations together, that transform communities and help our children achieve their...
Read moreMyalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME)
The Government spends just £1 a year on research per person effected by ME, this simply is not good enough. Sadly I was not able to attend the debate held in Parliament due to commitments I had in the constituency but wanted to assure those in Brighton Kemptown who are affected by ME either...
Read moreEU Settlement Scheme
From today, EU citizens in the UK must apply to stay in your homes. My message to Europeans in my constituency is, this is your home and you are welcome here. This is a difficult day for all EU citizens, and it is shaming that you must apply to remain our friends, colleagues, family, and...
Read moreFinding a Vaccine for HIV
Last month, I became the first MP to disclose in the House of Commons that they were HIV positive. Of course, there were personal reasons for my decision to make such a public announcement, but my primary motivation was to help destigmatise the conversation around HIV and to point out the...
Read moreWhy I Grabbed the Mace
Our country has arrived at a moment of profound political significance. For some time, the prime minister knew her deal would not pass in parliament, and all along she has mocked members of all parties with her blathering blandishments. A good deal. The only deal. A deal that is in the national...
Read moreWorld War I Remembrance
This year, as we mark the centenary of the Armistice that brought the First World War to a close, I find myself thinking of the countless soldiers, many still in their teenage years, who left home and never returned. Victims of a senseless war waged by rulers who didn’t care about the working...
Read moreScrutinising Saudi Arabia
The alleged killing of the royal court insider turned journalist Jamal Khashoggi has rightly triggered a diplomatic crisis for Saudi Arabia, but it would appear it has not jeopardised any of the multibillion-dollar arms deals between the US, Britain and the House of Saud. Many journalists...
Read moreIan Austin
It was in the chamber during a debate on the latest bombing of Syria that Ian Austin MP asked me “what do you know, newbie?” and told me that I should “go back to Brighton with Momentum” who he said have “never really ever been Labour”. It was unfortunately with little surprise then...
Read morePublic Meetings
Please find below a message from Lloyd Russell-Moyle MP, and RSVP for the two upcoming public meetings he is hosting for women in the Brighton Kemptown & Peacehaven constituency born in the 1950s and affected by pension changes. Please only RSVP for one of the events, and when you register,...
Read moreLabour’s Foreign Policy
Almost all media bandwidth is recent months has been taken up with Brexit and our benighted Prime Minister’s attempts to not appear completely paralysed by the political events rapidly overtaking her. While Theresa May commands no power and has singularly failed to show who she is or for what...
Read moreMillennials and the Government’s Transport Policy
It was with great fanfare last Autumn that the chancellor, Philip Hammond, announced he was extending discount railcards to those aged 26 to 30, offering 4.5m travellers a third off their off-peak tickets. Finally, after years of mistreatment – tripling their tuition fees, raising their VAT,...
Read moreUK Sales of Surveillance Equipment
With the notable exception of people suspected of terrorism offences, Britons – although subject to blanket state eavesdropping – are safe from arbitrary arrest, torture or extrajudicial execution. The same cannot be said for the citizens of dozens of states to which Britain is approving the...
Read moreArms Trade and Brexit
As the spectre of Brexit emerges, so do the first meaningful signs of the Tory vision of “building a global Britain”. The Department for International Trade, set up by Theresa May to put some flesh on the bones of her slogan, has prioritised arms sales for Britain’s post-Brexit industrial...
Read more