Alison Bennett's Monday Mail: 300 Days
300 days and the Palestinian Ambassador
Last week we passed the 300th day since the 7 October attacks by Hamas resulting in the seizure of so many Israeli hostages, and the start of a brutal and remorseless war where tens of thousands of people have died, and survivors continue to suffer in unimaginable ways.
Our Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Layla Moran MP is the only member of parliament of Palestinian descent, and for many months her compassion for everyone caught up in this conflict and our party’s reasoned position has made me proud to be a Liberal Democrat.
Last week, I was very fortunate to attend a meeting that Layla had organised for Liberal Democrat MPs with the Palestinian Ambassador to the United Kingdom Husam Zomlot. We discussed the International Court of Justice resolution, and the role that the UK must play pushing for peace and a two state solution.
Under the bonnet
There were two significant ministerial statements in parliament at the start of last week.
The first was by the Chancellor Rachel Reeves in which she outlined a £22bn shortfall ‘covered up’ by the Tories. Sitting in the Chamber to listen to the statement, I found the tit-for-tat between Rachel Reeves and Shadow Chancellor Jeremy Hunt - each accusing the other of telling lies - unhelpful in trying to understand the true state of our public finances.
The cuts that the Chancellor announced concern me, and I can tell from my mailbox that many Mid Sussex residents feel the same. In particular, the cut to the pensioners’ winter fuel allowance to all except those in receipt of pension credit has in my opinion gone too far.
I have vivid memories from childhood of my grandfather refusing to put the heating on in his house in Stockport. His health would deteriorate and then he would come and stay with us in Gloucestershire for a week or two. My mother would feed him up and get him back on his feet before he returned home to Stockport only for the cycle to begin again. Living in a warm home is so important, and there will be many pensioners on low incomes who aren’t eligible for pension credit, or don’t know that they are entitled to it, who will suffer this winter.
The second statement was made by the Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner in her role as Housing Secretary. She set out her plans to overhaul the planning system. There is quite a bit of noise across the media about what the government is putting forward. This includes national housing targets being increased, and moves to start building on parts of the ‘green belt’.
There are a couple of things worth noting from a Mid Sussex perspective, in amongst this noise. Firstly, Mid Sussex, whilst it undoubtedly has green fields, does not have any land designated as ‘green belt’, so the announcements about green belt aren’t relevant to us. Secondly, when you dig into the details, the increased housing targets for Mid Sussex are not very much greater than the houses that the Council has planned for in the draft District Plan. This Plan was submitted to the Planning Inspectorate in July, and will be ‘examined’ later on in the year. It is the Council’s understanding that it will be assessed against the old National Planning Policy Framework set by the previous government.
What does concern me about the plans that Angela Rayner announced, is that it feels like the old Conservative approach but with higher housing targets. The planning system is very much developer-led. Developers build houses of a size, mix and at a build-out rate that maximises returns to their shareholders. What I can’t see from Labour’s plans is a meaningful change to this model. I can’t see a plan that will deliver enough homes for social rent (e.g. council houses) and homes for the private market that are affordable to people on normal incomes.
It’s early days of course, and the devil will very much be in the detail.
Come and work with me
As of last Tuesday evening, Parliament is in recess until the start of September.
During this time I will mostly be in Sussex. It’s a chance to set up a proper constituency office and recruit people to some important roles. You can find out who I am looking for and how to apply by looking at these job adverts.
My parliamentary email address is: alison.bennett.mp@parliament.uk. If you need my help, please get in touch and I will do my best to help, but whilst I am still recruiting, it will take longer than usual to respond.
Best Wishes,
Alison