Alison Bennett's Monday Mail: Remembrance

Clockwise from top left: I laid wreaths in Burgess Hill and Lindfield, paying a tribute to Burgess Hill veteran George Chandler in the House of Commons, commemorating the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings.

Remembrance

Today is Armistice Day. Over the last two weeks I have been honoured to attend a number of Remembrance events, both locally in Burgess Hill, Haywards Heath and Lindfield, and in Parliament. It was especially poignant to be able to pay tribute to Burgess Hill resident and D-Day veteran George Chandler in the House of Commons in a debate dedicated to Remembrance and Commemorating Veterans. Sadly George died in October at the age of 99, but I was fortunate to be able to speak to George’s son Paul who told me about his dad’s service and life. 

You can watch the speech here, and read it here. MPs were limited to three minutes speaking time in the debate, which was in no way sufficient to do justice to George’s story. If you would like to read more about him, then Haywards Heath Golf Club’s tribute is a good place to start. 

NICS

Last Wednesday I shared the concerns of Mid Sussex employers about the increased National Insurance Contributions (NICs) that were announced in the budget debate. Small business owners like Bob and Ian, care organisations like Nikki’s and GPs like Katie and Tom had all told me that they were worried about how they are going to absorb these extra costs whilst still serving customers, patients and clients and being a good employer. 

The Liberal Democrats are urging the government to exempt GPs and care companies from these increased costs for fear of undermining the investment in the NHS that the budget is trying to secure. At the time of writing (Sunday evening), there are early indications that the government is considering the question for hospices at least.

Come and join my expanding office

I am currently advertising for a Constituency Communications Manager based in Burgess Hill. If you have a passion for politics and communications, do take a look.  

Getting in touch

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. I am so pleased that some of my team have now started working for me, but whilst we work through the queue of letters and emails I am sorry that response times are still not as quick as I want them to be. 

Best wishes,
Alison

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