Kemp Town MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle reignites calls for Sussex to have its own parliament

Lloyd Russell-Moyle, MP for Brighton Kemp Town, warned that without interjection, Scotland and Northern Ireland will not be part of the United Kingdom in 100 years’ time.

During an interview on The Argus Podcast, the Labour representative suggested regions across England should be granted their own parliaments with powers similar to Wales as part of a commonwealth union.

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“Every country has to reshape itself every 100 years. If any country stays still, they disband and fall apart,” he said.

“You cannot have an unequal union where you have a country which is 80 per cent of the population and the wealth, and a large part of the land mass. It doesn’t work.”

Taking inspiration from the Kingdom of Sussex more than 1,000 years ago, Lloyd said the concept would “rebalance the union” and benefit the people of Sussex.

“I believe very much that we need to reform the union of the United Kingdom so it can last. The previous 100 years were about bringing things together, centralising. But actually, we’ve lost powers from Sussex and boroughs and communities.

“I think if we are to keep the union together, we need to rethink about how England looks in that picture.”

He also called for a complete overhaul in the running of the local councils.

“It makes no sense to me to have both an East and West Sussex County Council. The East Sussex County Council is brutal and nasty for the people in East Sussex,” he said.

“Particularly for people in Peacehaven, it does very horrible things to them. It has taken away their services, its smashed up some of their facilities quite physically, threatening to shut down libraries and move then into broom cupboards.

“I think we should abolish that county.

“You could have a wider strategic body of a Sussex parliament which we all elect, and you could have proper districts and local areas, towns and boroughs who really decide the local area.”

The full episode of The Argus Podcast featuring Lloyd Russell-Moyle is available now on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.