Brighton and Hove’s MPs have slammed the Prime Minister’s record in office after a year at Number 10.
Rishi Sunak became PM a year ago today following the resignation of Liz Truss after just 49 days.
However, the city’s MPs said he has “racked up an extensive catalogue of damage and destruction” since entering office.
Caroline Lucas, Green MP for Brighton Pavilion, was particularly scathing in her criticism of his record on addressing the climate emergency.
She said: “From passing the unlawful, unworkable and utterly immoral Refugee Ban Bill, to neglecting the scandal of sewage in our rivers and seas as we’ve seen here in Brighton and Hove, Rishi Sunak has racked up an extensive catalogue of damage and destruction.
“Perhaps most egregious of all is how he has taken a wrecking ball to our climate - approving a new coal mine in Cumbria, scrapping energy efficiency measures for private rented homes, attempting to ditch critical pollution regulations for new house building and green-lighting Rosebank, the largest undeveloped oil field in the North Sea.
“After a summer of wildfires across Europe and just this week catastrophic floods sweeping the UK, Sunak’s government has aided and abetted the climate crimes of fossil fuel companies.
“They’ve approved new coal, oil and gas projects in the middle of a climate emergency, handed over enormous tax breaks and subsidies to polluters and stoked a dangerous culture war against climate measures to cut energy bills, make homes warmer and slash carbon emissions.
“Our country, and our planet, cannot afford another year of a Sunak government - the sooner he calls a general election, the better.”
READ MORE: A timeline of Rishi Sunak’s first year in office
Peter Kyle, Labour MP for Hove and shadow science secretary, said that Rishi Sunak’s time in Number 10 had been a “horror show” and hoped “there’s not many more days left”.
He said: “We’ve had 13 years of Tory failure and Rishi Sunak has been at the centre of it.
“He was the chancellor who slashed funding to schools that left classrooms collapsing, who handed crony contracts out during Covid and who gave the country the highest tax burden for 70 years.
“He’s now leader of a Tory Party whose chaos and economic incompetence has left mortgage holders facing a £220 rise a month, rents soaring, schools crumbling and an environmental policy shredded.”
Lloyd Russell-Moyle, Labour MP for Brighton Kemptown, described Rishi Sunak’s first year in office in just one word - “pathetic”.
“He’s flailing around desperately trying to find a wedge issue to win an election on. We need a general election now so we can get on with the job of governing, as the Conservatives have lost the plot,” Mr Russell-Moyle said.
The Argus contacted all of Sussex’s 13 Conservative MPs for their view of Rishi Sunak’s time in office so far, but only had a response from one - Worthing West MP Sir Peter Bottomley.
Sir Peter heralded a number of achievements made by the Prime Minister since entering Number 10 including “delivering net zero while reducing the costs on hard-working people”, remaining “steadfast in our resolve and actions to support Ukraine”, stopping disruption from Just Stop Oil “within minutes” with the Public Order Act and achieving the Windsor Framework, “easing tensions with Northern Ireland and with the European Union”.
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