Horsham MP John Milne has given his maiden speech in Parliament

With 335 new Members of Parliament following the 4 July 2024 General Election needing to make a maiden speech, the Speaker of the House has slowly been making his way through the list. John Milne is now able to speak on any debate in the Commons Chamber or in Westminster Hall.

John Milne first paid tribute to the work of his predecessor, Sir Jeremy Quin, stating his intent to continue Sir Jeremy’s campaigns on issues important to the community, such as child trust funds.

John Milne celebrated Horsham history as home to a diversity of famous residents including the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley and Ray Cusick, the designer of the Dalek. He praised the Knepp Rewilding project and described the constituency as “a great place to do business” and highlighted some of our successful local companies.

John Milne then turned to the pressures on land: “As a constituency that is now half town, half rural, Horsham plays a lead role in striking a balance between competing needs. We have large areas of productive farmland, making a valuable contribution to food security, but the same land is under pressure to provide housing and renewable energy installations. All of these are positive things, but the same land cannot do them all at once."

John Milne stated his desire to focus on the issue of housing during his term: “I strongly support the new Government’s house building ambitions, but I am surprised and disappointed to see that they are using the same flawed system to fix local targets as before, except with a bigger stick.

“Horsham has its own unique challenge, known as water neutrality, which restricts water use for environmental reasons. We are caught between two Government directives that completely contradict each other. One rule says we have to build a fixed number of houses per year, but the other rule says we are not allowed to build any houses at all because we cannot use any more water without damaging the environment.”

John Milne concluded saying: “It is a huge honour to represent the people of Horsham—one that I never expected to have. As someone who campaigned on a promise to serve as a constituency MP, I could not ask for a better constituency to work for.”

Read the full text of John Milne’s maiden speech.