Hove MP Peter Kyle has written a personal account of his frustration at being unable to prevent the Trade Union Bill from being passed by the House of Commons.
Mr Kyle, who won Hove for Labour at the general election in May, was told to miss a trip to Auschwitz with local school children to take part in the Commons vote.
Labour lost the vote and the bill is now being considered by the House of Lords.
Mr Kyle said: “Please don’t frown when someone talks about ‘electability’.
“Instead talk about how we marry values with delivering positive change in a way that instils trust in those who we ask to vote for us.”
He described the downside of being in opposition in a Facebook post headed: “A very frustrating day.”
To read the post on Mr Kyle’s Facebook page, click here. He wrote it last night (Tuesday 10 November) and by early this evening more than 500 people “liked” the post, almost 200 had shared it and it had attracted more than 70 comments.
Mr Kyle has used his Facebook page to explain to voters what he does as an MP and to describe some of the ups and downs of a job that he said he still loves.
He wrote: “Five minutes ago the Trade Union Bill passed through the Commons on its final reading. Soon it will become law and nothing can stop it.
“I’m now sitting in my office in Parliament reflecting on the huge frustrations of being in opposition.
“Ever since I was elected I’ve heard the phrase ‘strong opposition’ used fairly often. Usually it means that people want us to be distinctive, to be unequivocal, to be forceful and united in the way we attack the government.
“During and since the Welfare Bill debate, when I abstained, I was bombarded with messages such as, ‘if only you had united with other parties of the left you could have beaten the Tories.’
“It’s something that lots of people believe but as I sit here full of emotion and frustration I want to tell you why today is proof that being united isn’t enough to win the votes that change people’s lives for the better or protect them from harmful laws like tax credit cuts.
“In the first week I became your MP I agreed to visit Auschwitz, the Nazi death camp in Poland, for the day with two students from every secondary school and college in Hove and Portslade.
“It was to be an important day where different generations could come together and learn the horrors of war in a place that symbolises it like no other.
“On occasions like this MP’s are given a ‘pair’, which means a Tory MP is allowed to do something similar so that any votes that day are cancelled out and no party is disadvantaged. I was due to go today.
