First day back in Parliament after the summer recess and I was pleased to support a national campaign to increase education funding for 16-18 year olds. Sixth form and FE colleges have been especially bad hit by austerity-driven cuts in recent years.

The Raise the Rate campaign wants the government to increase the core funding rate from £4,000 a year to at least £4,760.  The rate's been frozen since 2013 and that's forced more than half of schools and colleges across England to cut courses in languages and 78% to reduce student support services or extra-curricular activities.  

On Monday morning I received a number of emails from constituents living near the waste recovery facility (WRF) in Hollingdean. The previous evening a fire had broken out at the depot, and worried residents were understandably extremely concerned to wake up to find their homes filled with smoke – with one constituent telling me that the smoke was so thick it set off her smoke alarm at 2am.

Thank you for all the comments on my proposal. I wanted to start a debate, and that’s certainly happened. But I know that it’s thrown up important questions about who is on this list, why all women and why no people of colour.

It can be tough for young people in Brighton.  There aren’t enough apprenticeships because of government failings, jobs which match people’s talent and potential are hard to come by, and the high cost of housing means too many are falling into debt or sofa-surfing – even when they are in employment.

Those are some of the reasons I’ve signed the Youth Friendly MP Charter.  It pledges my support to five key principles of youth employment in Brighton

It’s been a very busy last few days at Westminster with the resignation of Theresa May, Boris Johnson’s succession and the subsequent appointment of one of the most right-wing governments we’ve seen in years.  I shall be kept busy fighting for the progressive causes and action on climate that I know many of you want.

Holding the prime minister to account

This week - Swift Awareness Week - I met the with staff and volunteers from the Brighton and Hove branch of the RSPB to hear about their work protecting swift colonies in the city.

Connecting children and teenagers with Nature

The Government’s announcement on a net zero emissions target

The games industry in Brighton

The headlines around the Augar review of higher education funding highlight a proposed cut in student tuition fees from £9,000 to £7,500 a year, and disguise some very regressive proposals which will make students worse off.  They will have to start repaying their loans sooner as the earnings threshold is being lowered, and they will repay them for longer – another 10 years.

Caroline Lucas said: