Commons
Oral Questions
Cabinet Office
10 September 2026
2 contributions
EU-UK Relationship
3. What recent discussions she has had with her EU counterparts on the future EU-UK relationship.
British farmers and fishers, and my shellfish exporters, continue to face unnecessary trade barriers with our largest export market. A 2024 report from the Centre for Inclusive Trade Policy found that exports of British food to the EU had dropped by nearly £3 billion since Brexit. Our farmers and fi…
Commons
Westminster Hall
9 September 2026
Pica Eating Disorder: SEND
It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair today, Mr Betts, and I thank the hon. Member for Dagenham and Rainham (Margaret Mullane) for bringing this important topic to the House and for raising awareness of it in this place.
As the hon. Member set out, pica is a condition most commonly associ…
Commons
Oral Questions
Treasury
8 September 2026
Private Investment: Local Leaders
Good growth in every postcode is a very catchy slogan, but it will mean nothing if it is not backed up with investment. Time and again, significant funding is announced for cities and urban areas, usually in the north, while the south-west is left with pennies in comparison. Yesterday, the Chancello…
Commons
Westminster Hall
8 September 2026
2 contributions
Media Green Paper
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Dr Allin-Khan. I thank the right hon. Member for Maldon (Sir John Whittingdale) for securing this debate.
It is clear that the media landscape is changing, and changing rapidly. For many young people today, the first time they encounter a major new…
I absolutely agree with the hon. Member. I am deeply concerned about what it means for some of us in the rural south-west, as there are villages that will never get fast broadband. Setting a switch-off date without first closing this gap risks cutting off the communities that the Green Paper says it…
Commons
Petition
7 September 2026
Local Government Reorganisation in Devon
The Government recently backed a proposal to replace Devon’s councils with four unitary authorities, which would expand the councils of Exeter, Plymouth and Torbay while leaving an unworkable rural Devon council spanning a 100-mile drive from Lynton to Salcombe. An online petition about this issue h…
Commons
Westminster Hall
1 September 2026
9 contributions
Face-to-Face Banking: Rural Areas
I beg to move,
That this House has considered the provision of face-to-face banking services in rural areas.
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Wishart. Banking services in rural areas have been decimated. While big banks make billions in profits, they close branches with impuni…
I will get to banking hubs in just a minute.
Why do we allow closures to happen? Why do the Government not act with urgency to turn around the decimation in rural banking, which has the biggest impact on the most vulnerable people—the elderly, the disabled—those who cannot use online services and a…
+7 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Health and Social Care
14 July 2026
2 contributions
Social Prescribing
3. What steps his Department is taking to support social prescribing.
I agree that social prescribers do a fantastic job. I recently met members of Veterans Outdoors near Totnes, and visited the Vounder Therapy Garden at the Eden Project through the parliamentary knowledge schemes. Those organisations are doing incredible work, turning lives around, particularly for t…
Commons
Oral Questions
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
9 July 2026
Farm Business Sustainability
The NFU is concerned that the £240 million allocated for new sustainable farming incentive agreements in 2026 does not match the scale of farmers’ environmental ambitions and will not allow all farmers with expiring agreements a reasonable opportunity to access ongoing environmental land management …
Commons
Proceedings
8 July 2026
Maritime and Coastguard Agency
I have four coastguard stations in South Devon—Kingsbridge, Dartmouth, Brixham and Bigbury—and hundreds of volunteers, many of whom have written to me with their concerns about these changes. The Kingsbridge team have been out 34 times this year. Last Friday night, they were called out at 1 am and s…
Commons
Debate
7 July 2026
Outdoor Education
I beg to move,
That leave be given to bring in a Bill to require that all children in primary and secondary education spend a minimum of thirty minutes a day outdoors during school hours; to require primary and secondary schools to provide a minimum of one lesson of teaching each week outdoors; to …
Commons
Proceedings
29 June 2026
Prisoner Early Release
Any victim of rape or child sexual abuse will know that securing a conviction is almost impossible. I am absolutely astonished that those incarcerated for raping children are not excluded from this early release scheme. However, given that the Government are including them, and given the absolute me…
Commons
Oral Questions
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
16 June 2026
Violence against Women and Girls
A UN report from March last year laid bare the evidence of Israel’s systematic use of rape and sexual violence in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Israeli settlers are committing sexual violence in sight of Israeli forces, according to a recent report by the West Bank Protection Consortium. Giv…
Commons
Oral Questions
Housing, Communities and Local Government
15 June 2026
Short-term Lets: Licensing
Last week I met representatives from 22 town and parish councils who were all deeply concerned that new Government policies are curtailing their power over planning decisions, and concerned at the lack of truly affordable homes for locals. I understand the Government have a house building target, bu…
Commons
Debate
15 June 2026
NHS Dentistry
Does the hon. Member agree that the national golden hello scheme to attract and retain NHS dentists is just not working? Only four of 19 posts in Devon have been filled, and the Fresh Dental practice in Dartmouth will end the provision of NHS dental services at the end of June. It will no longer pro…
Commons
Oral Questions
Health and Social Care
9 June 2026
Suicide Prevention Strategy
In rural areas such as South Devon, agricultural workers and isolated young people often face distinct acute mental health crises, yet local mental health provision is stretched to breaking point. What specific targeted support is the Department providing to rural health boards to ensure that suicid…
Commons
Proceedings
8 June 2026
Digital Safety: Children
It is funny how the thought of the Prime Minister’s legacy has suddenly spurred him on to take action to protect our children, when he has resisted for so long. That being said, it is welcome that the Government are listening to the Liberal Democrats’ proposal for a harms-based approach and are cons…
Commons
Proceedings
8 June 2026
Water Companies
Last week, South West Water was fined nearly £2 million after pleading guilty to supplying water unfit for human consumption in Brixham in my constituency in 2024. I do not believe that that fine does justice to the impact of the event; people became ill—some were hospitalised—and the economic impac…
Commons
Westminster Hall
3 June 2026
Seasonal Hospitality Businesses in Coastal Areas
I thank the hon. Member for giving way again; he is being very generous with his time. We are talking about the importance of hospitality in our coastal communities. Given that hospitality is such a cornerstone activity in our coastal communities, providing many young people with their first jobs an…
Commons
Westminster Hall
2 June 2026
Preparedness for National Emergencies
Nowhere is it more apparent what happens when a community is not prepared than in South Devon. We have a major A road that washed into the sea in February and we now have communities that are completely severed: bus services are not running, school buses are not running, and people cannot get to hea…
Commons
Westminster Hall
1 June 2026
Child Sexual Offender Data
Research has repeatedly shown that about half of child sexual abuse in the UK happens within the family, and the majority of the rest is by known, trusted adults. When I was chief executive of a rape crisis service, I worked very closely with an organisation called Child Abuse Prevention UK, which t…
Commons
Debate
27 April 2026
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
Many people in my constituency are very nervous about how local government reorganisation will impact them, and they worry that it could lead to a top-down style of devolution, which entirely misses the point of making decisions locally. The Government’s backing down on Lords amendment 2 will provid…
Commons
Oral Questions
27 April 2026
Apprenticeships
Apprenticeships offer young people a great pathway into rewarding careers, so I very much welcome the Government’s ambition to create more of them, but a report published last week by the Social Security Advisory Committee highlighted the so-called apprenticeship penalty, whereby low-income families…
Commons
Westminster Hall
27 April 2026
Animal Testing
The hon. Member is being very generous with her time. Dogs have noticeable physiological differences from humans—different enzymes, different gastric pH—which leads to the vast majority of drugs that are tested on them failing to translate to humans. Does she agree, therefore, that the Government sh…
Commons
Debate
15 April 2026
3 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
I believe we are talking about two different things. On banning social media for under-16s, there is a complication there. We have seen what they have done in Australia, and what other countries are doing. We believe that our solution is the right one, because it is future-proof and would encompass …
rose—
+1 more contribution in this session