Commons
Westminster Hall
14 July 2026
Coastal Communities: Isolation and Hidden Deprivation
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Alec. There is a version of coastal communities that we like to tell ourselves, of chocolate-box fishing villages and tight-knit communities where people look out for one another, and there is certainly truth in that. In Tiverton and Minehead, I…
Commons
Westminster Hall
24 June 2026
Farming: Financial Sustainability
It is always a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Turner. I rarely miss an opportunity to speak about farming in this place. It was a privilege last October to be elected by Government MPs as the co-chair of the all-party parliamentary group on farming.
I suspect that there is too often …
Commons
Oral Questions
Treasury
23 June 2026
2 contributions
UK-EU Economic Co-operation
13. If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing levels of economic co-operation with the EU.
Today does indeed mark 10 years since Britain voted to leave the European Union. One of the consequences of Brexit has been to bury my constituents in red tape. My farmers cannot export without doing reams of paperwork, and small businesses are seemingly locked out of European markets. The EU remain…
Commons
Oral Questions
Education
22 June 2026
School Rebuilding Programme
Tiverton high school has been on various lists for a rebuild since 1999. I am genuinely grateful to the Department for Education for the work that has gone on behind closed doors since my election in 2024. However, there is still a worrying lack of commitment in public from the Department. Will the …
Commons
Westminster Hall
17 June 2026
Rural Pubs: Fiscal Support
I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on securing this debate. As everybody knows, I represent the most beautiful constituency in the United Kingdom. As he says, pubs are not just about food and drink; they are also somewhere for people to go to socialise. They are great for people who are lonely. The B…
Commons
Statutory Instrument
16 June 2026
Draft Digital Waste Tracking (England) Regulations 2026
I rise to speak on behalf of the Liberal Democrats, who broadly support the establishment of a digital system to track the movement of controlled waste. We have long campaigned—as people would expect us to—for stronger waste regulation and enforcement to protect our environment and tackle waste crim…
Commons
Oral Questions
Transport
11 June 2026
Mass Transit Systems
As the Secretary of State knows, the closure of the B3191 at Cleeve Hill in my constituency remains a major problem for the town of Watchet and has left it effectively dependent on single vehicular access. Such extreme situations without proper access have serious consequences for immediate emergenc…
Commons
Westminster Hall
4 June 2026
Home-to-School Transport
I serve on the Public Accounts Committee, and I was the spokesperson for that report when it went to the media. The report dealt specifically with the education of those with special educational needs and disabilities, and it became very clear that there is a complete drop-off at age 16, meaning tha…
Commons
Westminster Hall
3 June 2026
Seasonal Hospitality Businesses in Coastal Areas
It is an honour to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Stuart. I represent Exmoor, the northern edge of which runs along west Somerset to the coast. There, the visitor economy supports about two thirds of all employment: there are 8.4 million visitor days a year and economic activity of upwards of £70…
Commons
Westminster Hall
2 June 2026
10 contributions
Community Pharmacies
I beg to move,
That this House has considered the future of community pharmacies.
It is always a pleasure to see the Minister in his place. I know how committed he is to his brief, and I am grateful for the conversations we have had on a number of important issues. The timing of this debate could …
The hon. Member makes a good point, which I shall return to in due course.
The community pharmacy network has had to absorb real-terms cuts of 30% in Government funding. For most community pharmacies, NHS funding accounts for 90% to 95% of their annual income. That is simply not a sustainable busin…
+8 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
2 June 2026
Armed Forces Bill
The Bill makes great strides in Ministry of Defence housing standards, and the enshrinement of the covenant is to be lauded. However, I cannot help but feel that there is a sense of strategic lethargy, with a lack of serious worked-through policies to tackle the crisis in recruitment and retention. …
Commons
Oral Questions
Justice
19 May 2026
Family Court: Harassment of Domestic Abuse Victims
About one in 20 rural households experience some form of domestic abuse, although experts believe that this figure is significantly understated owing to chronic under-reporting. Evidence shows that financial control and exclusion from business decisions are a particular feature in rural areas. The p…
Commons
Westminster Hall
28 April 2026
2 contributions
International Parental Child Abduction
I beg to move,
That this House has considered the matter of international parental child abduction.
It is a privilege to make my remarks under your very capable stewardship, Dr Murrison. I understand that these issues are very sensitive and of huge human significance, so I feel privileged to be ab…
I thank the Minister for his inclusive and thorough response to some of the concerns raised today. I will certainly be writing to him on behalf of my constituent who is sitting behind me. I also thank the obviously doting father and grandpapa, the omnipresent hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon)…
Commons
Oral Questions
23 April 2026
2 contributions
National Resilience
11. What steps he is taking to improve national resilience.
Not long ago, a Russian-flagged ship anchored just two miles off the Minehead coast in my constituency, directly above critical transatlantic cables. Our adversaries are becoming emboldened and operating even closer to home.
As the proud sister of a serving brigadier and a retired lieutenant colone…
Commons
Debate
20 April 2026
Security Vetting
We know that MI6’s finding last September that Mandelson had compromising business interests was accurate—I mentioned it myself on 15 September 2025. He failed his security vetting. We also know that the former Cabinet Secretary advised the Prime Minister to carry out security clearance for Mandelso…
Commons
Debate
26 March 2026
Gurkha Veterans
I commend my hon. and gallant Friend the Member for Tewkesbury (Cameron Thomas) for bringing forward the debate, and for his wonderful and kind introduction to so many of his Gurkha friends.
It would be easy for my remarks to simply be an ode to the Gurkhas and to shower them with honeyed words, be…
Commons
Westminster Hall
26 March 2026
Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and Craniocervical Instability
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Furniss. I thank the hon. Member for Cannock Chase (Josh Newbury), who I would also be proud to call my hon. Friend, for bringing this debate to Westminster Hall. I do not think there is a single elected person sitting in this Chamber who does no…
Commons
Westminster Hall
25 March 2026
Proposed Visitor Levy
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Efford. As everyone knows, Tiverton and Minehead is the most beautiful constituency in the country, and I am privileged to represent a part of the country that sits firmly in the tourist belt and has such rich heritage. In my constituency, touris…
Commons
Westminster Hall
17 March 2026
Child Maintenance Service
My team has been absolutely inundated with child maintenance service casework. I agree with the hon. Member’s point about the faceless nature of the service and how unhelpful—in fact, damaging—that is to people who have been subject to domestic abuse.
Some constituents’ cases show a clear and worry…
Commons
Oral Questions
Defence
16 March 2026
Topical Questions
In Devon and Somerset, we are home to some of the finest units of the British armed forces, from Devonport to Lympstone to 40 Commando at Norton Manor and to Royal Marines Barracks Chivenor in north Devon. The geopolitical tectonic plates are shifting, and President Trump’s latest comments about NAT…
Commons
Debate
11 March 2026
Finance (No. 2) Bill
We welcome the Government’s changes on APR—a new £2.5 million threshold was announced just before Christmas—but does my hon. Friend share my concern that genuinely active, long-held family farms and long-standing tenant farming arrangements will still be penalised by the Government? Does he therefor…
Commons
Westminster Hall
11 March 2026
Disability Equipment Provision
Does the hon. Gentleman agree that the patchwork system to which he referred is, through delay and dysfunction, denying many disabled people the independence they deserve? A 56-year-old constituent of mine in Somerset with a progressive muscle wasting condition has been left effectively housebound a…
Commons
Westminster Hall
11 March 2026
UK-based Tech Companies
Does my hon. Friend share my view that, although we can be rightly proud of having the third most valuable tech ecosystem in the world, we cannot be complacent, especially amid increasing international uncertainty? Shearwell Data in my constituency is exactly the sort of business that he refers to. …
Commons
Westminster Hall
11 March 2026
Rough Sleeping: Families with Children
I was shocked, although perhaps not entirely surprised, to learn that among local authorities, Somerset has the third highest number of young people sleeping rough, in absolute terms, in the country. It struck me even more that it is sandwiched between urban areas. Does the hon. Member agree that th…
Commons
Debate
10 March 2026
Extreme Climate and Weather Events: National Resilience
I congratulate the hon. Member from across the border on securing the debate. She will know that the south-west was hit particularly hard by the recent Storm Chandra, including parts of my constituency that were left submerged. Does she agree that we must now embed a truly comprehensive climate resi…