Commons
Debate
10 March 2026
Extreme Climate and Weather Events: National Resilience
I met constituents in Boscastle last week who reminded me about the terrible events of 2004, when there were huge floods that were devastating. The hon. Member mentioned the one hour of battery back-up, which is absolutely farcical and totally inadequate, but it was explained to me that even if some…
Commons
Debate
24 February 2026
4 contributions
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor
Before we turn to the wider implications of the debate, it is important to acknowledge why the Liberal Democrats are pressing for full transparency today. Serious allegations have been raised about Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s conduct during his time as the UK’s trade envoy, including reports that h…
I thank my hon. Friend for making that powerful point. That is a really important consideration; I hope that the Minister listened and can respond to it.
These concerns naturally lead to further questions. What did those around Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor know? What did police protection officers, c…
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Ministerial Statement
23 February 2026
Local Government Reorganisation
As recently as 22 January, this Government formally committed to delaying local elections again, but facing defeat in the judicial review, they suddenly realised that the delay was unlawful. This U-turn has cost £63 million at a time when my own local authority in Cornwall faces a massive funding sh…
Commons
Oral Questions
Solicitor General
5 February 2026
Jury Trials
Jury trials are not a peculiar way to run a public service; they are a fundamental pillar of our justice system, being eroded under this Government’s proposed court reforms. Serious reforms should focus on reducing inefficiencies that waste sitting days, increasing court capacity and making use of v…
Commons
Oral Questions
5 February 2026
Water Infrastructure: Inspections
During Prime Minister’s questions on 17 December, the Prime Minister promised me a meeting with the Water Minister to discuss the scourge of constant sewage dumping in my constituency and the Lowermoor water poisoning scandal. I have followed up repeatedly, including a visit to No. 10 just last week…
Commons
Westminster Hall
3 February 2026
Animals in Science Regulation Unit: Annual Report 2024
As always, it is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir John. I congratulate the hon. Member for Aberdeenshire North and Moray East (Seamus Logan) on securing this really important debate today. I congratulate all the speakers who have participated. I thought they all made powerful and use…
Commons
Debate
2 February 2026
5 contributions
Tolled Crossings and Regional Connectivity
Does the hon. Member agree that a real devolution deal, similar to those enjoyed by our Celtic cousins, must include a roads budget that is equivalent to the Cornish proportion of the strategic road network? Equating to around £95 million a year, it could easily make the Tamar toll free, at around £…
I take up your kind invitation to make a short speech, Madam Deputy Speaker. I thank the hon. Member for South East Cornwall (Anna Gelderd) for making an excellent speech and raising this important issue.
I want to make a few brief points, particularly while we have the Roads Minister here. The nat…
+3 more contributions in this session
Commons
Proceedings
13 January 2026
Storm Goretti
I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for St Ives (Andrew George) on securing the urgent question and showing leadership on this crisis in the absence of a Government response. There has been no Cobra meeting and no declaration of a national emergency, and many of my North Cornwall constituents d…
Commons
Debate
12 January 2026
2 contributions
Finance (No. 2) Bill
I would like to pick up on the point raised by the hon. Member for Keighley and Ilkley (Robbie Moore) about the ludicrous situation where a farm that is worth £5 million if it is owned under a certain ownership model will not be subject to tax, but a farm worth less than that could be subject to tax…
I would like to slightly correct the record there. We are having a technical debate about who opposed the tax first. I remind the Committee that it was the Conservative party that negotiated those disastrous New Zealand and Australian trade deals that decimated farming in my North Cornwall constitue…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
8 January 2026
Road Safety Strategy
Ryan Saltern was hit and left for dead by a drunk driver in 2019. The perpetrator received a four-month suspended sentence. In 2021, Ryan’s family launched their Ryan’s law campaign to increase sentences for hit-and-run offences, and in October I introduced a Ryan’s law amendment to the Sentencing B…
Commons
Westminster Hall
7 January 2026
Rural Fuel Duty Relief
I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for North Devon (Ian Roome) on securing this important debate. Constituencies like mine, which borders my hon. Friend’s constituency, are among the most rural in this country.
My constituents rely on their cars to cover vast areas to get to work, to take the…
Commons
Prime Minister's Questions
Prime Minister
17 December 2025
Engagements
Q2. I thank the Prime Minister for having confirmed a Cornwall-only devolution deal since my last question to him. In 1988 more than 20,000 North Cornwall constituents were poisoned by the then South West Water Authority, and in a recent BBC documentary strong suggestions were made of a cover-up by …
Commons
Debate
16 December 2025
2 contributions
Finance (No. 2) Bill
rose —
I want to point out the case of a North Cornwall farmer called Will Harris, who gave up an engineering job at £60,000 a year to provide food security and put food on our tables. His income is about £30,000 a year, but the tax his children may have to pay would be £500,000—or £50,000 a year, which is…
Commons
Westminster Hall
8 December 2025
Digital ID
The hon. Member is making a passionate, excellent speech. Talking of trust in the Government, we have just seen the BBC documentary on the Camelford water poisoning scandal in my constituency—a potential Government cover-up. How on earth can my constituents trust the Government with all their import…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
13 November 2025
Police Reform
I thank the Minister for advance sight of her statement. The Liberal Democrats warmly welcome the news that police and crime commissioners are being scrapped. We have been calling for it for years, and I personally called for this in one of my first contributions in this House, after the PCC electio…
Commons
Oral Questions
Solicitor General
13 November 2025
Support for Victims of Crime
I welcome the Solicitor General to her place. Domestic abuse survivors face serious barriers to accessing legal aid in the family courts. The current legal aid means test takes the abuser’s income into account when assessing a victim’s eligibility, unless the survivor can prove economic abuse, which…
Commons
Westminster Hall
13 November 2025
Rogue Builders
It is an honour to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Furniss. I congratulate the hon. Member for Wyre Forest (Mark Garnier) on securing this important debate and giving an excellent and comprehensive speech.
Many people will be familiar with this topic. In fact, half of all homeowners have had a ba…
Commons
Oral Questions
11 November 2025
2 contributions
Legal Aid
5. What steps he is taking to increase access to legal aid for people in rural areas.
I thank the Minister for that response. Would she please join me in congratulating Coodes Solicitors, which provides a weekly pro bono surgery to my constituents in Bodmin? Firms such as Coodes face, in its own words, so much unnecessary bureaucracy and hoops to jump through when providing legal aid…
Commons
Oral Questions
4 November 2025
2 contributions
Agricultural and Business Property Relief: Impact on Farmers
20. If she will hold discussions with farming representatives on the potential impact of changes to agricultural property relief and business property relief on farmers.
I kindly ask the Chancellor to please respond to my joint letter on Cornwall’s future funding, sent last week, which asks her to meet all Cornish MPs without delay. Alternative proposals to this damaging family farm tax—such as a clawback scheme, as proposed by the NFU, or increasing the threshold t…
Commons
Debate
29 October 2025
3 contributions
Sentencing Bill
I welcome the Minister, my former Home Affairs Committee colleague, to his place. I urge all Members to support the excellent amendments tabled by my hon. Friend the Member for Chichester (Jess Brown-Fuller), particularly new clause 11 on the suspension of driving licences during bail on driving-rel…
I completely agree with my hon. Friend. It is a horrible indictment on our society and our country that we have to table such a new clause. Sadly, however, because of the hundreds, if not thousands, of cases such as the one she rightly points out, unfortunately it is necessary.
Mark and Helen Salte…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Work and Pensions
27 October 2025
2 contributions
Child Poverty: Cornwall
13. What assessment he has made of trends in the level of child poverty in Cornwall.
Child poverty cannot be tackled if children have nowhere safe to live. One of the most shameful legacies of the last Tory Government was Cornwall being left with more than 700 children living in temporary accommodation, while only 1.4% of homes are now affordable to families receiving the local hous…
Commons
Proceedings
23 October 2025
Business of the House
The last Conservative Government promised to replace Cornwall’s EU structural funding pound for pound after Brexit, but they only delivered a quarter of that through the UK shared prosperity fund. Under this Government, Cornwall faces a devastating cliff edge on that vital funding in March. Please w…
Commons
Proceedings
23 October 2025
Fishing and Coastal Growth Fund
The Liberal Democrats of course welcome any further investment in our fishing communities, but coastal towns must have a proper say in how the money will be spent. The allocation of the funding must reflect the significance of the fishing industries across our isles. The proud fishermen in my North …
Commons
Proceedings
23 October 2025
Alleged Spying Case: Role of Attorney General’s Office
Throughout these revelations, Ministers and the Prime Minister’s spokesperson have repeatedly claimed that the Government had no sight of the witness statements and no input. The PM himself said that at Prime Minister’s questions last week. But the Government Legal Service’s own guidance requires th…