Newspaper column 16 January 2020

Last week in Parliament was a momentous one that saw the landmark Withdrawal Agreement Brexit Bill pass through the House of Commons. It is now with the House of Lords for further scrutiny and will come back to the Commons for a final vote at the end of the month.

When Parliament is sitting it is generally expected for MPs to be in Westminster to scrutinise legislation, take part in debates and vote for at least four days a week. The rest of the time leaves me free to work in our Truro and Falmouth constituency and typically I expect to spend whatever time I am not in Parliament meeting with local people and businesses in order to find out how I can best represent you as your MP.

When I came back from Parliament last week, on Friday it was great to catch up with a number of local organisations.

Firstly I met with Hugo Tagholm, the Chief Executive of the St Agnes-based charity Surfers Against Sewage to discuss their work in protecting our environment and highlighting the push to live more sustainably.

Apart from their original and core goal to improve the water quality for our marine environments and beaches, in recent years Surfers Against Sewage have also campaigned nationally on the importance of cutting down on single use plastics, going #plasticfree, something which Cornwall has spearheaded with many communities successfully acquiring Plastic Free status.

In Parliament, Surfers Against Sewage run the Ocean Conservation All Party Parliamentary Group, a group of MPs from different political parties who work together for cleaner seas. I look forward to both joining this group and doing more locally with Surfers Against Sewage in the future towards our shared goals of doing all we can to preserve and enhance our beautiful seas and beaches.

Then it was on to County Hall at Truro for my first meeting there as a MP. Cornwall’s Members of Parliament regularly meet with senior figures from Cornwall Council to discuss our work for the county. It was a very positive and constructive meeting. Collective priorities for Cornwall were agreed including the need for further fairer funding and the pursuit of policies which suit Cornwall’s unique peninsula and rural needs. I look forward to a great working relationship for the benefit of all Cornish residents.

After that I went to Falmouth to meet with the Falmouth town team to discuss their shared vision for Falmouth. Since my time living in Falmouth I have always been impressed by the work of the Falmouth Business Improvement District and their incredibly positive efforts to market Falmouth as a town with a calendar packed full of events for locals and visitors  Together with Falmouth Town Council and local Cornwall Councillors, this group has a really positive story about how well business and local public sector are working together. As MP for Falmouth I will be delighted to work with all of them to ensure this success is translated to them getting their fair share of local and national funds available to continue with their good work for their community.