Amid the Iran war, spiralling oil prices and various other crises happening in the world, a piece of news came and went in a flash that could have serious implications for us all. On Friday 6 th March, Baroness Louise Casey delivered her first speech on social care since the government commissioned her to conduct a review into the sector last year. That decision was heavily criticised at the time by the Liberal Democrats. This had nothing with Baroness Casey’s appointment, b

𝐘𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐠𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐮𝐬 𝐚 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐞𝐛𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐚 𝐩𝐢𝐞𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐟𝐚𝐫-𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞𝐭𝐲, 𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐥 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐧.

𝐌𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐚 𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐮𝐛 𝐢𝐧 𝐓𝐨𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐞𝐬! I’ve just returned from appearing before the backbench business committee where I successfully applied for a debate on banking services in rural areas. The debate's date is TBC. Bank branches are closing every week across the country, leaving many towns without services. 𝐈𝐧 𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐃𝐞𝐯𝐨𝐧, 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐥𝐞𝐟𝐭 𝐢

𝐔𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐇𝐒’𝐬 𝐟𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝𝐥𝐲 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐚𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠-𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐥𝐮𝐠 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐩𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬.

In the Chamber earlier today I raised the issue of coastal erosion with the Leader of the House, stressing the need for a coordinated, cross-departmental approach to support communities like Torcross that have suffered significant damage to homes, businesses and key infrastructure this winter.

𝐃𝐢𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐞-𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐲 𝐦𝐚𝐣𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐠𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐰𝐞’𝐯𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝟏𝟗𝟑𝟓 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐦𝐚𝐣𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐯𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬? And that the last election was the most disproportional in modern times. Just 34% of voters opted for Labour, yet they came away with 62% of the seats. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐯𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐢