It’s quite a challenge to exist in today’s world without a bank account, and access to banking services. Yet in so many areas, like ours, banks simply no longer exist. In the last decade, nearly two-thirds of banks and building society branches have shut. Should the trend continue, the country could be left with just 2,700 branches by 2030. Banks like to argue that most people prefer to bank online, but in reality what choice do they have? The rapid and ruthless shift towar

And just like that, parliament is back. In the time since MPs left London for summer recess in their constituencies, Andy Burnham has become Prime Minister and announced all sorts of policies from bus fares to ending rough sleeping. Now we’ve returned to Westminster, we will get the chance to properly scrutinise his ideas – and press him on other issues which he’s been conspicuously quiet about this summer. Near the top of my list is water. Sandwiched between last week’s an

Hi everyone! As some of you know, I was in the Start Bay area recently on my surgery tour, having lots of conversations with people about the A379 Slapton Line and the wider challenge of coastal erosion in the area. One of the topics which came up a lot was the possibility of creating a temporary bridge and I wanted to give a quick explanation as to why that is not possible. 𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐠𝐞 Approximately 200m of the road has been washed awa

It's been a real pleasure to travel all around the constituency this month on my summer surgery tour, visiting over 50 communities and chatting to more than 260 constituents. It’s a huge patch, and we drove a lot of lanes... but I feel very lucky to spend my summer visiting all the corners of beautiful South Devon.

I had just begun to unwind on Friday evening when the alarm went off, alerting me, along with the rest of the country, to the extremely high risk of wildfires after the driest July on record. It was a reminder we didn’t need. Turn on the TV and you’ll find the news laden with stories of climate breakdown. Farmers lamenting potatoes being boiled in the ground by the extreme heat. Wildfires larger than every professional football pitch in the country combined raging in the

Last month Devon officially entered drought status. This felt like a long time coming given the sweltering summer we have had. Driving around the constituency, it’s shocking to see how parched everything is – the landscape yellow and brown rather than bright green. It’s no wonder farmers are concerned about how they will feed their animals this winter. But climate change is not solely to blame for our predicament. Our water industry, which has prioritised shareholder divide