Newspaper Column – The Cornishman – 13/07/26

•       Our fishing industry has been viewed as an afterthought by successive governments. What little support there is has been spread very thinly.  

During the Brexit campaign, I was prepared to accept the UK fishing industry was the one sector which could potentially achieve some benefit from leaving the EU. However, the promised benefits never materialised. Brexit campaigners used the fishing industry as the poster boys for their campaign. Including for the famous Thames flotilla. But these same people always seem to be strangely coy when Parliament considers the serious consequences, and what happened to the industry following Brexit. And of course, none of them could be bothered to turn up for last week’s important Commons fisheries debate. (Perhaps they were busy marketing gold bullion, or taking multi-million-pound gifts from foreign crypto-billionaires?) Cornwall received £100 million per year from the EU; the promised replacement for that hasn’t happened either.  

I’ve called on Ministers to allocate more funding to Cornwall – including from the thinly spread fisheries fund – to make up, in small part, for what we’ve lost. 

 

•       We’re driving a campaign success! 

We had good news this week from Transport Ministers that additional support will be given to the Penzance Driving Test Centre, which has been operating at much lower capacity in recent years, contributing to long delays for hundreds of learner drivers across west Cornwall.  

Though it’s a welcome step forward, I’ll be carefully monitoring if this makes a significant difference, and urging them to keep their foot on the accelerator and deliver this as soon as possible. I’m grateful to and congratulate all the campaigners and the thousand+ petitioners who’ve kept up the pressure. It does make a difference!  

 

•       Governments have turned cafes, pubs,restaurants and music venues into venues for industrial-level tax collecting – VAT, Business rates, employment taxes and excise duties. Many tell me they barely break even. Half their turnover goes out in tax! And they’re significant employers, providing jobs to thousands here in West Cornwall & on Scilly; families depend on them. They are a vital part of our communities.  

That’s why I’m urging the government to look at switching as much of the tax burden from the present tax on effort and enterprise, to a tax profit, when they succeed. Liberal Democrats plan a VAT cut for the hospitality sector. Funded by a tax on the big banks. I’m asking Ministers to look again at what measures they will take to support our hospitality venues. 

•       I’ve urged Defence ministers to increase support for the work of the National Drone Hub at Predannack on the Lizard, following the recent publication of the government’s Defence Investment Plan. 

Predannack has many advantages as a research base, not least hundreds of square miles of relatively clear airspace.