Newspaper Column – The Cornishman – 22/06/26

• If the Andy Burnham coronation goes to plan, he’ll have to use his brief honeymoon well. Because he won’t get long… 

I’ve previously warned about the consequences of the feverish, rolling-news environment in which the upper tier of politics is managed. Prime Ministerial shelf-life is speculated about like premiership football managers and begins as soon as they take office. Though I don’t share his politics, and have strongly disagreed with many of his and his Chancellor’s policy choices, I respect Keir Starmer’s integrity when compared with his predecessors over the past decade.

He has generally called the international challenges right and handled his international duties with skill, including his careful child-minding of the UK’s relationship with the US President. 

I know politics can be a brutal business, but he deserved better from his fellow Labour parliamentarians. I suspect history will be kinder to him than they have been.  

 

• We cannot bank on the Banks to stay — so make sure you use yours. Every town in this constituency has lost its banks in recent years, except Penzance. I’ve challenged the 5 remaining high street banks to set out their plans and to commit to stay until at least 2030. 

Bank branches are vital to our commercial and community life. This is not simply “use it or lose it”: too many banks are diverting customers towards faceless, centralised systems, even where people still need personal service.  

Lloyds closed despite strong local use. I closed my account in protest — and urge others to consider doing the same.  

 

• Thank you to the many who have welcomed by choice to advance the interests of those in housing need, with my new Private Members’ Bill; which had its First Reading in Parliament last week. It’s about putting first homes before second homes; need before greed. It’s not the politics of envy, but of social justice.  

 

• I support brave constituent Caroline Eshghi and her campaign for justice. She’s a remarkable survivor of appalling child abuse. Justice shouldn’t depend on when abuse happened.   

Caroline endured unimaginable cruelty. Yet her abuser served just eight months. We are campaigning to change the law, so historical abuse is treated seriously, not capped at just two years in custody. Contact me to find out how you can help. 

  

• Nature recovery remains important to me. Last weekend I spent time in the field. Completed my weekly midnight glow worm transect. They’re starting to appear. Encouragingly, more volunteers are joining.  

I joined a group observing nightjars at dusk. They’re extraordinary African migrant birds, which make an eerie, mechanical churring call. I also assisted with a butterfly transect, in an area famed for the Silver-studded Blue. We saw hundreds, and recorded others, including the remarkable Painted Lady, an African migrant. Then an 11 mile run, to review footpaths, and 24‑mile round bike trip on constituency business.  

All this helps us appreciate how rich and fragile our nature is. The UK remains one of the most nature‑depleted countries on earth.