CHILDREN with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) have been let down.

To be fair, the present government inherited an appalling situation. The stories I’ve heard are shocking - of failure, delay and neglect, from families, carers, and educators. They illustrate that our children are being let down by a system that is overstretched and underfunded.

We must put this right. That’s why I’m holding a dedicated SEND Surgery in mid-September. Constituent parents, carers, and professionals are welcome. To tell me about the issues they’re facing. Please contact my office to book an appointment.

I’ll then hold a SEND Round Table meeting in October. Open to families, educators, professionals, and decision-makers; to explore what needs to change and how we make that happen locally.

I’ve met many parents and children, visited schools and met teachers and governors to better understand the challenges of navigating a broken system. I’ve raised matters in Parliament and with Education ministers, and highlighted the £1-million funding shortfall in Cornwall Council’s budget.

If you’re a parent, carer, or professional affected by SEND issues, please feel free to contact me. Your experiences help shape the action I’ll campaign for on your behalf.

Sewage pollution incidents continue around our coast. “Storm” discharges even on the driest of days. If I took up every occasion when there are suspected sewage spills in just my constituency, my staff and I would have to give up the rest of politics!

However, in the first year of this parliament we’ve successfully campaigned for tougher legislation, ‘encouraged’ Southwest Water’s Chief to ‘retire’, campaigned to scrap OFWAT and replace with stronger regulation and am pressing for honest recording, monitoring and prominent notification where pollution incidents threaten public health. More happening and much more to do of course…

Oil and plastics lobbyists have succeeded in halting (or at least postponing) our best hope to combat microplastics pollution.

Talks at the UN in Geneva broke down (August 15, 2025) without agreement.

Micro-plastic pollution is the most worrying of all forms of pollution. Unseen to human eye, it's in the air we breathe and the water we drink. It pollutes every aspect of our lives, from embryo throughout life; found everywhere, from Everest to the ocean depths.

Major Oil producing countries (Saudi Arabia, Russia) and lobbyists succeeded in scuppering the bid. And many nations became distracted by lobbyists who created a false dispute between curbing production and better management of waste, when both are essential.

We should still continue to do all we can in our own lives to reduce use of and risk of making things worse, and I'll urge government to do more within its powers. But a binding international agreement is essential.