I WAS pleased to take the urgent dental crisis we face here in the constituency to the national stage over the weekend at our annual Liberal Democrat Party Conference, officially calling for urgent ‘Dental A&Es’ to be established in every community.

People across Cornwall are struggling to access an NHS dentist, with some forced to travel hundreds of miles for routine treatment. I highlighted the case of nine-year-old Ella from Camelford, who was left waiting for twelve hours at Treliske with a severe tooth infection and in agonising pain. There has been some positive progress, including the Cornish dental van visiting communities across the constituency, a new surgery on the way that will accept NHS patients, and a drop-in dentist pilot in Wadebridge supported by my North Cornwall Dental Action group. But the scale of the crisis remains enormous, and I do need to make it very clear that further urgent action must be taken. I was very proud to see my amendment accepted by our Conference, and I’ll keep pushing for the Government to urgently reform the broken NHS dental contract.

I’ve also been fighting for North Cornwall’s farming families this week, after the Government’s latest Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) payment system descended into absolute chaos. The new funding window opened at 10.17am on Tuesday, but the entire budget was gone within just six hours, with half committed in barely three hours. Farmers and agents had spent weeks preparing applications, only for many to be let down by an online system that struggled to process them in time. For many farming families, these payments are genuinely essential to the survival of their farms, and I’ve heard directly from so many farmers who are now deeply worried about their futures, which is why I’ve urgently written to the Farming Minister alongside Liberal Democrat colleagues to demand answers. I’ll also be raising these concerns directly in Parliament as soon as I can.

Another ongoing campaign of mine this week has been standing up for North Cornwall’s fishermen and the future of our fishing communities. We’re incredibly lucky to have a centuries-old fishing heritage, but the economic pressures facing fishing families in Cornwall right now mean more are considering leaving the profession altogether. I’m working closely with the brilliant Young Fishermen Network to support the next generation of fishermen, including on issues such as boat financing and the barriers young people face in entering the industry. This is part of my wider parliamentary work, including bringing Cornwall’s fishermen together with the Chair of the EFRA Committee for a fishing roundtable in North Cornwall this summer, just outside Wadebridge. Policy and economic changes are needed for our fishing communities to survive and thrive, which I’ll keep pushing for on their behalf.

Lastly, I spoke out at Party Conference this weekend on access to legal aid for domestic abuse survivors. The Legal Aid Means Test has not been updated since 2009. I was proud to put forward an amendment calling for urgent changes, and I’ll now be taking that campaign forward in Westminster directly with the Minister for Courts and Legal Services, having secured a meeting which is set to take place very soon.