Westminster Diary

On this page, Steve will write a weekly diary to give you an update on his work for St Austell & Newquay and his views on the hot political stories of the day.

Week beginning 26th July

This week, Parliament "breaks-up" for the summer recess.

Despite popular belief, most MPs don't take 4 weeks off - it's just that the main place of work moves from London to the constituency.

I'm really looking forward to spending the summer in Cornwall. With all the good weather that we've been having it's been frustrating not to have been here to enjoy it!

It's now been just over two months since the Coalition government was formed, and it's been a whirlwind of activity.

I've been on a steep learning curve, getting to grips with the way Parliament works and what it means to be part of government. But, as a Liberal Democrat, I'm immensely proud of what we've already achieved.

During the election I made our priorities clear: fairer taxes, a fair start for children, a clean-up of our broken politics, and making sure we tackle housing need in Cornwall without creating a developers' charter.

We've made real progress.

The Regional Spatial Strategy has been scrapped - future housing need can be based on what Cornwall wants, not what we are told we need by faceless bureaucrats.

We've made the tax system fairer, by raising the income tax threshold by £1,000 in last month's Budget and reforming Capital Gains Tax. The income tax threshold will continue to be increased every year during this Parliament until nobody pays tax on the first £10,000 they earn.

We've started to tackle pensioner poverty by immediately restoring the link between national earnings and pensions.

We've put a levy on the banks, ensuring they help pay for the financial mess they helped to create. This levy will raise £2.5billion.

We promised to introduce a "Pupil Premium" to target extra money at disadvantaged children. The Coalition Agreement makes clear that this will now happen.

We promised a comprehensive clean up of the rotten political system. This is now a key part of the Coalition's agenda for which Lib Dem Leader Nick Clegg has responsibility, and the plans include, the right to sack MPs guilty of serious misconduct, fixed term Parliaments and a referendum on a new, fairer, voting system as well as a wholly elected House of Lords.

I said that I would put local people before party politics. For me, that's meant working across the political divide to make sure that the wider national interest comes before the narrow party political interest.

Of course, not everyone sees it this way. The Labour Party is desperate to airbrush history and wash their hands of the financial mess they've caused. Labour MPs are trying to pretend that 'it's nothing to do with them'.

But I think we all know whose mess it is that the Coalition is clearing up.

So it's been a busy 10 weeks. The summer is chance to take stock and look to the future. I will be out and about meeting as many people as I can over August. I hope to see you soon.

Week Beginning 19th July

There's no doubt that housing is a big issue for us in Cornwall. It comes up on almost every door I knock on, in my advice surgeries and anecdotes from friends and family. I've heard so many times the difficulty people face in getting on the housing ladder, or affording the cost of rent in Cornwall.

I know the problem only too well. I was probably the only new MP who was living at home with parents when elected!

I am, therefore, pleased to have been asked to co-chair the 'Housing' All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG). This provides me a platform to speak out about the particular problems we face here: second homes, empty homes, sky-high house prices and low wages, and over development.

It's a complex issue. We need to provide affordable housing, particularly rented homes, for local people who want to stay in the communities in which they grew up. But, we also have to prevent Cornwall being over developed and threatening the beauty which makes it such a special part of the country in the first place.

Overall I think, we need to base planning policy on local need, not developer's greed. That's exactly what the Coalition Government is aiming to do.

During the election campaign I was clear we needed to end the absurd Regional Spatial Strategies - something I'm pleased to say happened last week. This decision will see the end of the ill thought through Whitehall plan to build 70,000 new houses in Cornwall. Instead, the power to set housing policy will be pushed out of Westminster and to local people to form a plan that meets the needs of a community.

It's such an important chance for areas like Cornwall where we have - for too long - had our voice ignored when it comes to setting the crucial planning policy.

The Liberal Democrat & Conservative Government is also set to protect the Green Belt and put an end to "garden-grabbing", to ensure that new development is in the right location and does not put an additional burden on local infrastructure and services.

We are also set to promote the 'Home on the Farm' scheme to the mainstream. This will allow farm owners to turn pre-existing, but un-used buildings, into affordable housing for local people. This is a scheme that will, with no new blot on the landscape, provide more homes.

The Coalition Government will also be bringing forward plans to bring existing empty homes back into use. Across Cornwall there are 8,000 houses stood empty - 1,400 in St Austell & Newquay. We are determined to bring these back into use.

I'm proud to be able to play a role in these plans, through my position on the Communities and Local Government Select Committee and as the co-chair of the APPG on Housing, and I look forward to holding Ministers to the plans.

Ensuring we start solving Cornwall's housing crisis will be one of my top priorities over the coming months.

Week Beginning 12th July

Fairer votes - that's been a generational ambition for many from all sides of British politics. Despite that, the sad fact is that, at the moment, unless you live in a marginal constituency and vote for one either of the main contenders, your vote won't count. It's unfair. It creates a culture of 'safe seats'. It must end.

Last week Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, announced a range of political reforms that will see a real fairness brought back to our Parliament. The most important announcement was the date for a referendum on changing our voting system to a fairer system.

The referendum, likely to be held next May, will be a major step towards making sure every vote counts.

Here in Cornwall we can see for ourselves how unfair the system is. Our elections are usually between the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives. It tends to be the case that a vote for any other party won't count - that's because it is almost impossible for the third party, or an even smaller party, to break though and receive a large enough share of the vote to come first.

I saw this at first hand during the recent election campaign, I met people on the doorsteps who are Labour at heart but chose to vote Lib Dem to stop the Conservatives, and I saw people who were naturally UKIP supporters but voted for the Conservatives to stop the Lib Dems.

I want people to be able to vote for what they want, not what they don't want.

People who live in Cornwall and vote Labour shouldn't feel like it doesn't make a difference. Indeed, the votes of people who support Mebyon Kernow, UKIP or the Greens should 'count'.

The referendum is an important step towards a fully representative Parliament where people don't have to make their choice based on the least worst option, but can rank the candidates according to their preference. All votes would count.

As well as making every vote count, we will also restore the balance that means votes from different parts of the country will have equal value by addressing the imbalance of electors in each constituency.

Here in Cornwall, most of our new MPs were elected by receiving around 20,000 votes. But on the Isle of White it took 32,000 votes to elect the MP, and in the rural highlands of Scotland it took only a little over 10,000 votes to elect an MP.

As each elected MP has the same influence in Parliament, electorates should be around the same size. Of course, we must respect natural geographical and social communities, and indeed I will be fighting to ensure we keep Cornwall's identity in the process, but we must also ensure that Parliament is fairly representative.

The referendum will no doubt be keenly contested in Cornwall. But if we want all of our votes to count, then I hope we can seize the moment for real change.

Week Beginning 5th July

The immediate aftermath of the election has finally passed and it seems that things in Westminster are starting to settle down and us new MP's are finally able to get on and do some work.

I started my week in Cornwall to support the launch of the Newquay Town Plan consultation. This is a milestone for local people to shape the future of their town and I'm encouraging everyone to fill in the questionnaire.

I also met John Kenny from the Carlyon Bay Beach Project. Most local people, like me, want to see the beach brought back into use. I made that point to John and I will continue to work with him to ensure a quick but suitable resolution is found.

After the meeting, I dashed to St Austell station, to go to London. I tend to travel by train most of the time as it gives me the chance to catch up on some work. I also hear about local problems from other people waiting on the station.

Back up in Westminster, I met with the National Farmers Union and an organisation called 'Regen South West'. Groups like these work so hard and determinedly on some of the big issues in Cornwall and it's always good to get their perspective.

Farming issues in particular have such a massive impact on those who rely on their land for a living. Meeting the NFU allowed me to hear some of the major concerns, and I look forward to working with them in the future to learn more about the problems and, I hope, to meet farmers in the constituency to find out what they would like me to do to help from Parliament.

On Wednesday evening, a Conservative MP (Mark Lancaster) secured a debate on the abolition of the Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS) and what measures will be put in place for councils to form new planning policy in the RSS's place.

Here in St Austell & Newquay, development is one of the issues that comes up time and time again. I doubt there is anybody who hasn't, in some way, been impacted by it. We face a real challenge in Cornwall to deliver on the need for housing that is affordable for local people, while also protecting the beautiful countryside that makes Cornwall so special in the first place.

The debate followed on from the work I've already been doing to put pressure on the Secretary of State to be clear about the framework that will replace the RSS and the guidelines that local Councils will have to work within.

Finally, while in London, I also had the honour of supporting pupils from St Columb Minor School at the finals of the 2010 Ashden Awards for sustainable energy. I'm very pleased to say that St Columb Minor were the top primary school in the competition. It's an excellent achievement for a great local school and I would like to congratulate all the pupils and teachers that made it happen.

Week Beginning 28th June

We've just had the toughest budget for a generation. There's no point pretending otherwise. The next few years will be difficult and we'll all feel the pinch. I believe it was a necessary budget.

At the moment one pound out every four spent by the Government is borrowed money. That's on top of our current "overdraft" of £159,200,000,000.00. This level of borrowing is just not sustainable. As a country we are paying more just on the interest on these debts than we spend on educating our children. There's nothing progressive or fair about that and there's nothing progressive or responsible about leaving the next generation to pay back the debts that we've created.

The reality is the last Government was living on the 'never-never' - spending before they were thinking. Across Europe we can see what happens to countries that don't face the facts. Look at Greece or Spain; they kept their heads in the sand until it was too late - and now they've lost control of their own destiny.

The Coalition Government is determined not to let Britain go that way. We're determined to spend our taxes on providing services - not throw them away on debt interest repayments. But we have to clean up the mess we've been left with.

It's going to be hard. We'll all notice the rise in VAT. There are, though, some measures that will help. The £1,000 increase in the personal allowance (the level at which people pay income tax) means 1,350 of the lowest income families in St Austell & Newquay will be taken out of tax altogether. We've restored the link between pensions and average earnings and now thousands of older people in Cornwall are guaranteed a rise of at least 2.5% in the state pension.

We're also tackling the profits of the banks that helped to get us into this mess - we're expecting to raise £2billion a year from a new bank levy. By increasing Capital Gains Tax to 28 per cent we are ending the culture than can see bankers and lawyers in the city pay less tax than their cleaners. With proper reform of the tax credit system, we will ensure that it goes to those who really need it.

These measures go some way to help make the budget fair and continue the help for those who most need it. The aim of the budget is to bring Britain's finances back from the brink, to start repaying our debts. It means in future we will be able to spend more on education than we do on servicing our debt.

It's never fun cleaning up someone else's mess, but it has to be done. We've had the party, and now we've got the hang-over to deal with. It's not easy to make these choices, no politician likes cuts. I doubt it will be a popular budget. But it would be grossly irresponsible of this Government to duck the hard choices we face.

Week Beginning 21st June

It's no fun cleaning up other people's mess, but we've all had to do it at some point in our lives.

And cleaning up the mess made by the last Government is now the top priority for this new Government.

Although I'm writing this before the budget, there's little doubt it will painful for all of us.

But let's make no mistake; the mess left behind was enormous and cleaning it up will not be easy.

Something had to give. At the moment we are spending more as a country on our debts each year than we do on education.

In Greece the politicians failed to act in time and have now lost control. Because they didn't face up to facts, the measures in Greece are more painful than they needed to be.

And if we here are to ensure we don't go the same way then we must bring our debts under control.

We all know that you can't go on building up debts and spending more than you have forever, but that is exactly what the last Government did.

But, in the process of dealing with this chaos, I want to lay down a key test; the principle of fairness.

By this I don't just mean the fairness of who takes the brunt of the savings to come; although I do hope that the Lib Dem promise to increase the basic rate of income tax to £10,000 is a prominent feature in the upcoming announcements.

No, I also mean the Government taking notice of the unfair hand that has been dealt to Cornwall for too long. It's simply wrong that every year Cornwall's local health service gets £56 million less than it should under the previous government's target spend, and Cornish pupils get almost £350 less each year than the national average.

Growing up here, I saw the effect this under funding has on our communities. I saw how an area with some of the lowest paid jobs in the country struggles to cope.

It's time that this unfairness was sorted. That is why, with my colleagues from Cornwall, I am calling on the Government to ensure a fairer funding deal for Cornwall.

Last week I tabled my first Early Day Motion (EDM), and called on the Government to ensure that Cornwall should not suffer a higher level of cuts than elsewhere; and called for an independent funding commission to examine the historic level of under-funding of Cornish services.

I am pleased that my EDM has already received the support of Dan Rogerson and Andrew George and I hope the other MPs in Cornwall will back it too.

As we face having to clean up the mess left to us by the last Government, my hope is that Cornwall can look forward to fairer funding in the future.

Week Beginning 14th June

Last week I had the privilege of delivering my maiden speech. I don't mind admitting that as I stood up from the green benches and spoke for the first time I felt nervous to say the least. There's no doubt that the place is intimidating. But, as I continued speaking about the unique challenges we face in Cornwall, and the honour that it is to represent my home seat, I started to feel a bit more at ease.

I used my maiden speech to remind the Government and other MPs of the problems lying behind the clichéd picture postcard image of Cornwall.

I spoke about the unfairness in having the highest water bills in the country, yet some of the very lowest incomes. The lack of well paid year round jobs that mean so many of our young people are forced to move away in order to find work, and about the challenges that thousands of local people have in finding an affordable home in the communities in which they grew up.

I love Cornwall and am proud to call it home, but I am also determined to work from the Government benches to tackle the problems and injustices we face.

Now, with all of Cornwall's MPs on the Government side, I believe we have a unique opportunity to change our fortunes around. Many of the policies that will be delivered by my colleagues in Government will benefit Cornwall forever.

Raising the tax threshold to £10,000 will take 1 in 5 local people out of tax altogether and give a tax cut of £700 to everyone else. Investing money to bring 1,400 empty homes in our constituency back to use will give local families somewhere to live. The scrapping of the absurd RSS (guidelines on where new houses should be built) means Cornwall will keep the beauty that we all currently enjoy.

These plans, which I have spent the last 3-years campaigning for, will finally be more than a pipe-dream. There are difficult times ahead, but this Government will deliver fairer taxes, bring empty homes back into use and is taking steps to protect our countryside from overdevelopment.

I also used my maiden speech to make a warning. I expect this Government to address the deficit, but I also expect the burden to fall on those most capable of carrying it. In playing my small part in taking the difficult choices we face, I will never forget that we need a fairer funding deal for Cornwall. That's what I mean when I say I will always put local people before party politics.

As I said in the House, it is the privilege of my life to represent the people I grew-up with, went to school with and live and work with. Despite the difficult choices we face, I'm proud to be representing my home community and will do everything I can to make sure we get a fair deal from this Government.

Week Beginning 7th June

Still no London office or phone, but thankfully things are beginning to come together!

So far, in four weeks, I've opened files on just under 600 issues that local people have brought to me - ranging from housing need to benefits, immigration queries to planning policy. My last advice surgery in St Austell was stacked out - with 20 people to see within little over an hour. That's the day-to-day job of an MP - helping people with the problems they face when dealing with our complex national bureaucracy.

In Parliament there's been no let up in the deluge of information that has headed my way. The latest is the seemingly endless number of All Party Parliamentary Groups - small numbers of MPs that come together across the partisan divide of party politics to pursue an issue - and as a new MP I've been swamped with requests to join this or that group.

Many, like the APPG on Statistics, seem obscure, while others, like the APPG on the Great Lakes Region of Africa, very broad. But one that I have joined is APPG on Water.

We all know that our water bills in Cornwall are too high. Indeed, they are the highest in the country - on average twice those in London. With some of the lowest wages in the country they hit people here hard.

The last Government commissioned a review of water charges and pressure from MPs led to a small reduction in south west bills that will soon start to come through the proverbial pipeline. But that doesn't go far enough. We need to do more to equalise water bills across the country. My hope is that the All Party Group on Water will provide a route to working with colleagues from other parties to tackle this inequity.

I've also begun to seek meetings with the new Ministerial teams to pick up the issues that affect us. The Coalition Government will have a key role to play in deciding the future of projects like the St Dennis incinerator, the Eco-Town, levels of affordable housing and the future of planning policy - all key issues for our community.

In Cornwall I met with representatives of Cornish Community Banking, a local credit union that provides a cheaper alternative source of loans. They are a more cost-effective way to borrow than the door-step traders who often charge exorbitant interest rates and trap people into a cycle of repayment poverty. For people on low income and in need of an urgent loan, Cornish Community Banking is often the best place to start looking.

This week I'm likely to give my maiden speech in the House of Commons. Nervous is an understatement. It still feels like Madame Tussauds coming to life. Once the formality of the maiden speech is over, then we can seriously get motoring.

Week Beginning 24th May

So, I now have a phone number in Westminster - but still no phone. An office address - but no office. A place to hang my sword - but, alas, no sword.

Such is the chaos of Parliament as more than 200 new members try to find our way around the labyrinth of corridors and rooms and try to understand the byzantine rules of a place that, on most occasions, feels more like a library or museum than a modern legislative assembly.

However, it's now "official" - I've sworn my oath of allegiance and Her Majesty the Queen has opened this parliamentary session.

But between the formal election of the Speaker of the House last week and the State Opening this week, I've spent most of my time in Cornwall speaking to people about the issues that matter to them.

Newquay is set to get a new cinema and I was delighted to be able to cut the first turf.

Newquay often hits the headlines for the wrong reasons and the cinema is a welcome step forward in providing an attraction that families, residents and visitors can all enjoy.

I was also hugely privileged to be asked to read the eulogy at the funeral of Gerald Patterson - a dear family friend and respected colleague to many in the clay industry who will be sorely missed.

With standing room only in the chapel and scores more people crowding outside, I don't mind admitting that I suspect I was more nervous for that speech than I will be for my maiden speech in the House of Commons.

With former MP Matthew Taylor's son going from strength to strength after his recent treatment for cancer, I was pleased to be able to support Tanya's Courage - a charity that helps children with cancer at their annual fundraising ball.

It was a great event that raised a lot of much-needed money.

This year I'm going to be doing what I can to raise money for Tanya's Courage - so watch out for me training for the half-marathon.

I also opened the Carlyon Bay Fun Day in aid of the Precious Lives Appeal - I was delighted that the weather held out for all who attended.

All the events over the last week have shown me how we in Cornwall bring to life our motto, One And All.

There are scores of people raising money for good causes day in and day out and putting other people first - the unsung heroes in our community who make such a difference, people like Gerald who gave tirelessly to others.

As I try to find my way around this historic, and at times bewildering, place - I know that, phone or no phone, I'm here to make a difference.

I stand on the shoulders of giants - the people who put me here.