Rachel Gilmour MP: speeches 2026

Speeches

• 9 Sept 2026 · Pharmacies: Government Funding · Hansard source

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  Last Friday I visited a community pharmacy in Tiverton, and it was announced on Monday that an application for another pharmacy in my constituency had been turned down. Currently I have three pharmacies in Tiverton when I actually need four. Does the hon. Member agree that we really need to grasp this nettle and make sure we have enough pharmacies on our high streets?

• 2 Sept 2026 · Rural Upper-tier Local Authorities · Hansard source

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  As a part-Devon Member of Parliament—the other part of my constituency is in Somerset—I entirely agree with what my hon. Friend is saying. The part of my constituency in Devon is 800 square miles and will form just part of an enormous rural authority. Does she agree that that authority does not have the fiscal power to sustain itself?

• 2 Sept 2026 · EU Membership Referendum: Impact on the UK · Hansard source

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  Will the hon. Lady give way?

• 2 Sept 2026 · EU Membership Referendum: Impact on the UK · Hansard source

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  The hon. Gentleman will no doubt recall the pleasant experience we had in Odesa recently, with Russian drones almost falling on our heads. Reports from Germany suggest that the recent drone attack on Leipzig airport was indeed coming from Moscow. Does he not agree that dealing with and having a good relationship with our nearest allies is the safest route to our national security?

• 2 Sept 2026 · EU Membership Referendum: Impact on the UK · Hansard source

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  It is elected—it is a Parliament.

• 1 Sept 2026 · Face-to-Face Banking: Rural Areas · Hansard source

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  Like my hon. Friend’s constituency, mine is large at 1,250 square miles and the population is elderly. The No. 25 bus runs every two and half hours. If a constituent needs to bank in Taunton, it takes five hours to get there and back. Does she agree that increasing face-to-face banking services, particularly in enormous constituencies such as mine, is crucial?

• 15 Jul 2026 · National Energy System Operator: Blackout Risk · Hansard source

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  I should remind the House of my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. For 30 years, I have been a member of the GMB trade union, where I was greatly supported as a whistleblower, and I have just joined the board of WhistleblowersUK. With that in mind, what is the Minister doing to actively protect whistleblowers who come forward with serious concerns about both public and private organisations, and will the Government heed Liberal Democrat calls to establish an office of the whistleblower to better help and protect these individuals?

• 14 Jul 2026 · Coastal Communities: Isolation and Hidden Deprivation · Hansard source

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  I hear what the Minister says; as a lifelong Liberal, I personally found those years extremely difficult. That said, rurality is not taken into account when the Government give out money for local areas. Accounting for rurality and remoteness in local government funding outcomes would make a massive difference to my constituency and others.

• 14 Jul 2026 · Coastal Communities: Isolation and Hidden Deprivation · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Alec. There is a version of coastal communities that we like to tell ourselves, of chocolate-box fishing villages and tight-knit communities where people look out for one another, and there is certainly truth in that. In Tiverton and Minehead, I represent one and I see it. We talk of coastal areas being at the end of the line, but there is no line for west Somerset. It is a cul-de-sac. The west part of my constituency, for all its natural beauty, suffers from the lowest social mobility in the country, and it ranks among the poorest travel times to employment, at the 96th percentile. Education and employment opportunities for those living along the coast are so limited that teenagers are catching a bus at 6 o’clock in the morning, with a two-hour journey each way, just to reach the further education courses they need. It is a material hit to a young person’s aspirations, forcing them to compromise before they have even started and putting them at a direct disadvantage to their peers elsewhere. It creates a profound poverty of aspiration and ambition, brought about by an environment that tells people they have been forgotten. That is why my party has consistently called on the Government to apply a fair funding formula that properly takes into account the realities of coastal and rural life for education, travel, health and much more. Perhaps the right hon. Member for Makerfield (Andy Burnham), much of whose political brand rests on regional empowerment, might turn his attention to the south-west as he closes in on No. 10, because the coastal and rural premium is real and is felt acutely. Over the last few months, my office has produced a report into dementia in Tiverton and Minehead. Isolation and loneliness ran through it as a constant, unrelenting theme, not as one issue among many, but as the backdrop against which everything else is experienced. This year alone, the west Somerset coastal area has lost dental services, its post office, hospital scanning equipment and its local citizens advice bureau. They are services that young and old alike depend on, and one by one they are disappearing. Devolution in Tiverton and Minehead means meaningful evolution to prosperity, opportunity and a better future for all my constituents.

• 14 Jul 2026 · Extreme Heat: Preparedness · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Sir Christopher. I thank the hon. Member for Waveney Valley (Adrian Ramsay) for introducing this important debate. The reports this week have been horrifying. That thousands may have died in this heat shows how ill-equipped we are as a country to deal with this kind of weather. I represent the rural and coastal constituency of Tiverton and Minehead, with a disproportionately elderly population, and the underlying health inequalities that often go with an area of its character. When the heat comes, my constituents are among the first to suffer and the least equipped to cope. I wish to highlight plainly where preparedness has failed them. In part of my constituency, not only has this period not been managed, it has been completely mismanaged. Some children cooling off in the River Exe on hot summer’s day, as any of us would want to, fell ill because of an alleged discharge into the river. The children’s father kayaked up the river later yesterday evening and reports encountering a pungent sewage odour in the vicinity of one of Tiverton’s sewage treatment work sites. He witnessed what appeared to be active discharge, which the company’s tracker failed to reflect, because it had not been updated. A monitoring system that does not monitor is worse than useless; it is a fig leaf. There is a hosepipe ban, although the company had months of warning. A wet start to the year gave way to weeks of record heat that was forecast and foreseeable. Yet, when the pressure came, South West Water was not ready. The imposition of the ban is on mid-Devon and parts of east Devon but nowhere else in the region. My constituents want to know why they alone are paying the price of a company’s failure to plan. Where was the investment? Where was the foresight? That is not bad luck, it is dereliction of duty. It is hard to shake the distinct impression that to South West Water stakeholders come a distant second behind shareholder interests, which is unacceptable. The consequences go beyond garden hoses. At a slaughter site in Willand, water pressure was cut to a quarter of its normal levels, leading to an unfolding animal welfare crisis. It posed a potential public health risk, as a site that cannot access adequate water cannot maintain hygiene standards. As the MP for the area, it took me five phone calls yesterday before someone from South West Water picked up the phone. I found the lack of urgency and concern to be outstanding. I am assured that some water pressure has now been restored, but this is on a cliff edge, and major welfare issues remain a concern. Despite what I heard from its new chief executive in a breakfast meeting just a few weeks ago, it seems as though South West Water has not learned any lessons. Finally, heat preparedness is also as much about the everyday infrastructure that people rely on. Buses, in particular, are used disproportionately by elderly residents, the very group most at risk of heatstroke. Too many buses still lack adequate air-conditioning. That has to be part of the preparedness conversation. This heat will come again and again. We need a system and the infrastructure that meets it head on and corporate entities that put people first, not profit.

• 1 Jul 2026 · Coastguard Volunteers: Remuneration and HMRC Guidance · Hansard source

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  We are a proud seafaring nation—as John Evelyn put it, the “sea is England’s element”—and the coastguard stands as the nation’s eyes and ears along our shore. The west Somerset coast runs along the north of my constituency and, in the Bristol channel, we have the second highest tidal range in the world. I ask the Minister, on behalf of my constituents who now face greater vulnerability as a direct result, on what basis the decision was made. It looks like negligence, but I fear that the blame lies squarely with the MCA. These CROs show extraordinary courage in the line of duty, and, as we all know, “With courage, nothing is impossible”.

• 24 Jun 2026 · Farming: Financial Sustainability · Hansard source

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  It is always a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Turner. I rarely miss an opportunity to speak about farming in this place. It was a privilege last October to be elected by Government MPs as the co-chair of the all-party parliamentary group on farming. I suspect that there is too often a perception in Whitehall that farmers do rather well. Land rich? Perhaps. Cash rich? Rarely. It is too rarely acknowledged that many farmers earn little more than £20,000 a year. My region, the south-west, has the lowest average farming business income of anywhere in the country, at just £35,100 per farm. My farmers are not landed gentry. They are people who work with their hands. They are up before dawn, toiling through the winter. As I said in the House yesterday, the Brexit deal we ended up with has strangled trade in food, farming and fishing. We need a comprehensive sanitary and phytosanitary agreement with the Europeans as soon as possible. It would reduce trade friction and lower costs for farmers directly. The effects of getting things wrong in this area spread far beyond the farm gate. As farms fall, so do butchers, delivery drivers, packagers, suppliers, labourers and contractors. The elephant in the room is that food security is national security. There is simply no substitute for a farmer. Without them, we all go hungry.

• 23 Jun 2026 · UK-EU Economic Co-operation · Hansard source

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  Today does indeed mark 10 years since Britain voted to leave the European Union. One of the consequences of Brexit has been to bury my constituents in red tape. My farmers cannot export without doing reams of paperwork, and small businesses are seemingly locked out of European markets. The EU remains the world’s largest trading bloc, and it sits on our doorstep, so will the Chancellor set out a path to an ambitious UK-EU reset—something that my party has called for—including a new customs union that would slash costs for British businesses, open markets for our farmers, and bring down prices for the British consumer? Or will we have to wait for her successor to show that ambition?

• 23 Jun 2026 · UK-EU Economic Co-operation · Hansard source

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  13. If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing levels of economic co-operation with the EU.

• 22 Jun 2026 · School Rebuilding Programme · Hansard source

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  Tiverton high school has been on various lists for a rebuild since 1999. I am genuinely grateful to the Department for Education for the work that has gone on behind closed doors since my election in 2024. However, there is still a worrying lack of commitment in public from the Department. Will the Minister give a commitment in the House to have the Department write to me, to Mid Devon district council and to Devon county council with a full update on the specifics of the school rebuilding programme for Tiverton high school, to provide the certainty that my constituents require.

• 18 Jun 2026 · Infected Blood Compensation Scheme · Hansard source

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  I am going to try to make my intervention without crying. I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on his impassioned speech. I am a member of the Public Accounts Committee, and this subject came before us a couple of weeks ago when we examined the impact of the infected blood scandal as part of a much wider report on Government compensation schemes. These cases are always marked by a profound injustice, but nowhere is that clearer than in relation to the infected blood scandal. Each week people die before receiving the compensation they are promised, and I know that the hon. Gentleman will agree that that is a moral stain upon our country.

• 18 Jun 2026 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  My constituent Marika built Fortitude gym in Williton from scratch at just 27 years old after selling her own house mid-covid. It has grown into a community wellbeing hub with classes and events, offering support to members coming back from injury, illness and addiction, one of whom went from being on crutches to running a half marathon. Outfits like Marika’s are doing preventive health work that takes pressure off the NHS, but business rates and overheads continue to push them towards closure. Will the Leader of the House make the case to his Treasury colleagues for fairer business rate treatment for small, independent health and fitness-focused providers, so they can keep doing the vital preventive work that the NHS relies on?

• 17 Jun 2026 · Rural Pubs: Fiscal Support · Hansard source

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  I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on securing this debate. As everybody knows, I represent the most beautiful constituency in the United Kingdom. As he says, pubs are not just about food and drink; they are also somewhere for people to go to socialise. They are great for people who are lonely. The Butchers Arms in Carhampton reopened in January, and it now has a library and a shop. I am sure he would agree that is a very good situation to be in.

• 16 Jun 2026 · Community Hospitals · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend the Member for South Cotswolds (Dr Savage) for giving us all the opportunity to shine a spotlight on the challenges facing community hospitals, particularly in rural areas. Neighbourhood health and care in the community are the thrust of this Government’s health strategy. That is admirable and right, but good intentions alone are not a health strategy, and intentions mean very little if the infrastructure to deliver them does not exist. In constituencies like Tiverton and Minehead, it increasingly does not. Let us take, for example, the removal of the CT scanner from Minehead community hospital. I have been stopped in the street more times than I can count by constituents expressing how big a blow that has been. The whole point of a scanner in Minehead was proximity—for it to be accessible to people across west Somerset who face long journeys to reach secondary care. Its removal is therefore curious, and a direct contradiction of the Government’s stated commitment to bring care closer to people. The strategy says one thing and the decisions say another. It is not hard to understand why we are where we are. West Somerset is, in effect, a cul-de-sac, with limited transport, limited infrastructure and a long schlep to Musgrove Park hospital in Taunton for most things approaching secondary services. That has consequences beyond access; we are not an easy posting for healthcare workers either, precisely because of the geographic reality. There are no meaningful incentives attracting people to train and practise there, and there is no laser focus on local recruitment efforts, which I believe is our best bet. We live in a beautiful part of the world—it is true—but why would a newly qualified clinician choose a remote, poorly connected posting when better resourced options exist elsewhere? The south-west, as my colleagues know, is haemorrhaging healthcare capacity, and my constituency feels the effects acutely. Frankly, we are not being resourced as though those difficulties matter at all. Every missed appointment is not just a missed check-up; it is a missed diagnosis. When people cannot reach care, conditions worsen. Some will inevitably end up in A&E, placing further pressure on an already stretched urgent care system, in a region with one of the country’s least accessible healthcare networks. We end up paying more for failure, and the approach has not acknowledged that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. When we talk of community care, it must reflect the needs of the community it serves. Rural areas tend to be older in demographic make-up, and healthcare provision is sparse. That cannot be treated as a marginal factor; it is the central planning reality. The rural premium in healthcare need is real, documented and consistently under-weighted in funding decisions. My party has always been a proud champion of rural areas. We recognise the postcode lottery of care provision and the health inequalities it perpetuates. It is why we have called for the establishment of the strategic small surgeries fund, specifically designed to prop up buckling services in remote parts of the country and ensure that where someone lives does not determine the quality of care they receive.

• 16 Jun 2026 · Draft Digital Waste Tracking (England) Regulations 2026 · Hansard source

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  I rise to speak on behalf of the Liberal Democrats, who broadly support the establishment of a digital system to track the movement of controlled waste. We have long campaigned—as people would expect us to—for stronger waste regulation and enforcement to protect our environment and tackle waste crime after years of inaction by the Conservative Government. As waste is a devolved matter, with separate legislation and systems being developed in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, the Government must work closely with the devolved Administrations to ensure that these digital systems are interoperable and provide effective coverage across the whole UK. Although we support the draft regulations, we urge the Government to go further in tackling the waste crime national emergency by taking up our calls to increase fixed-penalty notices for fly-tipping to £2,500, transferring responsibility for investigating major waste crime to the National Crime Agency, and introducing rewards of more than £5,000 for information leading to a successful prosecution of criminal gangs.

• 11 Jun 2026 · Legacy of Jo Cox · Hansard source

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  I never met the hon. Lady’s sister, but I absolutely remember when she was taken from us. I admired her hugely, and I still do. The fact that there are so many new Members of Parliament in the Chamber this afternoon tells a story—that her memory is still alive and well, and we still hold her dear. On the hon. Lady’s point about children needing more education, the late Sir David Amess was very keen that we set up something called the Children’s Parliament, and I was very privileged to be asked to be the chair of the relevant APPG. Again, Jo’s memory goes on, hopefully not just for my rather elderly generation but for children and generations afterwards. Does the hon. Lady agree that that is a commendable aspiration?

• 11 Jun 2026 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  I have a constituent whose 15-year-old daughter is living with acute functional neurological disorder, a too often misunderstood condition that has profoundly diminished her quality of life. Despite the severity of her symptoms, the pair have been refused disability living allowance and receive no support, whether through carer’s allowance or otherwise. Will the Leader of the House find space for a debate in Government time on the urgent need to establish a critical pathway and improve support for people living with functional neurological disorder, and to raise the profile of this very debilitating condition?

• 11 Jun 2026 · Mass Transit Systems · Hansard source

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  As the Secretary of State knows, the closure of the B3191 at Cleeve Hill in my constituency remains a major problem for the town of Watchet and has left it effectively dependent on single vehicular access. Such extreme situations without proper access have serious consequences for immediate emergency access and the local economy. Will the Secretary of State commit to addressing this gap through the new structures fund?

• 10 Jun 2026 · Defence Investment Plan · Hansard source

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  As somebody who represents Devon as well as Somerset, may I share the Minister’s sentiments about the very tragic loss of lives in west Devon last week? I am glad that the Minister has acknowledged that the Ankara summit is imminent, but is he not deeply concerned that the Government’s dither and delay in publishing the defence investment plan is seriously undermining our credibility with our friends in the world and sending a signal of immense weakness to our foes, and furthermore that at a time when we should be showing leadership the Government are showing lethargy?

• 4 Jun 2026 · High Street Businesses: Government Support · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to see you in the chair this afternoon. Ms Lewell. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Didcot and Wantage (Olly Glover) for giving us the opportunity to speak in this debate on the importance of high street businesses. It was once said by American President Calvin Coolidge that the chief business of the nation is business, but high street businesses in Tiverton and Minehead tell me of how they feel more squeezed than ever before. I must confess that my deepest frustration as an MP is seeing people and enterprises held back stubbornly and unnecessarily by basic challenges, and by Governments who have spoken the language of growth while too often acting against it. The cost of energy has been crippling for high street businesses. I commend the Government on having the antenna to keep out of Washington’s war, but that has not left us insulated from its effects; as alluded to by many, energy prices have soared. The hikes in national insurance contributions, business rates being at the level they are, and the rise in the minimum wage make it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to hire local young people looking for work, who often rely on summer jobs over the school holidays. We see that borne out in the number of young people who are not in education, employment or training, and in the mental health epidemic making victims of so many of our young people. The high street is as much a place of commerce as it is of human connection, and when that hollows out, so does something vital in the lives of local people. I therefore simply ask this: what happens when the goose is no longer laying the golden eggs, when the tax revenue is no longer there, and when the properties sit empty? This is not sustainable. I would like to say just a brief word on Europe: the most powerful growth lever available to this Government requires no new spending, no new legislation and no great political imagination; it is to ease the red tape choking trade with Europe. My constituents, including my farmers, tell me—in language rather more colourful than parliamentary convention permits—about the bureaucratic absurdities they have to navigate just to trade with our nearest neighbours. In Tiverton and Minehead, threadbare transport is a choke on high street trade. For a significant portion of my constituents who do not have access to a car—and I have one of the poorest constituencies in the country, even though it is beautiful—public transport provision is so painfully limited that employment opportunities just a few miles away might as well be on another planet. That is a structural drag on our local rural economy. It is also true that a local economy is only ever as strong as the talent feeding it. The skills gap that employers in my constituency raise with me begins here; backing business has to mean investing in the pipeline that feeds it. Without that, we get a brain drain away from rural areas. While that is far from a new phenomenon, it is a cumulative one, and my local rural economy bears the cost: businesses lose potential employees and communities lose the purchasing power and energy of young professionals, who might, with the right provision, have chosen to stay and build their lives in their community—the most beautiful constituency in the United Kingdom.