EXETER-based ambulance trust chief executive, Dr John Martin, announced that the emergency co-responder service run successfully by local firefighters in Helston and Lizard for the past 29 years should close.

When I was last the MP, we successfully fought to maintain this vital service.

Treliske’s Emergency Department is regularly overrun. Often 20-plus ambulances queue there. NHS managers openly hint at the closure of Minor Injury Units – which could leave Lizard/Helston with (just limited hours) services at Penzance or Redruth. Removing the co-responder service could leave residents extremely vulnerable. The Chief Fire Officer says co-responders have “saved countless lives”. So, it’s reasonable to conclude that “countless lives could be lost” in locations like the Lizard if the service closes.

I’ve protested, as have local Cllrs, like Rory Gow. It’s astonishing this decision was taken without consultation and despite disagreement from key partner, Cornwall’s Fire & Rescue Service. The Trust hopes to fill the hole with ‘Community First Responders’, who do an excellent job of course, mostly in other locations. More work to do…

I called on government ministers to help protect farmers and growers from supermarket bullyboys.

I was proud to Chair the national Grocery Market Action Group (members included NFU, Friends of the Earth, Traidcraft, CLA, Action Aid, British Fruit Growers’ Association, Scottish NFU) between 2005 and 2015. We successfully campaigned to persuade the then Competition Commission to hold a comprehensive Inquiry into Supermarket buying and supply chain practices. Farmers complained about short notice changes to contracts (e.g. buyers demanding suppliers fund “two for the price of one” campaigns or face delisting!), over-riders, late payment, and other practices which enable supermarkets to exploit their power when dealing with relatively weak farmers and growers.

Our campaign succeeded, resulting in the creation of a Supermarket regulator (Grocery Code Adjudicator - GCA) in 2013. But the GCA has been underfunded, dependant on government secondments and has failed to take effective action to curtail the anti-competitive practices identified by the Competition Commission.

So, I and other MPs are calling on the government to act and give the regulator the teeth and funds it needs to be effective.

We debated the government’s unwise changes to the planning system this week. Our nature is not a “blocker” on our country’s future, as government ministers portray it. It’s an enhancer of our quality of life, economy, and well-being.

Wildlife charities have lost faith in the government and are demanding it scraps the proposed Environmental Delivery Plan and goes back to the drawing board.

I challenged the planning minister. The UK is one of the most nature depleted countries in the world. I’ve been shocked this spring by the dramatic fall in pollinators – butterflies and bees - in our part of the world. Unless we do something, we’ll face an irreversible nature collapse.

The government must start listening.