I have finally made my maiden speech in the House of Commons.

It’s kind of a ‘gateway’ to being able to speak in debates as a full Member of Parliament. As there are 345 new members and limited parliamentary time, I wanted to get mine done as soon as possible. I made my speech during the GB Energy Bill debate. I wanted to emphasise the huge opportunities Cornwall has and can offer the rest of the country if we invest in renewables.

Our wind power, wavepower, geothermal and critical minerals like tin and lithium could be particularly important for energy security for the country so that we don’t need to rely on other country’s like Putin’s Russia for our energy in future, and of course to fight climate change.

There is a standard format to a maiden speech. As well as the topic of the debate you are speaking in, you talk about your constituency, your predecessor and a little about yourself. The 2 MPs before me in Truro and Falmouth both worked to try to secure a new Women’s and Children’s Unit at Treliske Hospital.  Boris Johnson said he would include it as one of the previous government’s 40 ‘new hospitals or units’ about 5 years ago.

The new unit would be a much needed and long overdue scheme to centralise all the services for women and children in a new state of the art building at Royal Cornwall Hospital. Maternity care, gynaecological care, paediatrics. Mothers would be able to stay with their premature babies at the hospital. That is currently very difficult as there isn’t the space. Operations that people would previously have had to travel out of county for, could be done on site.

In Cornwall, we still need this unit. Even when I had my baby nearly 19 years ago, men were drilling at the ceiling in the 4 bed maternity ward where I was trying to sleep with my newborn son.

Cornwall deserves better. There is no reason why we should have to make do with substandard buildings to have our babies in and be wheeled between buildings in emergencies or taken miles away for operations that could be performed in Cornwall. Our maternity unit staff are top class.

This is so important for Cornwall’s women and families. Many of us started our lives or gave birth to our own families here. I will keep pushing for facilities worthy of the staff that work there.