It has been a busy week at the office. I spoke eight times in the House of Commons, made my first trip to Downing Street and heard myself on BBC Radio 4 challenging the Shadow Secretary of State in the debate on the Employment Rights Bill.

The speeches and contributions I made on behalf of Truro & Falmouth ranged from policing of high streets, employment rights and pay of care workers, leading in a debate on the enormous potential for renewable energy to make us wealthy in Cornwall again, second homes & holiday lets and the huge issues with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). All my spoken contributions in the House can be found here members.parliament.uk/member/5279/contributions.

Everything I do or say up there is, of course, on behalf of people in Truro and Falmouth. If a constituent has an issue that needs raising up the line, I can do that and try to get an answer.

In the week that Commercial Road, Penryn was shockingly underwater with sewage from a burst pipe, I also contributed to the debate on the major review into Britain’s water system announced by Environment Secretary, Steve Reed.

This Labour government has already taken strong measures to start fixing our broken water supply:

We have set up a new Flood Taskforce to deal with incidents like flash flooding; ringfenced investment for vital water industry and strengthened compensation for affected customers.

The new Water (Special Measures) Bill is currently going through Parliament. It will deliver on our pledges to clean up the water sector, including giving the Environment Agency more staff and resources to bring criminal charges against law-breaking water executives and create new tougher penalties and ban the payment of bonuses to water bosses if they fail to meet standards.

The review announced this week is set to be the biggest shake up to the water industry in a generation. A root and branch re-organisation that will shape and transform our entire water system. We simply cannot have polluted drinking water, sewage in our bathing waters and drains exploding in our streets into our future.

Some of the nicest parts of this week were meeting the young people who had come from Truro to see the Mother of All Parliaments! I saw students from Kea Community Primary School and a young man and his mother who had come on the home education tour. It is a long way to come from Cornwall to Westminster, so I am very willing to sponsor any school or young people in the constituency who want to come and see Parliament and will always be up for a Q&A at the end of the tour, if I’m around, to tell them the inside story of what it’s like to work in this incredible place.

Do get in touch with my office for that, or any other reason. I run 3 surgeries - in Falmouth, Truro and one of the villages every month. - [email protected]

Jayne Kirkham

Labour MP for Truro and Falmouth