Last week, we held the first Liberal Democrat Opposition Day in 15 years.

With 72 MPs in Parliament, we now have the power to influence the House agenda on various days throughout the year. Once again, we chose to highlight the struggles of carers and the ongoing crisis in the NHS.

Our first motion called for an end to the unfair practice of the carer’s allowance clawback. This overly complicated system often catches carers out, causing them to lose their entire allowance if they inadvertently exceed the earnings threshold. I’m pleased to report that, in response to our motion, the government has announced a review, and we remain hopeful of a change to this cruel system.

In our second motion, we pushed for guaranteed access to GPs and NHS dentists. Back in 2019, the Conservatives promised 6,000 more GPs, but instead, we ended up with 500 fewer. But the most shocking statistic relates to the critical shortage of NHS dentists. Worryingly, complications due to tooth decay have now become the leading cause of hospital admissions for children—with over 100,000 cases since 2019.

During my maiden speech, I emphasised the need to properly support our local health service providers. In Tiverton and Minehead, it’s now common for all available appointments to be fully booked within minutes of a surgery opening, leaving staff to apologise to frustrated patients for the rest of the day. But it’s not the NHS staff who should be apologising—it’s the successive Ministers responsible for leaving them unable to deliver these services.

While the new Labour government is now responsible for finding solutions, no one can claim they created this problem. No one, that is, except the Conservative Shadow Minister for Health & Social Care, who conveniently ignored her own party’s recent time in government.

What was even more disappointing was the complete absence of Conservative members during this debate. Apart from the Shadow Minister herself and a lone frontbench aide, the Conservative benches were almost entirely empty. The lack of access to primary care is perhaps the Conservative’s most significant failure—an issue they couldn’t confront while in government, and apparently, still can’t today.

As your MP in Tiverton and Minehead, I will continue to stand up for our carers and local health providers. The state of community healthcare in the constituency is not up to scratch, and I am proud to continue to support behind these measures to make health and social care a top priority.