Luke Pollard MP Labour & Co-op Member of Parliament for Plymouth Sutton & Devonport
In the next six weeks I’ll be making the case for a Labour Government and asking, humbly, for your support to continue the work we have started.
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Ahead of that I wanted to give a quick update about some of my campaigns. Many of these issues won’t get a lot of airtime in an election campaign, but they’re important to people in Plymouth.
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Gun Law Reforms – Since the tragedy in Keyham, I’ve been arguing for reform to Britain’s outdate gun law reforms. Last week I warned that Ministers are long-grassing the reforms. I’m still pushing for the implementation of the Coroner’s Inquest recommendations to stop another Keyham from ever happening again.
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Keyham bomb – I’m still supporting residents in Keyham affected by the discovery of the WW2 bomb. I met Ministers again recently to make the case that people who suffer damage due to a bomb shouldn’t be left on their own by insurance companies and the MOD.
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Care Leavers – The Government failed to get back to me before the election was called about my campaign to introduce a deposit guarantee scheme for young people leaving care. This is a simple and cost-effective measure that would help give these amazing kids a better start in life.
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Buildings At Risk – The election means a delay to the publication of my 2024 list of buildings that need more love. We need to value our history and heritage more in Plymouth and my challenge to owners of these buildings is invest in them or sell them to someone who will. You can see my 2023 list here.
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Homes fit for heroes – I’m continuing my campaign to improve the military housing used by our Armed Forces and their families. No one who serves our country in uniform should live in homes with black mould, leaky roofs or broken boilers. I raised these issues again in the Commons on Monday.
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Better transport for the South West – A few weeks ago I raised concerns that the Government had hidden a plan for massive disruption and longer rail journeys on the Great Western mainline. My meeting with the Rail Minister to speak about mitigations has been cancelled due to the election. We need a better train and bus services in the South West and if re-elected I’ll continue to push for our fair share to deliver better transport.
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Closing raw sewage outfalls into the Sound – I’m continuing to work with South West Water on closing two private sewers discharging sewage into Firestone Bay. Due to technical complications this is taking longer than we all wanted, but I’m not going to stop until these sewers are closed and human waste no longer routinely dumped into the sea.
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Dentistry and the Health Village. My last meeting before going full-time on the campaign trail was with the Dental Taskforce where we received positive news about improvements the Labour-run city council has achieved by working with our local NHS and dental school. There’s so much more to do. For years I’ve been campaigning for more health on the high street and those plans are taking a step closer. Hopefully more news on that just after the General Election.