Rachel Gilmour
MP for Tiverton and Minehead · Liberal Democrat · United Kingdom
“I should remind the House of my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. For 30 years, I have been a member of the GMB trade union, where I was greatly supported as a whistleblower, and I have just joined the board of WhistleblowersUK.”
“As the MP for the area, it took me five phone calls yesterday before someone from South West Water picked up the phone. I found the lack of urgency and concern to be outstanding. I am assured that some water pressure has now been restored, but this is on a cliff edge, and major welfare issues remain a concern.”
“It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Sir Christopher. I thank the hon. Member for Waveney Valley (Adrian Ramsay) for introducing this important debate. The reports this week have been horrifying. That thousands may have died in this heat shows how ill-equipped we are as a country to deal with this kind of weather.”
“Education and employment opportunities for those living along the coast are so limited that teenagers are catching a bus at 6 o’clock in the morning, with a two-hour journey each way, just to reach the further education courses they need.”
“Some children cooling off in the River Exe on hot summer’s day, as any of us would want to, fell ill because of an alleged discharge into the river. The children’s father kayaked up the river later yesterday evening and reports encountering a pungent sewage odour in the vicinity of one of Tiverton’s sewage treatment work sites.”
“Member for Makerfield (Andy Burnham), much of whose political brand rests on regional empowerment, might turn his attention to the south-west as he closes in on No. 10, because the coastal and rural premium is real and is felt acutely. Over the last few months, my office has produced a report into dementia in Tiverton and Minehead.”
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“As the hon. Member knows, I am keen on strategies, particularly the one that he has just mentioned. Pharmacies are not paid for the informal advice sessions. In over half of such occasions, if the patient had not been able to access their local community pharmacy they would have instead visited their GP surgery. That suggests that we have freed up 37.7 million GP appointments over the course of a year simply by patients having access to their local community pharmacy, which speaks to the point that the hon. Member just made. Such a workload is commendable, but it is not sustainable in the current funding model.”
“That means that people in the UK sometimes are not able to get the right medication due to shortages and that even when the DHSC puts together a price concession and allows for a greater reimbursement rate to allow UK pharmacies to compete for those life-aiding medications, there are extraordinary pressures on the NHS and the taxpayer. The realities of the funding model mean that community pharmacies are trying to push up water uphill using tools riddled with holes—in other words, sieves.”
“I thank my hon. Friend for his not particularly concise, but erudite, intervention. I will turn briefly to the funding model of pharmacies. Some 90% of a pharmacy’s income is derived directly from NHS funding, but when it comes to how that funding is allocated, the system is broken. Community pharmacies across the UK dispense more than 1.1 billion items a year and deal with shortage issues on a daily basis. The Department of Health and Social Care sets reimbursement prices in our system, but due to the reimbursement prices being so low and pharmacies being unable to compete on the international stage, the global market is now a safer bet for pharmaceutical companies than the UK.”
“Over the first three months of Pharmacy First, to which I will come shortly, pharmacies took 234 appointments out of the GP system simply by offering consultations for the seven applicable conditions. Pharmacies have fantastic potential to relieve pressure and provide new ways for people to access medical services, receive advice and so much more. Pharmacies cannot fulfil their potential if they are closed. The prospect of local pharmacies closing really does scare people. In a recent poll, 83% of respondents reported that they would be concerned about their local pharmacy closing. Data shows that closures are disproportionately taking place in the most deprived areas, with 50% of the pharmacy closures recorded in areas in the lowest three deciles of deprivation.”
“According to Community Pharmacy England, from October 2021 to May 2024, in my constituency alone, more than 520 hours of pharmacy time were lost due to temporary pharmacy closures. Although pharmacies operate all the services that I mentioned in the first part of my speech—and more, but I do not have time to go through them all—the closures take a toll on the GPs and A&E staff who might be someone’s next port of call if they cannot see their pharmacist. They take a toll on the NHS 111 line if the individual calls in, and they take a toll on the people who might not have any other free time in that day to take care of their health needs. Those lost hours add up. When pharmacies cannot provide those appointments or other services, it leads to bottlenecks elsewhere in the system.”
“I will come on to Pharmacy First at the end of the debate, because I see it as the solution, rather than the problem. The sector is trying its hardest, but without a fundamental overhaul of the system these NHS services, which are much-needed by patients and the public, may fall by the wayside into one of the following pits. There are the hours lost. When the money is not there, pharmacies cannot operate. As we see in many areas across the south-west and the UK, including in Tiverton and Minehead, hundreds of hours have been lost to temporary closures of pharmacies. According to the Company Chemists’ Association, pharmacies across the south-west have cut opening hours to the tune of 130,400 hours over just more than a year and a half by reducing their opening hours.”
“Pharmacies across the south-west and Devon need proper investment to safeguard and fix our broken pharmacy system, and to ensure that our health system is up to scratch and our social care system is supported.”
“I see it as a pyramid, with pharmacies at the bottom, right up to operations and A&E at the top. According to the CCA, between September 2022 and June 2024 nearly 200,000 hours of pharmacy time was lost due to pharmacies closing their doors permanently. Over 1,000 pharmacies have closed since 2016, with a net loss of 136 pharmacies in the south-west over the last decade—including in Tiverton and Minehead, where we did not have many pharmacies to begin with. The number of pharmacies operating in England is now the lowest since 2008-09. There are reports across the sector of sustained difficulties in even staffing the pharmacies that remain open. The sector cannot sustain these exits, nor can communities where pharmacies are so vital.”
“The Health and Social Care Committee reported in May that “the undoubted potential for pharmacy to improve access to health care, crucially including immunisations, and reduce pressure on general practice and other areas of the health system can only be realised with the right support and the right investment of public funding.” Why, then, are we not hearing anything from the Government about support for pharmacies? In under a decade, the proportion of NHS funding for pharmacies has fallen from 2.4% to 1.6%. An average pharmacy relies on NHS funding for 90% of its income. It does not have to be like this. The sector is ready, it just needs backing. We know that pharmacies across the country and the region, and especially in Tiverton and Honiton—whoops: Tiverton and Minehead—are willing to provide these services. Pharmacy First—”
“I speak on behalf of Helen from my home town of Bampton and the 5,500 WASPI women in my constituency. They are not disappointed; they are devastated, as am I because—mistakenly, as it turned out—I believed that this Labour Government, who were supported by millions of women across this country who rightly turned their backs on the Conservatives, had some probity and decency. Does the Secretary of State agree that it turns out that they have neither?”
“I am sure that we are all aware of and concerned about the recent report from Peninsula Transport that emphasises the problems we shall experience in Devon because of the impact of the HS2 development in Birmingham, which will close Paddington station for up to 10 years. Will the hon. Member reassure us that the Government might do one or both of the following: decrease rail fares to encourage people to come to Devon, even though it will take an extra 20 minutes, and give proper money to local government to invest in rail and road infrastructure, during that effective closure of the network from Paddington to Cornwall?”
“Let me start by saying how deeply and genuinely grateful I am to the Secretary of State for Education for providing the money to rebuild Tiverton high school following a 20-year campaign. I also want to disassociate myself from some of the comments made by Conservative colleagues. Some of them were personalised and vituperative, and I do not wish to be associated with them. That said—”
“Blundell’s school is also in Tiverton. Would the hon. Member be surprised to hear that when canvassing in Tiverton, in areas that might be considered relatively poor, I met numerous grandparents who were saving money every month to help their children to pay for a better future for their own children at Blundell’s school, through bursaries?”
“I am grateful to my constituent and good friend Guy Thomas-Everard, who went out of his way to give me the bill of sale for a perfectly average farm outside Winsford in my constituency. It is valued at £3.5 million, and that is before we count the deadstock and the livestock.”
“Please do not play politics with my farmers—they are too important. My plea to the Minister, when he is listening, is that he looks again—I am not asking him to change the policy; I understand that it is Treasury-driven—at some things that need to be looked at again. It is a flawed assumption that ownership is split 50:50 between spouses. That is not the case across Exmoor. And if it is not the case, especially in cross-generational farming families where older farmers hold on to the property so as not to burden the younger generation with increased capital gains tax on any future sale should they wish, then the relief stated by the Chancellor will not add up to the value stated. Another flawed assumption is that average family farms are worth under £3 million. They are not.”
“As many Members know, I am able to speak with some expertise on this subject, as I was the first female director of the NFU in some 100 years and I now represent a constituency, in which I have lived for 34 years, where there are 1,006 farms or holdings. The Country Land and Business Association says that 432 of those farms will be affected by the measures. I am known as somebody who tries to reach across the Chamber and make friends with hon. Members on both sides. I do not particularly enjoy confrontation, so there are elements of the debate that I have found unpleasant and disappointing. I do not like the references to class coming from the Labour Benches, or the suggestions that it has anything to do with class coming from hon. Members on the Conservative Benches. That is an irrelevance.”
“No. Another flawed assumption is that the residential nil rate band will be applicable. If the value of the farm business is worth over £2.65 million, there is no residential nil rate band, so that swallows up large numbers of family farms. I know that many Members are very, very unhappy indeed with the proposals. The hon. Member for Penrith and Solway (Markus Campbell-Savours) said he will vote with the Government because of the dire state that the former Government left farmers and agriculture in, but he is right when he says that this is a flawed piece of legislation. It will devastate family farms. I implore and beg the Minister to look at it again—and at least to get the facts right.”
“He continued: “Our business and founder were subjected to a campaign of abuse and sustained attacks, including unwarranted defamatory and even obscene and deeply personal publications.” What a sensitive soul. Along with Members of all parties, I, as a Liberal Democrat, resoundingly request that the Government build SLAPPs into any legislation that is coming forward, because it is desperately needed for this country, our citizens and our legal system.”
“He wrote that he lives with disabilities and had seen people trying to manipulate the vulnerable into paying for these courses. That is all he said; he did not mention Samual Leeds. Despite not naming Mr Leeds, the man received a letter from Ellisons Solicitors, on Mr Leeds’s behalf, citing the Facebook comment and warning: “Any mention of our clients may be perceived as harassment and/or defamation.” A spokesperson for Mr Leeds has commented: “Danny Butcher's death in 2019 was a tragedy. Your account of the relevant events is one-sided and misses important context, which we have no confidence you will fairly represent”— to fellow MPs.”
“A YouTube channel on which she had featured asking questions about Mr Leeds’s involvement with her brother was subject to legal threats and closed down. It will not surprise the House to hear that this is not the only instance of Mr Samuel Leeds sending threats. The Guardian has found some 15 individuals subject to legal threats from Mr Leeds, while The Economist has reported on the despair of attendees, who felt the course was a scam. Another man, who asked to remain anonymous, attended a course run by Samuel Leeds and was dissatisfied. He later posted on the Facebook page of Mr Nick Fletcher —a former Member of Parliament—asking whether there were any safeguarding measures to protect vulnerable people from wealth creation schemes, which was not an unreasonable request.”
“A trading standards authority had ignored her attempts to raise concerns about wealth creators such as Mr Leeds. Shortly after Carrie spoke to her Member of Parliament about Mr Leeds’s courses, she received a legal letter from Ellisons, a firm of solicitors representing Leeds in numerous legal disputes with his critics. That legal letter suggested that she had been participating in a campaign of harassment against Mr Leeds. It did not immediately threaten her with a lawsuit, but it warned that legal action could follow if she suggested that Mr Leeds and his course had had any influence on her brother’s suicide. Carrie responded firmly that she would not retract her criticism and would continue to raise awareness until her questions were answered. What a very brave woman!”
“Before his death, he had attended a course run by Samuel Leeds, who still offers controversial courses on achieving financial freedom through property investment. Danny, who was vulnerable and in debt even before joining Mr Leeds’s course, attempted to secure a refund from Mr Leeds before he took his life. Carrie attempted to contact Mr Leeds after her brother’s death to understand the effect that the course had had on him, but she never received a satisfactory response, so she spoke to some journalists and others who had handled Leeds’s courses—which sister would not? She wanted answers for her family, but she also felt that there was a serious public interest concern about Mr Leeds’s business, not least because his courses did not appear to be regulated by any professional or governmental body.”
“I congratulate the hon. Member for South Dorset (Lloyd Hatton) on securing the debate. I have listened with interest to all hon. Members, and it is a welcome exception that we are speaking in the House with unity and with one voice, from a shared sense of the value of free speech, to stop the bullies who use SLAPPs to intimidate people so horrifically. I too have a story. It is about a lady called Carrie Jones, who received a legal letter from a “wealth creator”, Samuel Leeds, after she raised concerns about Leeds’s interactions with her brother, who had died of suicide after spending thousands on Mr Leeds’s controversial courses. Carrie lost her brother Danny, who was an Army reservist, to suicide in 2019.”
“I find it absolutely shocking—I am sure my hon. Friend will agree—that the recommendations of a report published 15 years ago by the previous Health and Social Care Committee have still not been implemented.”
“I came here under the misapprehension that I was attending a debate on fishing. I know my history perfectly well. Could we move on to fish, please?”
“I have 1,600 farmers in my constituency. Some 432 farms will be affected by this silly idea, not to mention the families, their employees and the shopkeepers who rely on our rural economy. This policy is insensible, irrational and plain wrong in its interpretation of real life in our rural communities. It will be like the highland clearances. Hundreds of years of tradition will be lost to the taxman. Before I ask the Minister to think again, I can say with absolute certainty that the policies of the Conservative and Labour parties have reaffirmed the fact that the Liberal Democrats are the only true champions of farmers and the countryside—”
“I feel humbled and honoured to have been elected to represent Tiverton and Minehead in Parliament. They can help me do my job by coming to my surgeries at Tiverton and Minehead, Wiveliscombe and on Exmoor, by ringing my office and my staff, and by writing us letters and emails. I am at their service.”
“I am so proud to have her here today with my husband and our eldest son in the Gallery, so that she can see this moment. Yesterday I celebrated my three-score-years birthday; I say to my Conservative colleagues, whose maths skills in government were found somewhat wanting, that that is 60. I share my birthday with Margaret Hilda Thatcher, who must be one of the best recruiting agents for the Liberal and Labour parties. I am proud that I share nothing with her other than a birthday. My passion for politics flows from my compassion for my fellow human beings—whoever and wherever they are, irrespective of background, race, religion, colour, gender, sexuality or ability. It is impossible to mention everyone and everything in one’s maiden speech, but if there is one thing that I wish my constituents to know it is this: they are my world.”
“Let’s work together to secure a future for farming across Exmoor, West Somerset and mid-Devon. Come to my monthly farmers’ surgeries so that I can represent my farming community to the very best of my abilities.” Becoming an MP has been my ambition since I was 17, when I joined the Liberal party at school. It has taken me four attempts over 43 years of campaigning, but now that dream has become a reality. Without my family, it would have been impossible. As a professional woman, I have broken several glass ceilings thanks to my inspirational grandmothers, Mabel and Jesse, who offered wise counsel; to Miss Whaite, now Mrs Michael Limb, my Latin teacher, who kept me sane at boarding school; and especially to my mother, who has always believed in me. Mummy, thank you—I love you.”
“When they meet to discuss important community issues, the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill will ensure that they are safe. However, my party has previously had concerns about the impact on smaller-scale venues; I am delighted to hear today that the approach is more light touch than expected. As a former director of the National Farmers Union, I have a deep passion for and understanding of my local farming community, who are spread across the constituency and facing harder challenges than they have for generations. That is thanks to the disastrous Brexit deal foisted upon them by the previous Conservative Government. In the face of climate change, increased rainfall, drier summers and the rising cost of energy, they battle on. To them I say, “I will always back my farming community.”
“Given the pledges made by our new Prime Minister and his commitment to schools, I know that I will get a fair hearing from the Secretary of State for Education. I hope that she will agree to meet a delegation of staff, parents and children from Tiverton high school in the near future. Community plays a crucial role in Tiverton and Minehead. There are wonderful organisations providing support and help, from community food banks to support groups for carers, to Rotary clubs, conservation groups and the environmental networks with which I work to monitor and prevent the pollution in our rivers and on our beaches. Those organisations all make Tiverton and Minehead the wonderful, beautiful, special part of the UK that it is.”
“They are working daily to improve access to better education. That includes campaigning to have facilities worthy of 21st-century educational standards. The first letter I wrote, within days of getting elected on 5 July, was to our new Secretary of State for Education, asking for a meeting to discuss the dire state of Tiverton high school. Nearly 25 years ago—I repeat, 25 years ago —Tiverton high school was promised a new build. The previous Labour Government put it on their priority list. The last Conservative Government sat on their hands and did nothing. The school is deemed by the Environment Agency to be a “danger of death” from flooding. There is asbestos in the sports hall, and children are being taught in dining and communal areas. It has capacity for 1,300 pupils but needs capacity for 1,800.”
“Poor public transport provision creates a particular barrier to schoolchildren and students in Tiverton and Minehead. Some have no bus to take them to school, no way to walk to school or no way to cycle to get there. Other than the small A-level provision at West Somerset college, there is no—I repeat, no—sixth-form provision in my constituency. Students have to travel to Exeter, Taunton or Bridgwater if they wish to pursue their studies. That limits their aspirations and ability to succeed. Shockingly, West Somerset ranks 324th out of 324 on the social mobility index, and such transport problems explain some of why that is. However, teachers and heads of primary schools across the constituency and of secondary schools in Tiverton, Minehead, Williton and Uffculme do not lack aspiration for their pupils.”
“Along with my transport adviser, David Northey, who has a deep history in this area as a former head of strategic planning at Great Western Railway, I have been hard at work for my constituents, putting together a transport plan and highlighting the challenges and solutions for rail and bus services across Tiverton and Minehead. Minehead train station desperately needs linking to the main line at Taunton; I know that my hon. Friend and neighbour the Member for Taunton and Wellington (Mr Amos) would agree. We need also to secure the No. 25 and No. 28 bus services in the north of the constituency and look carefully at rural bus routes to service the villages of Exmoor, such as Exford, Withypool and Winsford, along with local towns, particularly Wiveliscombe. Those will be key parts of that new plan for the local area.”
“My husband and I chose to raise our family in Devon. In fact, all four of our children are born Devonians. Our eldest sons, Henry and Tom, were born in the old hospital in Tiverton. It is my sincere intention to support the NHS and social care systems in Tiverton and Minehead by keeping our local hospitals open in Minehead, Tiverton and Williton, and by supporting all our GP surgeries. Ours is a very rural area and the need to keep local hospitals open is especially pressing given limited transport links and a higher-than-average elderly population. As mine is a rural and often disconnected constituency, transport improvements are one of my key priorities. With that at the forefront of my mind, I have convened a meeting with Peninsula Transport, the body that oversees all public transport in Devon and Somerset.”
“I know that I speak for all new Members when I thank all members of staff of the parliamentary estate, from Doorkeepers to police officers to catering and cleaning staff. I thank them all for their warm welcome, and for their tolerance and patience with the numerous questions they answer with humour and understanding. Thank you all. Since September last year, my team, known as “Team Terrific and The Stalwarts”, have knocked on nearly 31,000 doors, delivered hundreds of thousands of leaflets, letters and surveys, and spoken to over 12,000 residents. I know what matters to the people of Tiverton and Minehead because I have asked them. I was raised in Somerset and have spent most of my adult life in Devon, from Holcombe Rogus via Hemyock to Bampton in the Tiverton and Minehead constituency.”
“I am also grateful for the 23 years of service that my predecessor in Bridgwater and West Somerset, Ian Liddell-Grainger, in his own inimitable style, gave to my constituents in that part of my constituency. He is a doting grandfather, who will now have more time to spend with his grandchildren. I also want to thank Rebecca Pow, the former Member for Taunton Deane, who is a prolific gardener—vegetables are a particular favourite, I understand—and whose constituency encompassed some of the villages and towns now in Tiverton and Minehead, as well as the constituency of Taunton and Wellington. As a new Member of Parliament, this place, even though it bears a resemblance to my alma mater, is a difficult and different environment to master.”
“Thank you for calling me to make my maiden speech, Madam Deputy Speaker. Before I do, may I commend Figen Murray and her family and friends for the excellent campaign they have continued, completely selflessly? I am sure it will save the lives of hundreds, if not thousands, of people. They are a great example to us all. I confess to being unusually nervous—as indeed I should be—as I address my honourable colleagues across the House for the first time as the first Member of Parliament for Tiverton and Minehead. I would like to begin by thanking the two previous MPs for Tiverton and Minehead. My fellow Liberal Democrat, my hon. Friend the Member for Honiton and Sidmouth (Richard Foord), has happily been returned by his constituents as their MP, where he will continue to be a hard-working local champion.”
“As the first ever female director of the National Farmers Union in 100 years, I think I can speak with some credibility here. I represent Tiverton and Minehead, which includes the Quantocks and Exmoor. I have to say, you have some chutzpah—my farmers tell me that you sold them down the river. I say to Government Members that we need to work together on this, because our lot on the Liberal Democrat Benches know more about farming than they do.”