Given that it is Sexual Abuse and Sexual Violence Awareness Week, what assessments have been made of how the judge-only proposals will affect vulnerable victims of domestic abuse?

Serious reforms should focus on reducing inefficiencies that waste sitting days, increasing court capacity and making use of vacant courtrooms, not scrapping the right to trial by jury. If the proposals are intended to reduce the Crown court backlog, should this House not be given clear evidence before core constitutional protections are weakened? Will the Solicitor General please tell us whether the Government will publish an estimate of what proportion of current Crown court backlog would be sent to judge-only trials as a result of the reforms?

Following my question on the legal aid means test for domestic abuse victims, I want to highlight the danger that scrapping jury trials for sentences under three years poses for domestic abuse cases. The complex nature of these cases requires the breadth of perspective and understanding provided by jury trials. What assessment will the Solicitor General make of the impact reducing jury trials will have on such cases?

I thank the Minister for that response. Would she please join me in congratulating Coodes Solicitors, which provides a weekly pro bono surgery to my constituents in Bodmin? Firms such as Coodes face, in its own words, so much unnecessary bureaucracy and hoops to jump through when providing legal aid. As the Minister highlights, I understand that the Government have made some progress towards making the financial investment in the system that is needed, but is she aware of the incredible burden of this needless bureaucracy and will she please commit to simplifying public funding contracts?

I kindly ask the Chancellor to please respond to my joint letter on Cornwall’s future funding, sent last week, which asks her to meet all Cornish MPs without delay. Alternative proposals to this damaging family farm tax—such as a clawback scheme, as proposed by the NFU, or increasing the threshold to £5 million—would raise more in revenue than the Government’s current plans. In contrast to her speech this morning, the Chancellor now has the opportunity to do both the right thing and the popular thing. The mental health toll on farmers is becoming completely unsustainable, so please, Chancellor, rethink this damaging policy.

Child poverty cannot be tackled if children have nowhere safe to live. One of the most shameful legacies of the last Tory Government was Cornwall being left with more than 700 children living in temporary accommodation, while only 1.4% of homes are now affordable to families receiving the local housing allowance. What assessment has the Minister made of the extent to which that shortfall in affordable homes is driving child poverty rates even higher, and what urgent steps will he take to reverse it?

The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster has Cabinet oversight, but who does the Duchy of Cornwall answer to and what recourse do my constituents have in this case?

The town of Bodmin in my constituency is fast becoming the museum capital of Cornwall. It has the excellent Discovering42 science museum, Bodmin Town museum, and the Army museum at Bodmin Keep, which is crowdfunding to stay open. What is the Minister doing to support those brilliant smaller museums that have such huge economic, social and educational value?

What steps is the Secretary of State taking to support the building of social housing in rural towns and villages? Cornwall faces a significant challenge with 25,000 families on the housing waiting list. Many constituents have been left without necessary infrastructure due to developers going into liquidation before fulfilling their commitments.

The newly built Launceston primary school in my constituency was demolished and then rebuilt, costing millions of pounds because of serious defects in the building. The contractor at fault went into administration. Unfortunately, this is far from a stand-alone case; it is happening across the country. Individual developers are putting their companies into liquidation and then setting up a new one, evading their obligations to finish vital infrastructure such as roads and sewage works. Such cases often leave Government Departments, homeowners and the British taxpayer out of pocket. What steps is the Serious Fraud Office taking to tackle these all-too-common cases, and will the Solicitor General please consider new legislation to prevent such developers from getting away with such serious fraud?

My constituents, Mr and Mrs Greathead, supply products to UK and Europe but have faced difficulties due to Brexit. Will the Minister look into these barriers and excessive red tape?

After years of broken promises by the Conservatives, this Government have finally confirmed this week that the Camelford bypass project will not go ahead. Having anticipated that for some time, I have already started working with local stakeholders on a plan B. Will the Roads Minister meet me to discuss an alternative way forward?

It was good to see Doncaster Regional Airport recently attract £30 million from this Government. The public service obligation flight route between Newquay airport and Gatwick is a vital regional connection between Cornwall and the capital, but with the current service ending in July, it is now up for renewal. Will the Minister please meet me as a matter of urgency to ensure that this vital link remains in place?

I recently met Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Chloe Cheung, who reported being followed by men here in London after a large bounty was placed on her head by the Chinese Government. Despite providing copious evidence to the police, she received no follow-up at all. The lawyers of detained activist Jimmy Lai are also being harassed, while the plans for the new Chinese super-embassy, if built, could seriously increase China’s capacity for surveillance, intimidation and transnational repression against Hong Kong activists here in London. Will the Solicitor General please commit to looking into this issue urgently so that we can all have confidence in the UK’s ability to prosecute hostile state actors and protect those who live on UK soil?

What assessment has the Solicitor General made of how regional disparities in legal aid provision, particularly in rural areas such as my constituency of North Cornwall, are driving Crown court backlogs?

Cornwall faces a homelessness crisis, with 22,000 families on the housing waiting list. Following a meeting last week with the Minister for Housing and Planning, I propose an Airbnb Bill that will require second home owners formally to seek planning permission for any change of use of their properties. There is an easy loophole that allows property owners to avoid paying council tax altogether by passing off a home as a short-term holiday let. Will the Minister please confirm that she will give this proposal due consideration, and will she visit Cornwall to discuss this further?

In North Cornwall, house prices far exceed local wages and over 40% of houses are second homes. By 2030, more than 3,000 homes will be built in towns such as Bodmin, but the only GP surgery is running at 150% capacity despite a new building being promised for years. Will the Secretary of State ensure that national planning guidance mandates primary care and education infrastructure before developments start?

The tragic hit-and-run case of Ryan Saltern in my rural North Cornwall constituency highlights a concerning problem in our legal system. The driver failed to stop, render aid at the scene, or even call 999, leaving Ryan for dead. The case was heard in a magistrates court where the driver received a four-month suspended sentence. Will the Solicitor General please look into the issue in conjunction with the CPS and the Department for Transport, and meet me to discuss her findings?

Does the Secretary of State agree that the best gift he could give my constituents this Christmas would be a total ban on water bill rises until South West Water bosses finally end this scandal?

I wish you and your team, Mr Speaker, and everyone in the House a very merry Christmas, and I welcome the Solicitor General to her place. However, I am afraid that it will not be a merry Christmas for all my constituents. Rural crime in North Cornwall is on the rise, from rural theft to increased drug trafficking. County lines drug gangs are grooming and recruiting children as young as nine to traffic drugs, while elderly and vulnerable constituents have been cuckooed in their own homes by the gangs. What steps is the Solicitor General taking to work with the police to increase the number of prosecutions of the ringleaders of these ruthless gangs that blight our communities and expose our young people to violence and crime?

I recently visited the excellent Haven SEND unit at Budehaven community school in North Cornwall, and I invite the Minister to visit so that it can be replicated elsewhere. Does she plan to extend the unit's funding beyond February's cliff edge, given that Cornwall council's SEND deficit is currently £12 million and counting?

We have just seen the third fatality in six months at the Plusha junction. How many more lives will be lost before her Department, National Highways and Cornwall Council finally plan to implement a flyover at this accident blackspot?

Can the Solicitor General clarify what mechanisms are in place to ensure that the regulator is properly regulated?

During my SEND summit in Bodmin on Saturday, teachers and parents revealed the shocking extent of our broken special educational needs system. Thousands are struggling to get the support they need. What are Treasury Ministers doing to ensure that local councils and schools are properly resourced to deliver an effective SEND system?

Given that the turnout for the Devon and Cornwall police and crime commissioner election in May was just 18%, will the Minister look to scrap that role and instead invest that money in proper community policing in rural constituencies such as mine of North Cornwall?