Last weekend it was great to see the crowds of people in Liskeard for the Christmas celebrations.

The lantern parade was very impressive with the amount and variety of hand made lanterns as part of the procession.

I would also like to commend the brass band for the music and the Liskeard Radio Roadshow for providing their assistance.

The town looked very festive and I would like to thank all those involved right across South East Cornwall for all the hard work on putting up Christmas lights right across the constituency.

It was a real pleasure to attend the Royal British Legion Christmas Party in Torpoint on Saturday night following an invitation from Cllr John Tivnan.

The Royal British Legion do so much to help members of the Royal Navy, British Army, Royal Air Force, veterans and their families.

They especially work hard during November for the Poppy Appeal and marking Armistice day so it is good to see them in December at this celebration to thank them for all their hard work.

Last week I received a press release from the Tamar Crossings after their meeting. I have requested a meeting with Guy Opperman the Minister for Transport and will make it clear that I will not support any further increase in tolls at present.

My constituents have already faced a recent increase in paying what I describe as an extra tax to travel to work, access the district general Hospital for treatment or to access the adjacent City Centre Shopping Centre.

In the current economic times we all have to tailor our expenditure to match the available income and the joint Committee should be no different.

I await sight of proposals from the joint committee as to how they intend to operate within their current income.

I also await confirmation that they intend to address the borrowing which has increased massively. Paying interest on this borrowing is now a major part of the cost of running the crossings.

I will work with the minister to see what can be done but the financial operations of this committee must be investigated immediately by the parent authorities who must remember are solely responsible for any budgetary issues affecting the Tamar crossings.

I would like to end my column with some good news. Pupils in England have risen up the international rankings for maths, placing England as one of the top performing countries in the western world.

A worldwide education study published last week showed England has significantly outperformed the international average and is now 11th in the world rising from 17th for maths in 2018 and from 27th in 2009 under the last Labour government.

Today’s results also show that England has ranked 13th for both reading and science having been placed at 25th and 16th in 2009 respectively.

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is an international assessment of 15 year olds’ mathematics, reading and science ability.

Conducted by the OECD, it is widely accepted as the international benchmark for academic attainment for secondary school pupils.

I would like to thank all the teachers, head teachers and support staff across South East Cornwall for all their hard work and for their role in transforming education standards in this country.