Gideon Amos, the newly elected MP for Taunton and Wellington, has reacted to the King’s Speech by saying that fixing local health and care services must be at the heart of the Government agenda.

He said: “The priority given to mental health and to the stopping of sewage being pumped into rivers like the Tone by the privatised water companies were both welcome.

“But I was disappointed not to hear more support for carers or on solving the care crisis and the need to upgrade hospital buildings like those at Musgrove Park, where there’s an urgent need for funding for a new Maternity Unit.

“The effects of the Conservative years on the NHS, turning Somerset into a ‘dental desert’ and making it harder to see a GP are deep seated and need ambitious efforts if they are to be reversed.

“More investment in our state schools is vital but making parents using independent schools pay for it with extra VAT is the wrong solution.

“I’ll be opposing the VAT move because, as a party, we’d increase school funding and improve teachers’ pay by taxing the big banks and energy companies instead.

“After all the words, we now need to see things happen on the NHS and care, the cost of living and to safeguard our environment here in Taunton and Wellington.

“I’ll be pushing to get the action we now need to see.”