Housing problems in Carrick highlighted at Brighton

Back from the Liberal Democrat conference at Brighton - exhausted but really enjoyable. Everyone was in good heart and Ming's speech yesterday came over really well.

I was pleased to be called in the Poverty debate. I was able to highlight the fact that Carrick is the least affordable place in the country for housing. According to the Halifax building society it takes 16 times average incomes in Carrick to buy a house. In the rest of the country the average is 8 times average income. So we have double the problem here in our own district!

Most people just don't recognise the significant problems we have in Cornwall. They think of us as pretty cottages with roses trailing over them. Rural poverty is a real issue and largely unrecognised.

Delegates were shocked when I said that many fishermen now have to commute to their boats in the morning. It sounds odd doesn't it but it is a fact of life down here.