The Stroud MP's weekly column.

Last week saw the start of a review of constituency boundaries by the independent Boundary Commission.

The reason is to make sure that each constituency has between 69,724 - 77,062 voters. Here in Stroud, the Valleys and Vale we are 84,000 voters.

The proposal, and I would like to stress that it is only a proposal, is that Hardwicke, Painswick, Bisley and Chalford go to the Cotswolds constituency. And Wotton under Edge and Kingswood will come to Stroud from the Cotswolds. Interestingly, there are no proposed changes for Minchinhampton even though I’ve long been told by people there that they consider themselves more Stroud than Cotswolds.

Getting the right number of voters for each constituency is a challenge and it will mean compromise. I love all my areas and I love representing them but I also understand that mathematically the constituency is too large. If people are to keep faith in democracy that democracy needs to ensure it fairly presents everyone. If one MP has more voters and another much fewer, then that is unfair.

What happens next is that there is an eight-week consultation period ending on 2nd August for everyone to make their views known. More information on the review and consultation can be found here: boundarycommissionforengland.independent.gov.uk/2023-review

I would urge anyone who feels the changes will affect them or their community to get in touch with the commission and take part in the consultation. I will be feeding my thoughts into it too and seeking your views myself. I would also stress this is a long process and any changes will not happen until the summer of 2023.

I think the G7 summit in Cornwall was a big success for the UK and a great example of how these advanced nations and democracies can make a huge difference. The Prime Minister was a leader in the pledge to give one billion vaccine doses to poorer nations. I couldn’t have agreed more when he said this decision showed the G7 was rejecting ‘nationalistic approaches’.

The UK is also part of the Covax scheme to supply jabs around the globe and has developed the AstraZeneca vaccine which has been distributed at cost. This means the target to vaccinate the world by next year is now possible.

The so-called sausage trade war with the EU still remains unresolved. I support the UK government’s position that the EU needs to be less purist about the Northern Ireland Protocol and use some common sense over customs checks. I was also embarrassed to hear the French President suggest Northern Ireland is not part of the UK.

This sort of rhetoric is dangerous. I hope a compromise can be reached.