Terry Jermy

Terry Jermy

Labour — South West Norfolk

Speaking in the House of Commons on 5 February 2025

Debate

Closure of High Street Services: Rural Areas

Contribution

It is an honour to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Furniss. I congratulate the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (Jamie Stone) on securing this debate. I have enjoyed every one of my visits to Scotland, but none more so than to the very north of Scotland. Many rural areas, such as my own South West Norfolk constituency, have seen services decrease over the past 14 years, often forcing people to travel very long distances to access some of the most basic services. That is difficult enough, particularly if someone is elderly or disabled, but is even more challenging given the lack of public transport options in these communities. Just last week, I was informed of another local convenience store closing in a rural village in my constituency—another blow to our community. I was pleased to attend a meeting of the Association of Convenience Stores last week, where we spoke about how crucial these stores are to their communities. Fortunately, I can still think of a number of brilliant local examples bucking the trend in South West Norfolk: Yallops, for example, in Mundford—a post office, a shop and a butcher’s. The successful ones seem to be multi-purpose.

More from Terry Jermy

Other recent Hansard contributions by the same speaker.

About Hansard

Hansard is the official verbatim record of proceedings in the UK Parliament. Every word spoken in the Commons and Lords is recorded and published — this page is a single contribution from that record.

For Terry Jermy's full parliamentary record including voting history, expenses and all other contributions, see the Terry Jermy report card.