• Lib Dems celebrate Sunshine Bill victory
• Chamberlain supports constituent’s pancreatic cancer petition
• David Chadwick MP challenges Lloyds CEO over bank closures

Lib Dems celebrate Sunshine Bill victory

• Liberal Democrat win as Government accept Max Wilkinson’s campaign for renewable energy technology to be mandated for new homes

• Mandated solar included in the Government’s Future Homes Standard

Max Wilkinson MP is celebrating victory in his campaign for solar energy generation technology to be included in all new homes as standard.

Following his Private Member’s Bill earlier this year – known as the Sunshine Bill – the Government today announced that all new homes will now include renewable energy generation technology as standard.

Max called for the law change shortly after becoming an MP last July, which means he will have successfully campaigned to change the law within one year of being elected.

His Sunshine Bill was debated in the House of Commons in January and received widespread support from industry figures, the public and MPs from all parties.

As a result of his campaign and negotiations with Ministers, Max secured commitments from the government that they would incorporate the measures set out in the Sunshine Bill into the updated Future Homes Standard.

Next week, the Liberal Democrats will be pushing for a vote in Parliament to ensure all new car parks are built with solar panels, with an amendment (NC7) to the Planning and Infrastructure Bill.

Commenting Max Wilkinson, MP for Cheltenham, said:

This news will help us fight the cost-of-living crisis by lowering people’s energy bills while reducing carbon emissions too.

Mandatory solar and renewable energy generation for new build homes means the next generation of homes will be better for the planet and less expensive to run.

I’ve been campaigning on this since long before I was an MP and was determined to build on its success after I was elected.

I welcome today’s news from the Government and I’m pleased we can all look forward to a brighter future – but there will be more work to do to ensure solar for new builds begins without delay.

Chamberlain supports constituent’s pancreatic cancer petition

Wendy Chamberlain, MP for North East Fife, has joined constituents to deliver a petition to Downing Street urging the government to fund vital research into pancreatic cancer early detection.

Wendy Chamberlain MP joined Isla Gear and her nephew Max and Alfie Bailey-Bearfield, head of Campaigns, Health Improvement, and Policy at Pancreatic Cancer UK at 10 Downing Street to present their petition, which has now garnered over 200,000 signatures online, as well as an open letter from Pancreatic Cancer UK which has almost 71,000 signatures. The letter urges the Government to invest in rolling out new tests to detect pancreatic cancer earlier. Chamberlain later presented a version of the petition in the House of Commons.

Isla began the petition after her brother tragically passed away four weeks after receiving a stage 4 pancreatic cancer diagnosis. His last wish was for the NHS to start targeted pancreatic cancer screening so everyone in the UK who has the symptoms or is at risk of developing pancreatic cancer is diagnosed early and doesn’t miss out on life saving treatment.

Isla Gear, who organised the petition and is a North East Fife constituent, said:

The widespread support for this petition shows how important early detection for pancreatic cancer is. I hope that from this, we can save someone’s life in honour of what Tam wanted.

Tam thought he would beat the statistic, and he was very hopeful, he said ‘If anything comes from this, the one thing I want is to stop it from happening to other families’.

It has been great having Wendy’s support in amplifying the petition in UK Parliament, and I hope that we see real change as a result.

Diana Jupp, CEO of Pancreatic Cancer UK, said:

We are honoured to be uniting with Isla and Max as part of our Unite. Diagnose. Save Live. Campaign, demanding early detection of pancreatic cancer. As it stands, diagnosing the disease in time to save people is a huge challenge for GPs. Vital early detection tests are still missing because research has been severely underfunded for decades by successive governments.

Shockingly, Tam’s experience is not uncommon. While strides have been made for other cancers, people with pancreatic cancer are too often left with only hope to hold on to. We have united with Isla and Tam’s family to demand governments do more because change is possible.

The progress made in the last five years is more than in the last 50 combined. UK governments must keep up this momentum with more action, more investment, and more attention for the deadliest common cancer. It’s long overdue that we Unite, Diagnose, and Save Lives.

Wendy Chamberlain MP commented:

I’m proud to support Isla and Max’s petition and to present it in Parliament on their behalf. The sheer number of signatures they’ve collected is remarkable and it’s a powerful testament to the widespread support for early detection.

We must continue to push the Government to invest in the crucial research needed to advance early detection tests. This work has the potential to save countless lives, and it cannot wait.

David Chadwick MP challenges Lloyds CEO over bank closures

MP calls on Lloyds CEO Charlie Nunn to halt closure of Pontardawe branch

David Chadwick MP has issued a direct challenge to the Chief Executive of Lloyds Bank, calling on him to stop the planned closure of their Pontardawe branch, the last remaining bank in the town, which is set to close on November 19th, 2025.

Speaking in Parliament, the Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe MP condemned the wave of bank closures across rural Wales. He described it as a betrayal of loyal customers who have been abandoned in the name of profit.

He criticised Lloyds CEO Charlie Nunn, who received a five point six million pound pay package last year while overseeing the closure of more than one hundred and forty branches including those in Presteigne, Ystradgynlais and Brecon, and now Pontardawe. David Chadwick MP accused him of disregarding and causing ‘misery’ to elderly and vulnerable people throughout his constituency.

Commenting, David Chadwick MP said:

Lloyds claims it is closing branches due to lack of footfall. Yet in Pontardawe the queues regularly run out the door. That is not a lack of demand. It is a deliberate choice to walk away from loyal customers.

Charlie Nunn took home over five and a half million pounds last year. His customers in Pontardawe are being offered nothing more than a visit to community banker once a month. It is insulting, and it must be put right.

The planned closure of the Lloyds branch in Pontardawe has sparked much local anger. With more than five hundred residents signing a petition asking for it to remain open.

The closure would leave thousands of people in the Swansea Valley without access to in-person banking. These are people who have entrusted Lloyds with their life savings, who Lloyds have profited off for decades.

The banks may have forgotten their customers in Wales, but I have not.

That is why I am calling on Lloyds CEO, Charlie Nunn to reverse this decision and show some understanding of the harm these closures are causing.