I welcomed a Government Minister onto the new TransWilts rail service last Friday.

Transport Minister Baroness Susan Kramer joined me aboard the 11.47 from Westbury to Chippenham, calling at Trowbridge and Melksham.

The extra 80 trains a week on the line between Westbury and Swindon have been made possible by a £4.25 million grant from the Government to Wiltshire Council, which has negotiated an agreement with First Great Western to operate the service.

Before leaving to attend the Government’s emergency Cobra committee, Baroness Kramer rightly praised the project as “exemplary of a community coming together at every level”.

The TransWilts Community Rail Partnership and I have campaigned for a number of years to get the service up and running: securing the funding from the Government, agreement from the council and, with First’s help, a new timetable from Network Rail. This investment in our local railways will not just benefit those who travel by train and free up space on our roads, but will also help to build a stronger economy.

On Thursday night I visited Bradford on Avon to see the new temporary flood barriers being installed by the Environment Agency and speak to Wiltshire Fire Service. These efforts to prevent flooding were very welcome as water levels rose over the weekend, thankfully without repeating the terrible damage done by flooding at Christmas.

I have been speaking to local councillors and liaising with the Environment Agency to determine how best to prevent damage from flooding in the future.

In the House of Commons last week, I asked the Environment Secretary to ensure that funds are available for any measures that are agreed upon.

There was a late amendment to the Immigration Bill, tabled by the Home Secretary, that sought to give her the power to strip someone of their British citizenship – even if that would leave them stateless. Since the Second World War we as a country have been seeking to prevent people becoming stateless, and I do not see how it serves to protect us from terrorism, so I voted against the Government. This now faces further scrutiny in the House of Lords.

My next surgeries are at Bradford on Avon library tomorrow, from noon to 1.30pm, and at Avonbridge House, Chippenham on Saturday (10am–11.30am).