DEVON’S hospitality industry is suffering ‘death by a thousand cuts’, developers are building the wrong sort of homes around the county, and the government is turning its back, according to a local MP.

South Devon’s Liberal Democrat MP Caroline Voaden spoke after the King’s Speech had laid out the government’s plans for the coming year.

She told fellow MPs in the House of Commons that the recent local elections, which saw the Green Party and Reform UK make significant gains in Devon, had shown that people were ‘deeply, viscerally disappointed’ in the government.

She said it was no wonder people had ‘stuck two fingers up’ to the administration and moved to the extreme ends of the political spectrum.

The Labour government’s pledge to build millions of new homes across the country had just resulted in more expensive houses springing up in Devon, she added.

‘In my constituency new build homes in developer-led housing estates are selling for £950,000,’ said Ms Voaden.

‘We are not providing the homes we need – the social homes and the truly affordable homes that young people, young couples, young families and people who want to move out from their parents’ home need.

‘We are providing the wrong sort of homes. Having a system led by housing developers that are driven by profit will never provide the homes that we need’.

Ms Voaden also called on the government to do more for the hospitality industry.

She said: ‘In my constituency, Rockfish, the California Inn, the Maltsters Arms and the Berry Head Hotel are cutting staff hours, choosing not to employ extra staff or closing two days a week so that they can manage on one exhausted chef, rather than employing a second, with the owner of the pub having to step into the kitchen when the chef has a few precious days off.

‘This death by a thousand cuts is having a devastating impact on youth employment and part-time jobs.

‘Those are the jobs that so many people rely on to combine with parenting, caring or studying.

‘Let us not forget that every teenager who gets a job washing pots or waiting tables is learning valuable skills that will take them forward in the job market for years to come.

‘Youth unemployment now stands at around 20 per cent, and that is utterly shameful.

‘One in five of our young people is unable to even get a start in the workforce’.

And, she said, the government was ignoring the plight of the West Country.

‘Yet again, the rural south-west seems to have been ignored,’ she said.

‘We have £45billion for Northern Powerhouse Rail, but not a word about boosting vital bus services across the villages of the south-west.

‘If we are to get people working again, we have to get them to work.

‘I have loads of villages that do not even have a bus, so how are young people supposed to get to college or work or seek opportunities if they cannot get out of their village?’

However, in her response to the King’s Speech, Ms Voaden did welcome the government’s promise to strengthen ties with Europe, although she said it did not go far enough.

‘Businesses in South Devon regularly talk to me about the nightmare of trying to do business with Europe,’ she told the House.

‘Many have just given up on it altogether.

‘We want to hear the government talk about a customs union with the EU to slash the red tape that is holding us back, because economic growth has stagnated in this country for far too long’.