Morecambe and Lunesdale MP David Morris draws parallels between Wales and the South Lakeland and North Lancashire

At the end of July I was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Wales by the Prime Minister.

In a previous political life I was the Conservative Party spokesperson for Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire, and this gave me a grounding to understand the issues that were important to Wales.

Even though my new appointment is mainly a Westminster-based role, I have already been able to apply the lessons learned in Wales to my role in Morecambe and Lunesdale.

One of the large farming sectors in South Wales is dairy farming, and I still keep in touch with the Welsh dairy farmers to hear their take on the industry, which I compare with the views of my own farmers.

When in Wales the supermarkets were crippling the dairy farmers and I referred the supermarkets to the competition commissioner. My complaint got as far as the desk of Peter Hain MP, who was the then Secretary of State for Wales, and a solution was found to allow Welsh farmers to have a special dispensation in the sale of their products.

A similar situation arose a year or two ago in the Lune Valley and I was able to use my knowledge from Wales to spearhead a campaign for fairer dairy prices for farmers, and was the first MP in this parliament to do so.

Energy is another large player in Wales, as in Heysham, with the nuclear power stations and with energy installations along the Cumbrian Coast.

In Anglesey, like Heysham, they are also earmarked for a new nuclear power station and the site in Anglesey is the second site in the country to be built. I am able to meet with Horizon Energy, who are building the site and help them with any delays in the process. This means that when it is the turn of Heysham 3 to be built, all of the administrative problems will have been ironed out, which will secure jobs in north Lancashire.

Gentile tourism is another industry which links Morecambe itself with Tenby in South Wales. Coaches of people arrive to walk on the promenades and coastlines, and stay for the day to experience the seaside towns.

Like South Lakeland, one of the main draws for tourists in Wales are the National Parks. We are lucky to have the Lake District and many areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. In Wales they have the Brecon Beacons, the Pembrokeshire Coast and Snowdonia National Park which, like the Lake District, attract thousands of visitors each year, from ramblers to mountain climbers.

Two of the biggest mountains in the UK also sit in these two areas - Snowdon at over 1,085m and Scafell Pike at 978m.

As I have mentioned the geography in both areas is similar and we both face issues with rural broadband and wind turbine applications. In north Lancashire there is a strip of land which falls between both Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and the National Park and it is blighted with wind turbine applications. This also was the case in Wales (I believe some wind turbines are manufactured in South Wales).

Rural Broadband is also as large an issue in Wales as it is in our area. In north Lancashire we are lucky to be included in Superfast Lancashire - more than 97 per cent of areas have to be covered, and villages such as Yealand are being included into this project all the time. In Wales there are companies looking at the possibility of bringing fibre broadband from the US over Ireland and into Wales.

So, as you can see, there really are a lot of similarities between the two areas.