Before becoming your MP, I said that one of my top priorities would be helping our high streets thrive.

It goes without saying that our high streets and town centres are the hearts of our communities. The small businesses that fill them are essential to our local economy, they create local jobs, bring people together, and breathe life into our towns.

They need to be supported as much as possible.

That's why I recently launched a campaign to help fill empty units across Monmouthshire, focusing on some of the most prominent empty shops in each of our towns to see what I can do as your MP to push things along, encourage investment, and make sure these units are refurbished and filled again.

I'm pleased that we're already starting to see some positive progress following on from fantastic work from Monmouthshire County Council. In Abergavenny, for example, the former Halifax building has now been taken over by Swansea Building Society, who are converting the building into new offices.

It is exactly the sort of investment we want to see on our high streets, and I hope it is the first of many similar success stories.

Alongside this campaign, I have also been meeting with business owners right across Monmouthshire to hear directly about the challenges they face.

Most recently, I visited businesses in Abergavenny and Chepstow, including Toytastik, Chepstow Bookshop, Jaybee Furnishings, Julian at Tasty Tatoes, The Woolcroft, Serendipity and Cooks Galley.

They are all fantastic local businesses that employ local people and bring so much value to our town centres.

However, businesses are telling me the same thing: the cost of running a business is simply too high.

That's why I am calling for two key changes.

First, I want the Plaid Cymru-led Welsh Government to do what they promised and look at reducing business rates for all of our high street businesses. I believe they need to be reduced by 20% for all high street businesses.

Second, I am calling on the UK Government to cut VAT to 10% for hospitality businesses.

I believe these changes would make a real difference to our high streets, giving businesses more room to breathe and the confidence to invest, grow and create more local jobs.

I have already written to the Prime Minister Andy Burnham calling for a reduction to VAT, and I have launched a petition calling on the Welsh Government to reduce business rates.

Moving forward, I will do everything I can to lobby both the UK and Welsh Governments to deliver these changes as soon as possible.