We are blessed to live in such a beautiful part of the country. From the rolling fields that have been tended by Devon farmers for generations, to the rugged upland heath of Dartmoor, there is no better place to get outside and enjoy nature.

However, the recent legal ruling about wild camping at Dartmoor National Park serves to reduce or even remove our access. The ruling has stripped away our right to wild camp freely on parts of Dartmoor – a form of access that has been enjoyed responsibly for decades by people both young and old.

This removal has seen Dartmoor National Park Authority having to negotiate afresh with landowners. A deal struck in January would see a very small number of wealthy landowners paid to allow greatly reduced access to their land on Dartmoor.

This comes at a time when the Park Authority is already having to make significant savings, estimated to be around £900,000 by 2026, because of the lack of funding from the Conservative Government in London.

Our national parks should be for everyone, and therefore I welcome the Park Authority’s decision to appeal against the ruling. I wish them all the best and hope they succeed.

But this alone is not enough. We must go further to protect our rights against this encroachment in future.

That is why I was the first MP to raise the issue in Parliament; my motion raised concerns about the ruling and received cross-party support – minus the Conservatives.

When this did not get a response from the Government, I then presented a Bill in the House of Commons to change the law to protect our right to wild camp on Dartmoor and respectfully enjoy our national parks.

Yet still we’ve seen no Government action.  The threat is obvious. We are seeing a new attack on our freedom to enjoy the rugged beauty of Dartmoor – and without a curfew.

The Liberal Democrats will not stand for this. We will continue to push to change the law and protect our ability to wild camp on Dartmoor.