"I'm a provincial gay, not a metropolitan gay" – Luke Pollard

During a day spent with Luke Pollard, the MP for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport, Jamie Tabberer questioned the hardworking, publicly gay politician about his take on transphobia, LGBTQ+ equality in the regions and his love for Lego. It's no wonder Pollard has carved a deserving place in his native city's affections...

- By Luke Pollard

''I was going to suggest wild swimming, but I've had a bit too much cake and beer lately to be pictured in my swimwear this is the problem with having a dancer with a six-pack as a boyfriend! laughs Luke Pollard, Labour's sitting MP for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport since 2017.

It's an inconceivably hot morning in March, and I'm shadowing Pollard in his constituency for the day. The water at Firestone Bay, also known as Devil's Point, is painfully inviting, boasting breathtaking views of Stonehouse Peninsula, Drake's Island and Plymouth Sound, on which gigantic, stationary warships are a commanding presence.

The weather has attracted a clutch of sunbathers who greet 42-year-old Pollard with equal warmth. Although the bigger local celebrity is Spearmint, a friendly wild seal, who, despite being rescued, rehabilitated, and rewilded last year, now calls the picturesque pebble beach in question home. (It's not quite the cuteness overload story it sounds: Spearmint has become attached to humans after being hand-fed bread by a minority of clueless admirers.)

Today, as per a sign from the Seal Alliance, locals keep a respectful distance; so too does Pollard, Plymouth's first publicly gay MP, as he shoots social media content to support his campaign and petition to make the bay a designated bathing water area, subject to regular testing for water quality.