Asking questions in parliament is a lottery - you put your name into a ballot and hope that you get selected.

Even if you make the cut, that doesn’t guarantee that you’ll be able to ask a question - often the session will run out of time before you even get called by the Speaker.

This week, however, I was lucky and was drawn twice: once in Defence Questions and then again for questions to the Prime Minister.

There’s quite a bit of theatricality about asking questions in parliament - much of the work actually goes on behind the scenes in meetings and briefings. The question itself is really an opportunity to allow those to happen.

So on Monday I asked the Defence Procurement Minister about flooding on Walney and the risk to BAE that might present itself if the channel between the shipyard and Walney filled with silt due to coastal erosion.

The MOD don’t see an issue - yet. But now we have an opportunity to build a case with residents and local agencies that it should be looked at again. My next stop is DEFRA and the Environment Agency to get the evidence, and then to residents to show the local concern.

We can’t risk Walney being split permanently in two, and so I’ll keep working to get all the pieces in place to convince Government that continuing to ignore the problem will affect variously homes, transport, tourism, defence, culture, and the natural environment. Getting one of these departments on side might not be enough, but with two or three, we stand a chance of getting the funding we need to put some flood defences in place and stop the erosion.