Jayne Kirkham MP: speeches

Speeches

• 10 Mar 2026 · Extreme Climate and Weather Events: National Resilience · Hansard source

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  I agree. I was going to say that that kind of cross-departmental strategy is so important, because all Departments are impacted and can do things that could help, but that is made difficult when Departments are so siloed. The EFRA Committee, on which I sit, has an ongoing inquiry into climate and weather resilience. Farmers are heavily affected by extreme weather events, and that impacts on our food security and prices. British farm businesses were down £800 million in 2025 because of crop failures, and three of the five worst harvests on record have occurred since 2020. However, the risks go beyond farming. According to the Environment Agency, 6.3 million homes and businesses are at risk of flooding, but over the past decade one in 13 homes were still built in high-risk flood zones.

• 10 Mar 2026 · Extreme Climate and Weather Events: National Resilience · Hansard source

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  That is exactly what we need more of. In an emergency, we need a camping stove, water, a battery-powered radio—BBC Radio Cornwall was fantastic during Storm Goretti—torches, spare batteries, power banks and so on. Storm Goretti highlighted to all of us how essential it is to improve our resilience in the face of extreme weather events. Cornwall is an ideal location to pilot national resilience measures, and I hope that the lessons learned from the storm will enable us across the country to become better prepared for extreme climate and weather challenges.

• 10 Mar 2026 · Extreme Climate and Weather Events: National Resilience · Hansard source

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  Of course, the EA has struggled with funding for the past 10 years, after it had been cut so badly.

• 10 Mar 2026 · Extreme Climate and Weather Events: National Resilience · Hansard source

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  I do. Second homes are a whole other debate. Every parish should be able to identify a community hub that residents can go to in an emergency. It should have a generator, battery packs, blankets, food, and a pre-registered list of volunteers. I know that parishes in Cornwall are considering that, but it could be encouraged across the UK and co-ordinated at a higher-tier council level—maybe across a local or national level. We could look again at the Bellwin scheme, and at how category 2 and category 1 responders respond to these issues. Finally, there is a conversation to be had about personal resilience. We all need to be more prepared. Having a basic emergency kit sounds simple, but it makes a big difference.

• 10 Mar 2026 · Extreme Climate and Weather Events: National Resilience · Hansard source

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  As my hon. Friend’s constituency is next to mine, he will know that we have exactly the same problems in Truro and Falmouth, and I will move on to that next. I have had wash-up meetings across my constituency since the storm, and we have been talking to Ministers. I welcome the suggestion that Cornwall could serve as a pilot area for emergency storm resilience measures, some of which I will talk about now.

• 10 Mar 2026 · Extreme Climate and Weather Events: National Resilience · Hansard source

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  Really quickly.

• 10 Mar 2026 · Extreme Climate and Weather Events: National Resilience · Hansard source

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  Yes, a great deal of work will have to be done in future, because this will not get better; it will get worse. Businesses that rely on electricity and broadband are paralysed by outages during extreme weather events, and hospitals risk losing power or water. Heavy rainfall has even led to overflowing septic tanks and sewage spilling out on to streets in Cornwall, creating serious risks to public health. So much of Cornwall’s economy depends on our coast. When beaches, cafés, coastal roads and car parks are under managed realignment in the new shoreline management plan epoch, coastal places will lose their staple industries, and entire communities face existential threats from rising sea levels and coastal erosion. A lot of work is being done across Government, particularly on the water industry and flooding preparedness, which I welcome, but we need to protect communities from the inevitable march of climate change and act with greater urgency. The urgency of the situation was obvious when Storm Goretti struck Cornwall on 8 and 9 January 2026. It triggered a rare Met Office red warning, with gusts of around 120 mph, and inflicted severe damage on our homes and infrastructure. We lost over 1,000 trees, 121,000 customers lost power, and thousands lost access to clean water. Roads were blocked, communities cut off, and schools, care homes and hospitals faced unprecedented strain.

• 10 Mar 2026 · Extreme Climate and Weather Events: National Resilience · Hansard source

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  I agree with the hon. Member. We must prioritise flooding, which is becoming more and more of a risk. Every week when I get on the train—which has often been a bus—from Cornwall to London, I see what looks like a lake or sea, but it is in fact the Somerset levels submerged under floodwater.

• 10 Mar 2026 · Extreme Climate and Weather Events: National Resilience · Hansard source

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  The hon. Member feels my pain. Yes, of course we need a strategic plan for our rail in the south-west. That is fundamental, and I will come on to it later.

• 10 Mar 2026 · Extreme Climate and Weather Events: National Resilience · Hansard source

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  I agree. A better way of sharing data must be found. Different utility companies and the council had different lists, and the parishes could not get hold of them at all. That is a really important issue.

• 10 Mar 2026 · Extreme Climate and Weather Events: National Resilience · Hansard source

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  That sounds like an interesting proposal. Our local resilience centre was in Exeter, and I think that is why the category 1 responders did not declare a major incident; Exeter is a long way away from us, so I understand the hon. Gentleman’s idea of having a flood control centre. When Goretti hit, the Cabinet Office activated the national alert messaging. That was important and successful as an early-warning system, but it was impacted by the patchy mobile coverage. We need a more truthful method of measuring mobile coverage, and a means of applying pressure to the providers, so that they meet their obligations. Goretti also exposed the fact that most mobile masts do not have back-up generators or battery reserves, making them vulnerable to power loss. This contrasts with the expectations placed on water and electricity companies, which operate under more established resilience duties. Telecoms are just as essential, and the civil contingencies framework should reflect that in practice, not just in statute. During Goretti, many residents with no internet or mobile signal found that digital landlines did not work without power. Ofcom’s rules require only one hour of battery back-up for vulnerable customers, which is inadequate. An Ofcom technical report from last year noted that about two thirds of the population would be able to make emergency calls in a power outage of under an hour, but the number who could do so after six hours was redacted, and was described as being “far fewer”.

• 10 Mar 2026 · Extreme Climate and Weather Events: National Resilience · Hansard source

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  Yes, I agree. One of the most profound lessons that we must learn from Storm Goretti is to increase communications infrastructure, particularly in rural areas. Many of our constituents were left without power or broadband in areas that have weak or no mobile phone signal, so they struggled to get help. Although we are frequently told by the four network providers that they have 99% 4G coverage, that does not ring true to anyone in Cornwall, where we struggle to get a signal on a regular basis.

• 10 Mar 2026 · Extreme Climate and Weather Events: National Resilience · Hansard source

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  I agree that farmers have been incredibly helpful in so many ways; I am thinking about Storm Goretti and all the work they did with clearing trees. Of course, hopefully some of the work that this Government are doing on the sustainable farming incentive will also enable them to do that work to store water. We need to build resilience on a national and local level, but we are not currently fully prepared.

• 10 Mar 2026 · Extreme Climate and Weather Events: National Resilience · Hansard source

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  I am a Cornish MP, and we are a people on the edge. With sea on three sides and cut off from England by a river and a precarious train line, we have become used to being at the centre of a world that is a long way from everyone else. That has made us resilient, independent and proud. But being at the edge of the country has meant that we are often at the sharp edge of climate change. We are closer to its effects, and the weather often hits us slap in the face, even on a normal day. We know that extreme weather events are becoming more frequent, and 2025 was the warmest year on record. Four of the five warmest years since 1884 have occurred in the past five years, and the record for the highest UK annual mean temperature has been broken six times since 2000. Last year, the Met Office warned that the likelihood of experiencing temperatures above 40° is now 20 times greater than it was in just the 1960s. In the summer, hosepipe bans are now common, and we had one in Cornwall, despite our copious rainfall, that went on for months and into the autumn of 2023. This winter was also the duchy’s wettest since records began in 1836. Cardinham had 55 consecutive wet days, and we were battered by three storms in quick succession: Goretti, Ingrid and Chandra.

• 10 Mar 2026 · Extreme Climate and Weather Events: National Resilience · Hansard source

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  That is why a satellite link across villages might be something to consider. On broadband, Openreach and service providers do not have a good system of fault notification. During Goretti, they were unaware of faults, and the notification of faults solely through third-party providers did not work well, as residents struggled to get through. A more direct method of reporting faults and an interactive map, maybe like the one that National Grid uses, showing the location of faults and realistic time estimates for restoration, would be helpful. That is particularly pertinent in Cornwall, as last month Wildanet withdrew from several Project Gigabit contracts, leaving nearly 8,000 rural premises in limbo, without the high-speed broadband that they were promised. We must not leave them behind. We must also ensure that our transport systems are robust. We have talked about the recent storms damaging Dawlish. The sinkhole between Dawlish and Teignmouth also led to closure of the rail line, which is the only line in and out of the far south-west. When the Goretti alert went out, all Cornwall’s MPs were stranded in the south-east. I could not get home, and we had to hire a car the next day. My son was alone in the house, 300 miles away. The Valentine’s day storm of 2014 led to the far south-west being cut off for eight weeks. In that time, the region lost anywhere between £60 million and £1.2 billion, according to Devon Maritime Forum. Since then, work has been done to make the line more resilient, but the strategic long-term plan that we have discussed for rail across the south-west is an urgent priority, as without it, our economy will stagnate. I will also mention energy resilience. I support the Government’s ambition to increase the UK’s energy security by investing in renewables. I was so pleased to attend the launch of the local power plan last month, which will allow communities to own and benefit directly from the energy that they produce. Locally produced and managed power will be more resilient. Rural areas such as mine have a high proportion of properties off the gas grid. Approximately 14% of Cornish households rely on oil for heating, compared with a national average of below 5%. There is an alternative in the form of hydro-treated vegetable oil, which has been trialled in Cornwall, but the incentives are not there. Meanwhile, I have spoken to constituents who have been refused planning permission to put solar panels or turbines on properties that are listed or in conservation areas, as many in our area are. Ensuring that as many people as possible can benefit from local renewable energy will allow us to be more resilient to shocks. An issue that became apparent during the storm was the lack of community emergency plans. In my constituency, some parishes had them, and some did not, but even the existing emergency plans did not work if people did not know who should be putting them into action. The will was there, and the Cornish spirit came to the fore—neighbours checked in on each other, and farmers helped to clear fallen trees—but there was an overall lack of co-ordination.

• 10 Mar 2026 · Extreme Climate and Weather Events: National Resilience · Hansard source

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  I understand the hon. Member’s point, and I know that his constituency was the worst affected, with people losing their water as well as their power. I agree that we must learn the lessons from Goretti. Utility teams worked around the clock with local authorities, engineers and emergency responders to restore essential services. National Grid brought in 1,350 staff from all across the country, and tree surgeons were deployed, but we saw failures in the systems designed to keep people safe. The storm was a wake-up call. It exposed vulnerabilities in our infrastructure and emergency planning that could affect anywhere in the UK as extreme weather becomes more frequent.

• 9 Mar 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  The Secretary of State will know that working in the visitor economy is so good for young people’s confidence. The extensive Cornish hospitality sector would like to be part of the youth guarantee pilot. Will he consider meeting us to discuss that?

• 3 Mar 2026 · Spring Forecast · Hansard source

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  I welcome the changes to the Green Book to support investment in coastal and rural areas. Can the Chancellor confirm that they will lead to investment in transport infrastructure in places like Cornwall, to support the investment being made in our industries, particularly the £50 million going into our critical minerals strategy?

• 26 Feb 2026 · School Visits to Parliament · Hansard source

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  I am so pleased that schools furthest from Westminster are going to be prioritised and given time to apply for parliamentary trips. It takes at least six hours to get here from Cornish schools, which means they have to take a number of days in London. That is why their visits are rare and often in the summer term, when they interfere less with formal exams. Could my hon. Friend confirm that children from remote and deprived areas will be helped to surmount the barriers they face in getting here?

• 26 Feb 2026 · School Visits to Parliament · Hansard source

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  9. What assessment the Commission has made of the potential merits of prioritising schools that are furthest from Westminster for education visits to Parliament.

• 26 Feb 2026 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  A number of my constituents have been struggling with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, including several type 1 diabetic HGV drivers who have to renew their class 1 licences on a yearly basis. Every year the DVLA takes three to four months to process those applications. Licences expire, and they are relying on section 88 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 to continue driving, but many employers will not take drivers on section 88, so they are losing income. The DVLA needs to look at either removing the requirement for annual renewal or speeding up that process, maybe by getting reports from GPs rather than private consultants. Will the Leader of the House facilitate a meeting between me and the relevant Transport Minister, so that we can discuss this further?

• 12 Feb 2026 · UK-EU Agritrade: SPS Agreement · Hansard source

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  The SPS is a really positive development and an opportunity for us. If the suggested timescales do come off, it will be impressively quick, but with such fast timescales come the risks mentioned in the report. Does the Chair agree that it is important to not only maintain our higher welfare standards but ensure that our UK farmers are not undercut by imports with lower welfare standards?

• 12 Feb 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  This Government have already invested millions in the future of Cornish industries but they are held back by poor transport links. Our rail link is struggling, and our airport is fragile. Will the Secretary of State confirm that she is committed to transport improvement in Cornwall through Devon?

• 12 Feb 2026 · Rural Mobile Connectivity · Hansard source

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  Mobile coverage in my constituency is not good at the best of times. Although we are frequently told by the big four mobile network providers that they have 99% 4G coverage in the UK, including in my constituency, that does not ring true to anyone who, like me, is from Cornwall, and therefore knows what it is like to struggle regularly to get signal. Where there is 5G coverage, it is often from a single provider, and not one premises has 5G coverage from all four providers. Last year, Which? and Opensignal produced a mobile network quality map for the year, by using real-world data from people’s phones and assigning a score to each postcode. TR4, which covers places like Chacewater, Trispen and St Erme in my constituency, ranked the second worst for network quality, with a consistent 4G or 5G signal just 57% of the time. Sadly, that is not at all surprising. As a rural part of the world, we have often struggled with connectivity. That has a particular impact on rural businesses, as my hon. Friend the Member for Stafford (Leigh Ingham) pointed out, including farms, which still experience poor mobile and broadband service. Data from the NFU shows that just 33% of farming businesses have access to fibre, while only 22% report reliable mobile signal across their farm. Despite that, support schemes like the sustainable farming incentive and communication with the Rural Payments Agency are increasingly done online, so digital connectivity is more important to farmers than ever before. Mobile coverage in my constituency failed spectacularly last month when Storm Goretti struck Cornwall, triggering a rare Met Office red warning, with gusts of about 100 mph. The storm caused widespread power outages and brought down over 1,000 trees, leaving many people completely cut off, with no internet and poor mobile phone signal. The new digital landlines that replaced the old copper networks did not work without power, and Ofcom’s rules require only one hour of battery back-up for vulnerable customers, which is completely inadequate. This meant that for days, and in some cases weeks, large parts of Cornwall were disconnected from the outside world, with no means of accessing information or getting assistance. For many, that was very frightening and showed how in some circumstances, mobile connectivity really could mean life or death. The loss of telecommunications and poor signal made it harder for responders to identify and support vulnerable residents. Unlike the national grid, Openreach relied on people contacting their service provider to say they were offline, which was not sufficient in a context where many residents had no internet or phone signal. This was not helped by the fact that the providers generally displayed minimal customer service, and it was impossible to get through to human beings in many cases. There was then another layer of delay while the providers reported to Openreach, which had no map of the areas that were offline.

• 12 Feb 2026 · Rural Mobile Connectivity · Hansard source

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  I agree. Although mobile providers are a category 2 responder under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 framework, they do not have the duties, responsibilities and powers that, say, National Grid or water companies do. There is a strong argument for changing that. Furthermore, the storm exposed the fact that most mobile masts do not have back-up generators or meaningful battery reserves, making them highly vulnerable to power loss. That contrasts with the expectations placed on water and electricity companies, which operate under established resilience duties. Telecoms providers are arguably just as essential, and the civil contingencies framework should reflect that reality in practice, not just in statute. We need stronger requirements and powers for comms providers in emergency situations, and Ofcom needs the teeth to enforce them. Storm Goretti demonstrated how dependent communities and responders now are on digital and mobile networks, and it showed the weakness and lack of resilience of those networks in rural places like Cornwall. As Private Eye pointed out, an Ofcom technical report from last year noted that roughly two thirds of the population would be able to make emergency calls in a power outage of under an hour. The number who would be able to do so by the six-hour mark was redacted and described as being “far fewer”. As extreme weather becomes more frequent, it is crucial that rural areas are better connected. The deadline for nationwide 5G coverage has been pushed back to 2032, but communities like mine cannot wait, as these severe weather experiences become more and more frequent. The Minister has indicated that places like Cornwall could be pilot areas for emergency resilience measures, and I very much look forward to that work beginning as soon as possible.