Perran Moon MP: speeches

Speeches

• 15 Sept 2026 · Probation Service: Recruitment and Retention · Hansard source

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  The Probation Service is suffering from thousands of vacancies and a pretty appalling retention rate. The extra £700 million announced for the Probation Service from this Government is welcome, but does the Minister accept that some of that needs to support Probation Service salaries, which have been massively eroded after a decade and a half of pay freezes and real-term cuts?

• 15 Sept 2026 · Probation Service: Recruitment and Retention · Hansard source

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  5. What steps his Department has taken to increase the size of the probation workforce.

• 15 Sept 2026 · Tourism: Overnight Visitor Levy · Hansard source

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  Meur ras, Mr Speaker. As a Cornish MP, I am incredibly proud that this Government were elected on a platform of devolution. That means trusting the decisions of local authorities to raise an overnight levy or not. I appreciate that the Opposition parties do not trust their local authorities, but no one is forcing local authorities to raise the levy. Does the Minister agree that fiscal devolution is an essential aspect of moving powers and funding out of this place and directly into the hands of local people?

• 14 Sept 2026 · SEND Specialists: Schools · Hansard source

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  22. What progress her Department has made on ensuring that schools have access to high-quality training to support pupils with SEND.

• 14 Sept 2026 · SEND Specialists: Schools · Hansard source

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  Several schools in my Camborne, Redruth and Hayle constituency are reporting profound concerns about the lack of availability of educational specialists right across Cornwall, including occupational therapists, educational psychologists and speech and language therapists. As a result of our remote coastal location, recruitment and retention is particularly difficult. Will the Minister meet Cornish MPs to discuss this issue?

• 14 Sept 2026 · Speciality Steel UK · Hansard source

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  I very much welcome the Secretary of State’s statement. Does he agree that workers and communities are ultimately paying the price for the reckless conduct associated with Lex Greensill and those who championed his business model, and that this Government are now stepping in with the leadership that was previously so lacking?

• 10 Sept 2026 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Rick Rescorla, a son of Hayle in my constituency, was the head of security at Morgan Stanley in the south tower on 9/11. He was widely credited with helping to evacuate more than 2,500 people, and singing Cornish songs as he did so. He sacrificed his own life while attempting to save the last few employees. Having served in both the Parachute Regiment and the US Air Cavalry, Rick is truly a national hero. Does the Leader of the House agree that Rick’s life, as well as the thousands who died that fateful day, should never be forgotten?

• 10 Sept 2026 · Social Housing Bill [Lords] · Hansard source

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  Cornwall’s social housing shortage is not only a major contributor to our severe housing crisis, but one of the greatest blockers of economic regeneration. In the Conservative years, the construction of new social housing in Cornwall plummeted—for example, in 2015-16, just six new homes were built for social rent across the entire duchy. Combine that with 14,000 second homes and nearly 24,000 Airbnb listings, which further reduce the overall housing stock, and it comes as no shock that our social housing waiting list stands at a staggering 25,000. That incurs vast costs for emergency and temporary accommodation. The size of that register will only grow in coming years unless urgent action is taken. In the light of our acute housing crisis, I warmly welcome measures in the Bill to protect our existing social housing stock, particularly the right to buy exemptions for new social homes and for those in designated rural areas. However, the scope of the Bill addresses just one element of Cornwall’s housing crisis. I welcomed the former Chancellor’s stamp duty increase for second homes from 3% to 5%, and I also welcomed the confirmation last week by the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport that a new registration scheme for short-term lets will be live by March, but we must go further. To that end, I have three quick asks of the Government. First, I urge the Government to review Cornwall council’s £90 million housing revenue account debt associated with the 2012 self-financing settlement. Servicing that inherited debt settlement diverts key resources away from repairs to existing homes and delivering additional affordable housing. Secondly, the Government have already recognised the value of low-cost development finance through 0.1% loans to housing associations. Extending those opportunities to councils would unlock significant additional housing delivery. Thirdly, Cornwall must not be locked out of further powers and funding for social housing simply because we will not be joining a mayoral strategic authority. A strategic place partnership with Homes England would give us not only the framework to deliver social housing for Cornwall, but the funding, which so far has gone only to mayoral strategic authorities. Cornwall cannot build a stronger economy on a foundation of housing insecurity. The only sustainable answer is to increase our stock of genuinely affordable social homes and to do that at scale. To that end, I strongly welcome this Bill.

• 10 Sept 2026 · Ukraine and Russia · Hansard source

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  I welcome the Defence Secretary to his place. This morning, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe proposed a mechanism that could allow Ukraine to receive frozen Russian assets based on rulings by the European Court of Human Rights. The document states that directing Russian assets towards compensating Ukraine could be a legitimate countermeasure and is consistent with the norms of international law. Will the Secretary of State consider this mechanism in relation to the UK’s seized Russian assets as well as in discussions with European allies?

• 9 Sept 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  Conversion practices are a form of abuse, and this Government were elected on a manifesto commitment to ban them. While I welcome the publication of the draft Bill in June and the commitment by the Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Wakefield and Rothwell (Simon Lightwood), that there will be a Committee by the end of January, can the Secretary of State appreciate the frustration of many that the process of banning this abuse is taking so long?

• 9 Sept 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T1. If she will make a statement on her departmental responsibilities.

• 8 Sept 2026 · Media Green Paper · Hansard source

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  In my constituency, more than a quarter of households failed to receive speeds of more than 30 megabits per second, and 11 of our 15 local areas rank among the worst-performing 10% nationally. Does the hon. Lady agree that a delay to the switch-off would afford remote coastal households enough time to adapt?

• 8 Sept 2026 · Media Green Paper · Hansard source

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  Unfortunately, although the Green Paper highlights the importance of Welsh-language broadcasting, it is largely silent on Cornish-language content, despite Kernewek’s recognition in the Media Act 2024. Will the Minister ensure that these ambitions are translated into practical opportunities for Cornish-language content so that our national minority status is properly reflected?

• 8 Sept 2026 · Regional Funding · Hansard source

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  16. What assessment he has made of the potential impact of changes to regional funding arrangements on the economies of local communities.

• 8 Sept 2026 · Regional Funding · Hansard source

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  As the furthest southerly Labour MP in the UK, I note several recent announcements of funding going to the north of England and mayoral strategic authorities. I have been very encouraged by the Prime Minister’s comments on Cornish devolution, and there is no requirement for Cornwall to join a mayoral strategic authority, but can the Minister elaborate on how changes to regional funding arrangements will support the Cornish economy?

• 3 Sept 2026 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  In Cornwall, the percentage of adults seen by a dentist within the past two years has fallen to just 29%. Cornwall is one of the worst dentistry deserts in the UK, and the lack of access to dentists is now having a profound effect on the health and wellbeing of the Cornish people. Will the Leader of the House arrange for me to meet the relevant Health and Social Care Minister to discuss an urgent plan to deliver the dental care that the duchy deserves?

• 3 Sept 2026 · Building Homes and Renewing Communities · Hansard source

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  I really welcome the Prime Minister’s commitment this week to work on Cornish devolution, but the Housing Minister—and he did not make up the rules—has told me that the population of Cornwall is too small to be granted a strategic place partnership, despite the fact that our population is greater than that of Iceland, Malta and Barbados. Our lack of social housing is one of the greatest blockers to regeneration in Cornwall, so we are very keen to take up a strategic place partnership. Is there a chance that I could get a meeting with the Housing Minister or somebody from MHCLG to discuss our desire to have a strategic place partnership?

• 3 Sept 2026 · Bluetongue Virus in Livestock · Hansard source

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  I thank the Minister for visiting Cornwall last month to talk to some of our farmers about their concerns. As of Tuesday, there were 117 cases in Cornwall, and—as has been mentioned—a further 2,500 are under investigation nationally. My farmers have raised their concerns about the length of time it is taking to get test results back. Can the Minister reassure my farmers that their test results will be delivered in a timely manner?

• 3 Sept 2026 · Use of Minority Languages in Election Materials · Hansard source

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  8. What assessment the Electoral Commission has made of the potential merits of introducing legal protections for the use of minority languages in election materials.

• 3 Sept 2026 · Use of Minority Languages in Election Materials · Hansard source

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  Meur ras ha myttin da, Mr Speaker. Since January this year, Kernewek, the Cornish language, has enjoyed part III protection under the European charter for regional or minority languages, alongside Welsh and Scottish Gaelic. In the light of that recognition, what steps can the Electoral Commission take to review its policies and guidance to ensure that Cornish speakers are not treated less favourably in elections than speakers of other protected minority languages?

• 2 Sept 2026 · Rural Upper-tier Local Authorities · Hansard source

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  If His Majesty’s Opposition are so unhappy about the local government reorganisation, why is there not a single Opposition Member here to make that point other than him?

• 2 Sept 2026 · Rural Upper-tier Local Authorities · Hansard source

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  Meur ras —it is an honour to serve under your chairship, Mrs Barker. I congratulate the hon. Member for North Shropshire (Helen Morgan) on securing this important debate. I want to focus on SEND and home-to-school transport. On SEND, Cornwall is the 11th lowest funded of 151 local authorities, receiving less than half the per pupil funding of Kensington and Chelsea. Over the last eight years, the number of our pupils with an EHCP has almost doubled, but the delays in issuing EHCPs are far longer than average. In Cornwall, two thirds of those waiting for an EHCP wait for more than 20 weeks, compared with about 50% in England, meaning more stress and uncertainty for Cornish children and their parents. In a very large, long and remote coastal region, the additional costs of transport show up persistently in every aspect of Cornish life. Cornwall council’s expenditure on home-to-school transport has increased by nearly 300% over the past seven years—a far steeper rise than for our urban counterparts. When it comes to funding more broadly, being a coastal community with some of the UK’s finest beaches is actually a double-edged sword; in fact, it could be argued that we are damned by our natural beauty. Significant in-migration by wealthy English retirees not only places additional pressures on healthcare and our housing market but masks the true extent of deprivation in Treasury funding models. In my constituency, the average weekly wages in Camborne, Redruth and Hayle are nearly £100 less than the national average, and child poverty is currently at 35%. We were very thankful that the costs of being remote and coastal were recognised in the local government funding settlement for adult social care, but the cost pressures for home-to-school transport were not reflected. I respectfully say to the Minister that a principle cannot be half applied.

• 2 Sept 2026 · Rural Upper-tier Local Authorities · Hansard source

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  I do agree with the hon. Lady. I cannot believe that in the 21st century it is beyond the wit of man or woman to calculate the major costs that affect our rural and remote coastal areas compared with the costs for our urban counterparts. We are not trying to deprive the services available in urban areas; it is about raising the level of services for remote coastal and rural communities to the same standard. That brings me back to my central point. Despite the rising costs and demands, Cornwall is being asked to do far more with far less, which is why we need a comprehensive, non-mayoral, Cornwall-only devolution deal that allows us to overcome some of the challenges of life in the Duchy.

• 2 Sept 2026 · Rural Upper-tier Local Authorities · Hansard source

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  On that specific point, part of the reason why there is a conflation of devolution and the local government funding settlement is that, because our local councils in some areas are so deprived of funding, they have to get funding from something like a visitor levy, which would not typically be allocated for that, in order to supplement the services they need to provide. That is potentially why there is a mix-up of views about devolution and the local government settlement. Does the Minister recognise that point?

• 2 Sept 2026 · Global Tin Availability · Hansard source

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  I thank everybody who has contributed to this debate. Perhaps next time I should actually advertise it as a Tinder debate, and we can educate people while they are here. I will thank a few people specifically. My hon. Friend the Member for St Austell and Newquay (Noah Law) is very knowledgeable, particularly in the areas of midstream and downstream work; he talked about processing supply chains. Both he and my hon. Friend the Member for South East Cornwall (Anna Gelderd) mentioned the Kernow industrial growth fund. Right now, that fund is being used for exactly what it was designed to do—to support some exploratory mining opportunities, among other commercial opportunities in Cornwall. He also mentioned unblocking planning and permitting issues, which we need to take on board. My hon. Friend the Member for South East Cornwall is a superb champion for Cornwall Resources, which is doing amazing things to maximise the opportunity in tungsten. She talked insightfully about the local benefits, including in relation to the skills agenda. We really need to tie that agenda in with our devolution deal, which I know the Prime Minister has mentioned several times in the last 48 hours. For us in Cornwall, the skills agenda will be critical—excuse the pun—to maximise the opportunities in this particular sector. I totally agree with the Liberal Democrat spokesman, the hon. Member for Maidenhead (Mr Reynolds), about the exploration that is urgently needed on these critical minerals. I heard what the Minister said, but we are not just talking about tin, tungsten and lithium, the three we know about at the moment; we know from previous records that we also have nickel, cobalt, uranium, silver and many others, but we need the data that exploration can provide and we need support in that regard. The Opposition spokesperson, the hon. Member for Grantham and Bourne (Gareth Davies), clearly grasps the importance of Cornish tin mining. He also mentioned energy costs; perhaps that is a debate for another day but, because of our Cornubian batholith, which is the granite formation on which Cornwall sits, we have vast geothermal opportunities. We are looking at whether there is a commercial case to make use locally of that geothermal energy to drive some of our industrial regeneration. I have already mentioned the importance of aligning this issue to the devolution deal. Really, this debate was more of a clarion call to Government to focus very closely, not only on lithium and tungsten, but on a huge opportunity within the tin sector across the whole of Cornwall. Finally, I warmly extend an invitation to the Minister to visit the South Crofty tin mine. Question put and agreed to. Resolved , That this House has considered the impact of levels of global tin availability on the economy.