Perran Moon MP: speeches

Speeches

• 12 Jan 2026 · Social and Affordable Homes: Camborne and Redruth · Hansard source

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  9. What steps he is taking to build more social and affordable homes in Camborne and Redruth constituency.

• 12 Jan 2026 · Social and Affordable Homes: Camborne and Redruth · Hansard source

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  Meur ras, Mr Speaker. With your good grace, I would like to take this opportunity to thank members of the emergency services, who responded so courageously across Cornwall during and in the wake of one of the worst ever storms to hit the duchy. I also thank the 600,000 people of Cornwall, who heeded pre-storm advice and kept fatalities, mercifully, to a minimum. The loss of one life is too many, but it could have been far worse. Over 1,000 trees are down, and hundreds of thousands of people were plunged into darkness, with no power. I hope that Ministers will create the appropriate forum to discuss the lessons learned from Storm Goretti. The Secretary of State has confirmed that, because of our unique status, Cornwall will be a single strategic authority for the purposes of devolution. The greatest threat facing the constituents of Camborne, Redruth and Hayle today is the lack of social and truly affordable homes, which is compounded by the 14,000 second homes and 25,000 Airbnbs, leading to an exodus of our young people and a chronic lack of key workers. Given these factors—

• 8 Jan 2026 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Meur ras, Madam Deputy Speaker. For decades, remote coastal areas such as Cornwall have seen education funding inexplicably lag well behind urban areas. Under this Labour Government, the particular challenges and costs associated with delivering services in deprived remote coastal areas have begun to be recognised in some Government funding models, but not all. Will the Leader of the House help me secure a meeting with the Secretary of State for Education to discuss funding for Cornish schools?

• 8 Jan 2026 · Local Bus Services · Hansard source

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  The recent Pretty Poverty report highlighted just how vital buses are to the daily lives of Cornish people, and given the massive lack of investment in public transport by the Conservative Government, it is no wonder that Cornwall suffers from one of the highest figures for car ownership per capita in the country. With First Bus, one of our main operators, pulling out of Cornwall next month, constituents fear that essential routes will disappear. Will the Minister meet me and Cornish colleagues to discuss how the integrated national transport strategy will ensure long-term funding for Cornwall’s bus network?

• 8 Jan 2026 · Local Bus Services · Hansard source

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  6. What steps she is taking to help improve local bus services.

• 7 Jan 2026 · Rural Communities · Hansard source

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  It is not just the constituents of Banbury who know they were let down by the New Zealand and Australia trade deals, but the Conservatives themselves. My Conservative predecessor said of the Australia deal that it was “not actually a very good deal for the UK”. —[ Official Report , 14 November 2022; Vol. 722, c. 424.]

• 7 Jan 2026 · Rural Communities · Hansard source

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  On rural crime, earlier this week the Devon and Cornwall police and crime commissioner resigned from the Conservative party and is standing as an independent for the rest of her term. Does my hon. Friend agree that that is symptomatic of the Conservatives’ attitude to rural crime?

• 6 Jan 2026 · Energy Bills Reduction · Hansard source

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  5. What assessment he has made of the potential impact of reducing energy bills by £150 on family finances.

• 6 Jan 2026 · Energy Bills Reduction · Hansard source

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  Kensa, based in my Camborne, Redruth and Hayle constituency, is the largest manufacturer of ground source heat pumps to neighbourhoods and council flats, and I know that the Secretary of State and the Chancellor have both visited that company. This technology delivers low energy bills for family finances, but the sector requires policy certainty and a plan to grow. Ministers have been very generous with their time to date, but will the Secretary of State meet me again to discuss how we can provide the certainty and commitment to public funding that will support this technology?

• 5 Jan 2026 · HMP Leyhill: Offender Abscondments · Hansard source

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  Once again, the Opposition have clearly absconded from reality. Will the Minister remind the House what the previous Government—of which the shadow Secretary of State, the right hon. Member for Newark (Robert Jenrick), was part—actually did to clamp down on absconds?

• 5 Jan 2026 · Venezuela · Hansard source

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  I accept that Venezuela is a brutal, failed and highly dangerous state, but the implications of this action will be deeply destabilising across eastern Europe. In the Foreign Secretary’s discussions with the US Secretary of State about international law, did she reference the message that this action sends to Putin about Russia’s ambitions in Europe?

• 5 Jan 2026 · Migrants: Safe and Legal Routes · Hansard source

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  12. What steps her Department is taking to introduce new safe and legal routes for migrants.

• 5 Jan 2026 · Migrants: Safe and Legal Routes · Hansard source

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  Meur ras, ha blethen noweth da—happy new year, Mr Speaker—and may I take this moment to thank the Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Nottingham North and Kimberley (Alex Norris), for, in his previous role, getting the Cornish language through part III status from that excellent organisation, the Council of Europe? Before Christmas, I met care workers from my Camborne, Redruth and Hayle constituency who came to the UK through legal routes. They shared with me their anxieties about the changes to immigration policies affecting the care sector and other key worker sectors. Specifically for migrants who are already part-way through the five-year leave to remain qualification process, working and paying their taxes in the UK now, can the Secretary of State confirm when the new fast-track leave to remain process will be established following the end of the 12 February consultation?

• 5 Jan 2026 · Agricultural Property Relief and Business Property Relief · Hansard source

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  I thoroughly welcome the increase in the threshold, and I remind the Minister that in terms of farming profitability, my Conservative predecessor—a former DEFRA Secretary —described their Australia deal as “not actually a very good deal for the UK”. —[ Official Report , 14 November 2022; Vol. 722, c. 424.] The Conservatives sold out and undercut our farmers with trade deals to New Zealand, whereby we could not export to New Zealand, but it could export to us. These deals were cheered on by Reform. Will the Minister confirm that this Labour Government will never sign such incompetent and damaging deals, and that we will not take lectures on farming profitability from the Conservatives or Reform?

• 9 Dec 2025 · Railways Bill · Hansard source

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  The desperately poor condition of our railway system is entirely symbolic of the wider decline in public services over the past 14 years. I regularly make the 10-hour round trip up to London from west Cornwall on trains that are often beset with delays, and a lack of water or heating. My constituents know and feel this all too well. Our one main railway line runs the length of Cornwall, from Penzance to cross the Tamar bridge at Saltash. It is a vital transport artery, connecting south-west England with Cornwall. As with many other pressures faced by remote coastal and rural communities, there are unique difficulties. Fewer trains stop at Hayle, for example, and bus services are generally suspended there at about 6 pm, cutting off communities to the west. To illustrate that point, due to a fault with the signalling system today, all trains from Penzance were cancelled. Great Western Railway is currently operated by FirstGroup, but under this Labour Government’s rail reform programme, it will be brought back into public ownership and integrated into Great British Railways next year. This transition will ensure that decisions about Cornwall’s rail services are made in the public interest, not for private profit, and that passengers will see improvements in reliability, affordability and accountability. We need a railway that is better governed, and locally attuned and responsive to the people who depend on it, supporting growth in every region. The revival of the railway system must be innovative and practical. I saw a great example of innovation a few weeks ago, when I attended the launch of a superfast wi-fi pilot on a GWR train. Advanced engineering and connectivity solutions, combined with leadership from transport authorities, will deliver a new benchmark and support a long-standing ambition to bring faster, more resilient wi-fi connectivity to Cornwall and south-west England. In 2021, under the previous Government, a plan was published that included a recommendation for a new public body and a long-term strategy for rail, but the Conservatives failed to implement it. This Bill will remove friction and bureaucracy, which are endemic in the current system. We have an opportunity to sweep away duplication of roles and departments to produce substantial savings and a smooth service. We can free up resources, trusting rail staff to build a better system than the current bureaucratic, bloated and top-heavy organisational ecosystem, riddled with institutional incompetence. This Labour Government will bring clarity where there was confusion, reliability where there was disruption, and affordability where costs were sky high. I very much look forward to supporting the Bill.

• 9 Dec 2025 · Railways Bill · Hansard source

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  The Bill makes clear that GBR and the Office of Rail and Road would be required to have regard to local transport plans produced by mayoral combined authorities. However, that requirement does not apply to local transport plans produced by single strategic authorities outside mayoral combined authorities. Within Cornwall, we cannot and will not join a mayoral combined authority, so will the Secretary of State meet me to discuss how Cornwall will not be left out and penalised because we cannot join a mayoral combined authority?

• 8 Dec 2025 · Child Poverty Strategy · Hansard source

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  Meur ras, Madam Deputy Speaker. When the removal of the two-child benefit limit is considered chronologically, alongside the expansion of Best Start hubs, support for childcare, free breakfasts, free school meals and now the youth guarantee, does the Secretary of State agree that through the fog of deprivation, it is now possible to make out a ladder of hope from cradle to career for the children from our poorest backgrounds?

• 8 Dec 2025 · Post-16 Skills Education · Hansard source

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  Cornwall has been identified as a strategically important region for renewable energy and critical minerals, but we currently have a worrying shortage of places at our outstanding further education colleges. Can the Minister reassure me that the necessary skills funding will be made available to support these growth industries in an area of high social deprivation that was neglected by the Conservatives for 14 years?

• 8 Dec 2025 · Post-16 Skills Education · Hansard source

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  17. What steps his Department is taking to help to ensure that post-16 education provides the necessary skills to support the economy.

• 3 Dec 2025 · OBR: Resignation of Chair · Hansard source

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  Selective amnesia.

• 3 Dec 2025 · OBR: Resignation of Chair · Hansard source

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  The OBR leak was deeply disturbing, particularly in the light of international sensitivities. Can the Chief Secretary rule out foreign actors exploiting the OBR’s inadequate security at any point?

• 27 Nov 2025 · Budget Resolutions · Hansard source

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  Meur ras, Madam Deputy Speaker. I begin with some Kernewek, as I have done in pretty much every question in this Chamber, to reinforce the point about part III Cornish language status made by my hon. Friend the Member for South East Cornwall (Anna Gelderd). Yesterday, the Chancellor announced a Budget intent on stability, investment and economic sustainability. It focused on driving growth in areas of socioeconomic deprivation such as Cornwall, including my constituency of Camborne, Redruth and Hayle. The Kernow industrial growth fund will boost our local economy in a sustainable way. Alongside the fairer funding review and the extension of the Cornish business rates retention, it means that this Labour Government are backing Cornwall’s economic growth and its public services. The Kernow industrial growth fund will enable investment in growth-driving interventions to support the duchy’s high-potential sectors. It will also help to build clusters around key industries to attract private investment and create high-value supply chains. Cornwall is at the centre of the Government’s economic ambitions with its critical minerals, renewable energy and marine innovation sectors driving the transition to a greener economy. The £50 million fund, announced in this week’s critical minerals strategy, is set to further sharpen the teeth of the Cornish Celtic tiger. Since we arrived in Parliament, Cornwall’s four Labour MPs have made it our business to highlight our economic potential across Departments to ensure that we get a fairer deal for Cornwall. The Treasury has recognised the vast economic potential in Cornwall to create stable, secure jobs, driving growth across the duchy, and as a result has set up this Kernow industrial growth fund. We are grateful for the time the Chancellor has granted us to listen to our case, and we are looking forward to continuing our discussions with other Departments, which must now support delivering on this vast economic potential to ensure that essential housing, infrastructure and public transport are in place. Those businesses of course need the new workforce of young Cornish men and women, which brings me on to fairer chances. When we said at the general election that we wanted to break down barriers at every opportunity and at every level, we meant it. In my constituency of Camborne, Redruth and Hayle, just under 5,000 children are living in poverty, but 2,210 of these children will be directly impacted by the scrapping of the two-child limit. That policy change has already been clearly identified and mentioned many times in this Chamber today as the single most effective measure to reduce child poverty. The economic and social damage of retaining this policy has been well documented. Removing it gives these children a real chance, from the very start, to enjoy better chances in life. But that is not happening in isolation. When we combine the scrapping of the two-child limit with increased free childcare, expanded breakfast clubs, free school meals, investment in our Ofsted-rated outstanding Cornwall College, and now the Chancellor’s announcement of free apprenticeships for under-25s, we can see a golden thread running from cradle to career for children from the poorest backgrounds. This is what breaking down barriers looks like. This is what social mobility delivery looks like. It is a Labour Budget from a Labour Chancellor steeped in Labour values, delivering that golden thread for the children of my constituency and across the land. On behalf of the poorest children of Camborne, Redruth and Hayle, I want to take this moment to thank our Labour Chancellor.

• 24 Nov 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  Meur ras, Mr Speaker. The whole of Cornwall, one of the most deprived regions in northern Europe, missed out on Pride in Place funding, which I can only assume was due to the “trusting your neighbour” indicator being treated as a marker of affluence rather than deprivation in the community needs index. Can the Minister confirm that Cornwall will not be disadvantaged because of that in the next tranche of Pride in Place funding?

• 24 Nov 2025 · Critical Minerals Strategy · Hansard source

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  Meur ras, Madam Deputy Speaker. Anyone who has visited my Camborne, Redruth and Hayle constituency cannot have missed the signs of our industrial past, but after decades of post-industrial deprivation, global demand for critical minerals is surging to accelerate the transition to a clean energy future—opposed entirely by Reform—and with our unique geology, Cornwall is at the epicentre of the opportunity. The geology has not changed, but the market is back with a Government who get it. This Labour Government have published a strategy with teeth, with targets for domestic production, a new growth minerals list and £50 million in funding. Does the Minister agree that investment must flow into Cornwall to create jobs, reduce the reliance on China that was allowed to run rampant under the Conservatives and, in so doing, unleash the Cornish Celtic tiger?

• 24 Nov 2025 · English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill · Hansard source

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  What we are looking for is not necessarily the creation of a Cornish assembly, but to ensure—I will come on to this a little later in my speech—that the established, mature unitary authority has the powers of a mayoral combined authority. If we look at what we have done at Cornwall council over the past few years, we have managed tens of millions of pounds of economic development funding incredibly effectively, first through objective 1 funding and then through shared prosperity funding. We have created our own housing development company that manages and creates housing across Cornwall. We have been successful in recent years in creating housing across Cornwall. The council manages the cultural identity and the promotion of the Cornish language across Cornwall. I am not necessarily looking for an assembly—frankly, I do not care what the body is called—but for the powers to come back to our primary body, which is Cornwall council. Cornwall is a large and stable unitary authority. It is the largest in geography, as I mentioned to my hon. Friend the Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Danny Beales), and the third largest by population. Cornwall must be treated as a single strategic authority with the powers of a mayoral combined authority. In 2022, the advisory committee of the Council of Europe called on the Government to “devolve the appropriate powers to Cornwall Council to ensure effective implementation of the Framework Convention at local level”. It also called on the Government of the time “to work with Cornwall Council to address the housing crisis affecting persons belonging to the Cornish national minority, and to collaborate with devolved administrations to tackle this problem in areas of concern.” Our Government’s support for Cornish national minority status was made clear by the Prime Minister at the Dispatch Box on 5 March, when he said: “We do recognise Cornish national minority status—not just the proud language, history and culture of Cornwall, but its bright future.” —[ Official Report , 5 March 2025; Vol. 763, c. 278.] Similarly, on 19 November he said: “We will ensure that Cornwall’s national minority status is safeguarded in any future devolution arrangements.” —[ Official Report , 19 November 2025; Vol. 775, c. 776.] However, the Bill does the opposite.