Jayne Kirkham
MP for Truro and Falmouth · Labour (Co-op) · United Kingdom
“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Alec. I congratulate the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) on securing this debate. I am grateful to be able to speak today.”
House of Commons29 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Member for Strangford talked about the charities that do this amazing work now. The coastal and rural nature of Truro and Falmouth gives my constituency its beauty, but also makes it dangerous when someone injures themselves.”
House of Commons29 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“A national policy will provide much-needed clarity on safeguarding helipads from surrounding planning developments, standardise how 24/7 clinical need is assessed and help to unlock target funding when charitable support needs national backing. That would have a lifesaving impact in Cornwall’s rural and coastal communities.”
House of Commons29 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“After Storm Austen last week, with its echoes of Storm Goretti, I wanted to recognise some of my Cornish parish councils for setting up emergency plans; Salt Wind Catering for working with the National Grid to provide some of the warm food that people needed; National Grid and its team—particularly Jacob Wallace—for their work; Cormac for…”
House of Commons29 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“However, key challenges still remain locally, in ensuring that outstanding infrastructure works and the access routes at Treliske are concluded without delay, and in ensuring that operational access and refuelling, both on site and at bases such as Cornwall Airport Newquay, are fully supported and future-proofed.”
House of Commons29 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Cornwall Air Ambulance is so well supported by the local population—it does a fantastic job—and now has two helicopters that have been fundraised by the local population, because we realise how crucial it is to our communities.”
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“Dr Mohamed Abdelazim, who works at the Royal Cornwall hospital in Treliske, has said: “Ten years is an extraordinarily long time to live on a visa—without the security of citizenship, the right to vote, or the ability to fully settle and plan our futures in the UK.” The Government have not yet confirmed whether people already on the affected immigration routes will have to wait longer for settlement, as opposed to the change applying only to those arriving after the implementation date, although the White Paper’s annexe suggests that the change will affect those already here. Many MPs, including me, have been asking questions about this issue, but the responses to written parliamentary questions so far have stated that it will be addressed as part of the consultation process, but without giving a timeline.”
House of Commons8 September 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“We do not want to lose any of those highly skilled medical professionals who are trying to make Cornwall their home. These people stressed their commitment to their jobs in the way they worked tirelessly on the frontline during covid, the way they have served and contributed to their communities, and the taxes they have paid. Many have children attending school in Cornwall, and they are very concerned about disruption to their children’s education. Some have partners who are Cornish.”
House of Commons8 September 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“It is an honour to serve under your chairship, Sir Jeremy. When the Government’s immigration White Paper was published with the proposal to increase the qualifying period for indefinite leave to remain, I received numerous emails from constituents in Truro and Falmouth who could be affected. My constituency is home to Cornwall’s only large acute hospital, so many of the constituents concerned work in the health service as doctors, nurses or dentists. In 2022, according to the British Medical Association, the NHS in England had a shortage of 12,000 hospital doctors and more than 50,000 nurses and midwives. Cornwall has a super-ageing population with complex health needs, and we struggle to attract medical professionals. As a result of our housing crisis, they sometimes cannot find anywhere to live.”
House of Commons8 September 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Does my hon. Friend agree that the Government’s fair funding review is right to take into account the sparsity and rurality of coastal areas and visitor numbers into the new calculations? For example, a hotel in Cornwall in the winter can cost £53, but in the summer it can cost £100, and county councils spend twice as much on home-to-school transport as London boroughs, proving how much more it costs to provide those services in rural areas.”
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“I especially thank Simon for making Cornwall a living wage place, which is a fantastic initiative. I also thank the following organisations for helping their communities: the New Beginning Community Association in Malabar; the Friends of Coosebean, the Friends of Daubuz Moor and the Friends of Tregoniggie Woodland, which have been bringing green spaces back to the heart of urban places; and the Truro Loops campaign, which has been restoring active travel routes around Truro. I am a new MP and many of those are very new projects. I hope to be able to stand here next year, the year after and the year after that and say, “We got some of these things done.””
House of Commons22 July 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I welcome community right to buy, which will be forthcoming in the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill. I have constituents wanting to rescue a methodist chapel and a pub in Ponsanooth, and the Ship Inn in Portloe. The funding source to go with that would be helpful. I look forward to that being announced. To continue the co-operative theme, I have been strongly supporting the St Mawes community who have been trying to build affordable housing for their local community, which has been decimated by second homes. I thank Alan Macklin, who has also been involved in the Homes for Ukraine scheme in St Mawes. Falmouth and Penryn Welcome Refugee Families has been doing the same thing. I thank Simon Fann and the food banks in Truro and in Falmouth and Penryn.”
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“We are looking to access the ports fund to make that happen and bring those new jobs to the town. I am so pleased with what the Government have achieved on water. A scheme was announced this morning to work on the combined sewer overflow at Queen Mary gardens between our two main beaches in Falmouth—at last! I congratulate campaigners including Plastic Free Falmouth Surfers Against Sewage and Goonhavern primary school’s eco club, who have worked so hard for this. I want to say a little about a group in my constituency who have worked together and formed a support group because they all have endometriosis. David Amess was such a champion for people with endometriosis. We have been working to get training for healthcare workers in that area. As a Co-operative party MP.”
House of Commons22 July 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“How do I follow that? It is an honour to speak in the David Amess debate. I start by congratulating Falmouth town council and Source FM in my constituency for the opening of the resource project this weekend, which will bring community radio and a community café to everybody in Falmouth. Thank you and good luck to Pendennis Leisure and all those working for a pool for Falmouth. We are trying to get money from the Government grassroots fund and others, and we are looking for a public-private partnership. Local to that are the docks in Falmouth. We are looking to restore the Falmouth freight rail line, which has been shut for 20 years, to take 77 lorries off the roads on each trip. In Falmouth, we have the docks, Pendennis Yachts and Falmouth Harbour, which all have fantastic expansion plans.”
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“The “New life for city buildings” project in Truro is breathing new life into empty high street buildings and redeveloping them. I would love for the Minister to be able to see this for himself, so will he consider coming to Truro and attending our growth summit on 18 September?”
House of Commons14 July 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The cancer, however, returned, and he died a year after diagnosis, not long after his 54th birthday. His was not an isolated case. Last Tuesday, in the Welsh Senedd, Julie Morgan led a debate very like this one about RAF winchman Zach Stubbings. Zach died from multiple myeloma at the age of 46, after working many hours on Sea Kings.”
House of Commons8 July 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Five and a half per cent of people in Truro and Falmouth have served, which is a much higher percentage than the national average of 3.8%. In Truro and Falmouth, 4,160 houses—more than 10%—have at least one veteran living in them. He was living in Dorset when he suffered strange symptoms of blood clots in his lungs and legs in the spring of 2022. It took some time and persistence, but he was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a rare blood cancer that affects only 5,000 people a year in the UK and is most common in men over the age of 85. He was lucky to have some pioneering treatment in Dorset and later at the Royal Marsden hospital, and he was able to trial drugs that were not yet available in the UK. Treatment is developing for blood cancers all the time, and it is important that people in the UK have access to new treatments.”
House of Commons8 July 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I beg to move, That this House has considered military helicopters and blood cancers. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Jeremy. I am here because of someone who joined the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm at the age of 19 because he had always wanted to fly. He always had the vitality to attack life and live it fully. He flew everything from Hawks to helicopters, and was a talented and committed pilot. By the time I met him, he was teaching new recruits to fly at RAF Cranwell, and was Navy snowboarding champion. In 2005, he went to Cornwall and was stationed at Culdrose, where he flew search and rescue on the old Sea Kings. I represent Truro and Falmouth. Cornwall is rich in forces personnel and veterans.”
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“There was a section at the end on the potential link between exhaust fumes such as benzene from helicopters and blood cancers such as multiple myeloma. The findings were that the evidence and data available did not meet their threshold to establish a causal link between Sea King helicopter exhaust fumes or benzene and multiple myeloma, leiomyosarcoma, and soft tissue sarcomas.”
House of Commons8 July 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I agree absolutely. The health of our serving personnel is and always must be paramount. I will move on to previous cases shortly. I know of 180 cases with solicitors of crew working on military helicopters who have contracted cancers, many like those of the two people I mentioned. They worked on the Sea King particularly, but also the Westland Wessex, the Puma, and the CH-47 Chinook. Many of the crew affected were in touch with each other, as there seemed too many of them, and the cancers too rare, to be pure coincidence. Last July, a report was written by the Independent Medical Expert Group on medical and scientific aspects of the armed forces compensation scheme, and was published in November last year.”
House of Commons8 July 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Pumas and Chinooks are still in service, although the older aircraft have recently been retired. Sea Kings, however, are still in service in the private sector, and in military use in other countries. Three were donated by the UK to Ukraine in 2023. The MOD started testing exhaust emissions from military aircraft this February and has started the process of checking the records of personnel and veterans, to assemble data about how many have subsequently developed cancer. That will provide crucial data about who and how many people may have been affected.”
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“I thank the hon. Member. He is correct that some cancers can take a long time to manifest. Personnel, veterans and those around them in their communities have to be aware that this could show itself much later in their lives. Solicitors for some of the personnel point to an RAF Institute of Health report dated March 1999. Although it did not establish a causal link, it contained recommendations to reduce crews’ exposure to exhaust fumes. I understand that modifications to the aircraft to do that were not made, although they did take place on some other countries’ military helicopters. Six cases in this country, including Zach’s, have so far been settled, and compensation paid by the Ministry of Defence without admission of liability. The Sea Kings were taken out of UK military service in 2018, and the Westland Wessex in 2003.”
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“The five-year survival rate for multiple myeloma is 50%, so people are dying before their cases are settled and many are still being turned down for compensation. Fifthly, testing exposure to emissions must be done to take into account and replicate the real-life conditions that personnel were working under while undertaking search and rescue and military combat sorties. Sixthly, crews should still be advised to take sufficient precautions around aircraft, such as not standing directly in exhaust fumes and wearing personal protective equipment. Private companies and other countries that still use these aircraft need to be informed of the potential risks so that they can take steps to modify the aircraft and take other preventive action.”
House of Commons8 July 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“If the serving personnel and veteran communities, who served with or on these aircraft, are alive to the possible risks, they will know what symptoms to look out for and to raise with medics. Secondly, GPS should be educated in places where there are clusters of personnel and veterans who have worked with these aircraft, so that they know to look for a military record when assessing symptoms that could indicate blood cancers. Thirdly, as well as signposting for veterans, a screening scheme for blood cancers could be set up for those who may be most at risk. Fourthly, the MOD can move faster on assembling, analysing and releasing the data on how many service personnel and veterans have subsequently developed these cancers, so that more research can be done on causation, action can be taken and cases can be quickly concluded.”
House of Commons8 July 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I agree with the hon. Member that all manner of injuries may have occurred due to people’s military service. It is important that every single one is investigated to check if there is a link. I thank him for reminding me of that. Due to the sheer number of records and the way they are stored, I understand that checking them could take weeks, if not months. There are a number of things that could be done by Government or further afield that could help people who are affected now or in future. First, the Government could help to spread awareness of this potential link. There will be men and women with initial symptoms of these cancers that can easily be missed.”
House of Commons8 July 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I agree that these things should be dealt with as swiftly as possible and that it is not just about current personnel and veterans but people who may be affected in the future. Military personnel think they know the risks of what they are taking on when they sign up to fly for the military or work as aircrew. What they could not realise is that there were, and possibly still are, other hidden risks. The people who risk their lives in the service of this country are courageous men and women, and they deserve the very best care and the very best chance.”
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“4. What discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on the potential impact of the proposed increase to the standard qualifying period for settlement on NHS staffing levels.”
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“I have been contacted by constituents working in health and social care in Truro and Falmouth who are concerned about the proposed changes to the standard qualifying period. Dr Mohamed Abdelazim works as a doctor at the Royal Cornwall hospitals NHS trust and has not quite completed the five-year eligibility period. He says the policy will directly and severely impact him and hundreds of other frontline workers and that 10 years is a very long time to live on a visa without the security that citizenship would provide. Will the proposed increase in the eligibility period to 10 years impact my constituents retrospectively, and might they be able to reduce that period based on the contributions that the Minister mentioned?”
House of Commons7 July 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Does my hon. Friend agree that it is good that, in the local government pension scheme, representatives of both employers and employees can sit on the pension committees, and that we often have trade union representatives on the committees as well?”
House of Commons7 July 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“How will the fiduciary duty allow local government pension scheme administration authorities to work with the strategic authorities in their area, particularly if, as in Cornwall, they are one and the same? Cornwall unitary authority was exactly the same size and had the same authority as the administrating authority of the LGPS. To conclude, the scheme worked well in Cornwall and provided good results. I still drive past the houses in Camborne that were built by our local government pension scheme; local people live in them, doing local jobs. The good results were mainly down to good officers, to be honest, and a flexible pool that allowed us to do our own thing and take our own route. I hope that that freedom will remain under the Bill.”
House of Commons7 July 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“We hoped that it would provide a framework for others to follow, but within our pool of 10, we were the only ones who did it. Will the Minister confirm that local LGPSs will be able to set their own targets in a bigger pool, even if the area is geographically disparate? I want to mention the measures that require regulations for the LGPS to include a duty for administering authorities to work with strategic authorities in their area to identify opportunities for investment. When we ran our social impact fund, it was difficult to organise that at arm’s length. Members who were part of the local authority wanted to direct where all investments went, but that had to be done at arm’s length through investment fund managers, who have little connection to the area. It was hard to stand back and watch them do that.”
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“We were able to channel our LGPS investment into affordable private rental housing and local renewables in Cornwall, as well as renewables more widely around the UK. Will local government pension schemes still be able to set their own targets in the pool in this way and do their own thing? Although we worked closely with the pool to ensure that pooling delivered scale advantages, we wanted to make sure that our local impact portfolio, as part of our social impact allocation, enabled us to combine our fiduciary responsibilities to our members with delivering that social and environmental positive change in Cornwall, where we were, and where our members worked and lived. That had a massive impact on how the funds were viewed locally.”
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“We used our £2.3 billion, which is not a huge fund when we think about the size of the pools that we are talking about now, to do precisely that kind of thing. Other Members have talked about responsible investment. We had a very strong responsible investment policy, and our carbon-neutral target date was earlier than that of the rest of the pool. We were able to maintain those policies and our environment, social and governance focus by having a strong presence on the oversight board. That enabled us to influence the pool. I hope that this influence will continue, so that pools are not dragged down to the lowest common denominator when it comes to ESG matters and responsible investment, but will instead be raised up. Our local social impact fund was, in the end, 7.5% of our investments.”
House of Commons7 July 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Hiring an extra tier of staff on top of the LGPS staff, who were still needed to administer the fund, correspond with members and employers, and manage the investments, was expensive. Closing down our current pool and joining another is likely to be the same. There are also concerns, which I would like the Minister to address, that going to a larger pool may affect that local link. We have a strong south-west pool at present, and removing that link and scattering us across the country could impact the effectiveness of our pool at making local investments. That is what I want to talk about next. Bringing schemes together enables them to invest in bigger local projects, from infrastructure to clean energy. That boosts returns for savers and helps communities. Cornwall was very good at that.”
House of Commons7 July 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Having been lucky enough to chair a local government pension scheme committee and sit on a pool oversight board—purely because I was the only person left on the committee after the election, I think—I would like to talk about the Bill’s impact on local government pension schemes. The Bill would consolidate LGPS funds into six pools, on the basis that that would be effective in achieving scale, diversification of assets and cost savings. LGPSs were recently merged into eight pools by the last Government, of course. Cornwall’s pool contained nine LGPSs from the south-west and the Environment Agency. It took a number of years to set up and transfer the funds over to the pool. Setting-up costs meant that the consolidation savings from acting at scale are starting to show only now, a few years later.”
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“8. What steps the Church plans to take to support listed places of worship with repairs and renovations after the conclusion of the listed places of worship grant scheme.”
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“I have been visiting places of worship in my constituency, including St Probus and St Grace church, with the tallest church tower in Cornwall, and St Gerrans church, with its distinctive tower and spire. Both need extensive and expensive works to keep them watertight, so all that good work with food banks, coffee mornings and warm hubs that goes on there can continue to happen. They are both concerned about the new annual cap, as they have costed their schemes, and the potential ending of the listed places of worship grant scheme next year. What alternative support will be available to them and others now that the scheme is reduced and potentially ending? Of course, I will be lobbying DCMS, too.”
House of Commons3 July 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Falmouth, a densely populated area on a peninsula, lost its swimming pool in 2022, when the Conservative council allowed the contractors to close it for financial reasons, and schools in Falmouth are struggling to arrange swimming lessons elsewhere. Tregony school football pitch needs resurfacing. Can the Leader of the House confirm that the fund for grassroots sports and major events will cover projects from the scale of Falmouth’s pool down to Tregony’s football pitch, and will she consider holding a debate in Government time on Government support for grassroots sport?”
House of Commons3 July 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The Secretary of State mentioned community health teams in Cornwall taking services directly to people, even in their homes. I am so pleased with the focus on how to deliver healthcare in sparsely populated rural and coastal areas. Can the Secretary of State confirm that this focus will run through the 10-year plan, so that across the country people can access care as equally as possible at local level—and specialist services such as robotic surgery and mental health emergency hubs—no matter where they live?”
House of Commons3 July 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The businesses themselves are often family-run, close-knit and the centres of their communities, so their loss is felt greatly. The Government have taken some steps to support hospitality. I served on the Bill Committee for the Non-Domestic Rating (Multipliers and Private Schools) Act 2025 last year, and I welcome the provisions it contained to introduce permanently lower rates for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses with rateable values below £500,000 from 2026-27.”
House of Commons1 July 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I am very pleased that this Government have recognised visitor numbers, coastal areas and sparsity in the recent local government funding review and in the review of the Carr-Hill formula for NHS GP funding. I hope that follows through into more support for our services and infrastructure. I have spoken to many businesses since I was elected a year ago, and I know that some of them have been struggling. Rising costs, high energy bills, staff shortages and pandemic debts have forced some to close up, or to consider doing so. That will have a knock-on effect on the number of employment and apprenticeship opportunities available to our young people, who have already suffered from years of broken education and isolation during covid, and a lack of special educational needs and disabilities support in schools over the last decade.”
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“They stay in our hotels, B&Bs and holiday lets, drink in our pubs and eat in our array of brilliant cafes and restaurants. The hospitality sector in Cornwall is dynamic, creative, and one of the mainstays of our economy. However, our reliance on what is often still a seasonal sector can make us vulnerable. After the post-covid boom, Cornwall really suffered and by summer 2024 Tim Jones, chairman of South West Business Council, argued that tourism in the south-west as a whole was at its lowest for 10 years. During the peak season, the Cornish population grows fivefold, putting strain on local NHS, water, roads and policing. To give an example, around 700 people turned up to A&E in Cornwall on August bank holiday Monday. Fair Funding for Cornwall is a campaign that Cornish politicians of all stripes have been pushing for years.”
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“I thank the hon. Member for Kingswinford and South Staffordshire (Mike Wood) for leading today’s debate on a subject that is important for all regions in the UK, but particularly for mine. For Cornwall, the visitor sector is still an important core industry. Cornwall is a top UK tourist destination, with tourism providing 15% of Cornwall’s economy. Tourism and hospitality account for one in five jobs in the Duchy and well over 90% of our visitors come from within the UK. In my constituency alone, there are 1,761 hospitality businesses—placing us 21st out of all UK constituencies—with a turnover of more than £4.5 million. Cornwall is a national landscape. People come from far and wide to visit our beautiful beaches and dramatic coastline.”
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“The continuation of funding for local visitor economy partnership programmes, such as Visit Cornwall and the Tourism Industry Council, is important to enable our hospitality sector to market itself at home and abroad. Our hospitality sector in Cornwall has the potential to thrive, but it needs the right conditions and support to do so.”
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“The Government’s new commitment to end zero-hours contracts if—crucially—the employee does not want them, and to provide average-hours contracts, will help. Cornwall has been awarded accreditation as a living wage place, and many firms are very proud of that. The rises in the minimum wage over the years, along with the increase in training needs after the pandemic, have made life difficult for hospitality businesses, but they recognise that paying good wages is crucial for the retention of staff. The potential of a tourism tax—how it could be levied and collected in a way that was not detrimental to our hotels, B&Bs and holiday parks, and that would encompass direct booking websites—has been discussed for a long time in Cornwall.”
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“1 priority for the businesses it represents, so I welcome the Government’s transport funding announcements. Recent upgrades to the A30 were helpful, but protection of our airport public service obligations and upgrades to our rail service —upgrading to electric power or batteries, and providing better wi-fi to make the journey of more than five hours from London to Falmouth more bearable—would be very welcome. Improved bus services are obviously very important. I welcome the commitment to the £3 fare cap, but in rural areas, getting to work and back home is often difficult, particularly after 6 pm, and that needs tackling. There are many opportunities and challenges facing Cornwall and its tourism industry. The challenges include wages and secure working hours, as many jobs in hospitality are insecure.”
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“The industry in Cornwall is supportive of a scheme where safety checks are required for holiday lets, as the good providers are doing those anyway. Registration would also show us where the gluts of holiday let properties are. For people working in the hospitality sector to live in the communities in which they work, we need investment in public transport and to tackle the housing crisis. Measures on second homes and the Government’s pledge to build more council and affordable homes on stuck sites, such as the Pydar development in Truro in my constituency, are welcome. I look forward to a strategic place partnership with Homes England to make that happen for Cornwall. Cornwall’s chamber of commerce has said that better transport connectivity is the No.”
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“As I recall it, we did not specifically consider Scotland—or I certainly did not. The Government did prevent a business rates cliff edge in April 2025 in England by extending business rate relief at a rate of 40% for 2025-26. I would welcome the Minister’s confirmation that those permanently lower rates will compare to current rates, rather than the pre-pandemic ones. I look forward to the launch of the Government’s holiday let registration scheme later this year. If that includes registration of safety check documents and, potentially, inspection, it will ensure safety and quality standards, levelling the playing field between hotels, B&Bs and short-term lets. There are more holiday lets and second homes in Cornwall than there are people on the housing waiting list, which stands at more than 25,000.”
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“I think that the right hon. Gentleman may not have heard that I said in my speech that, on the zero-hours contract provisions in the Employment Rights Bill, there is a choice. If the employee chooses to work under a zero-hours contract, that is fine. The right is to be offered after four weeks.”
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“As one of the most deprived regions of northern Europe, Cornwall benefited from objective 1 structural and sustained prosperity fund funding. Can the Minister confirm that, under this Government, Cornwall will not lose out on funding for economic growth and the investment that our communities deserve?”
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“Falmouth is a thriving town in my constituency, but it is struggling with a deployable neighbourhood policing team that is at only 44% of the minimum recommended capacity. Tregony has just had its police office shut—the only one in a large rural area. This Government have invested heavily in our neighbourhood policing guarantee, but I am concerned that that funding is not flowing through our police and crime commissioner to the places that need it. Will the Leader of the House grant a debate in Government time on the progress of the improvement in neighbourhood policing?”
House of Commons19 June 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Will my hon. Friend agree to include post-industrial towns in places like Cornwall which used to mine and have been post-industrial for longer than many other towns in this country? Now, with opportunities in renewables and critical minerals, they could be rich again under this new industrial strategy.”
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“Our space industry is not just a collection of buildings and equipment; it is a thriving network of people, businesses and educational institutions that has the potential to bring great economic value to the duchy and lift children’s aspirations for generations to come.”
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“We need a national space strategy that recognises the value of regional clusters such as Cornwall’s. We also need strong leadership. The hon. Member for Wyre Forest made a good point about ownership in government; the industry touches many different Departments, but someone needs to grasp it, take ownership and drive it forward. It is often innovative SMEs that drive growth in the space sector, and they need to be supported through contracts rather than one-off grants, as the hon. Member for St Ives said. We must also ensure that the economic benefits of the Cornish space industry are felt by the people who live there, rather than just by people coming in and out—people doing the space sector to us.”
House of Commons11 June 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“It represents what could be a strong, innovative growth sector in Cornwall, bringing specialist jobs to a place that very much needs them. We in Cornwall also have some of the best space courses and career development in the country. Truro and Penwith college, which is in my constituency, offers apprenticeships and degree courses, including the world’s first higher national certificate and higher national diploma in space technologies. The University of Exeter offers space graduate, postgraduate and short courses and workshops, and is a world-leading university for related climate and sustainability research. Cornwall is world leading in this field, but despite being operational, Spaceport Cornwall has received no launch funding for the past two years.”
House of Commons11 June 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“In 2021, it created the world’s first commercial lunar and deep space communications network, and it has a bilateral pilot with the UK space industry, which enables it to provide operational support to international partners. I hope, as I am sure the hon. Member does, that the funding for that will be renewed, because it is an incredible organisation. If the Minister is in the area, she should go and see it. A number of innovative SMEs and start-ups connected to the space industry, as part of Cornwall space cluster, have coalesced around the spaceport in Newquay and Goonhilly. The cluster is growing exponentially; it now has 477 businesses, having grown by 47% since 2018, and generates £116 million gross value added.”
House of Commons11 June 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗