Commons
Debate
8 December 2025
Child Poverty Strategy
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 …
Commons
Oral Questions
Work and Pensions
8 December 2025
2 contributions
Post-16 Skills Education
17. What steps his Department is taking to help to ensure that post-16 education provides the necessary skills to support the economy.
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 sup…
Commons
Proceedings
3 December 2025
2 contributions
OBR: Resignation of Chair
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?
Selective amnesia.
Commons
Proceedings
27 November 2025
Budget Resolutions
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 Bud…
Commons
Debate
24 November 2025
8 contributions
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
I wholeheartedly agree with my hon. Friend about the overnight stay levy, but I would like it to go further. Cornwall relies a lot on our tourism trade, but it brings with it a whole series of costs that are not recognised in any local government settlement. Cornwall is very long and thin, but by ge…
I rise to speak to new clause 70 in my name. The case for this new clause is clear, because Cornish national minority status must be respected and upheld. Article 16 of the Council of Europe’s framework convention for the protection of national minorities states:
“The Parties shall refrain from mea…
+6 more contributions in this session
Commons
Ministerial Statement
24 November 2025
Critical Minerals Strategy
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 futu…
Commons
Oral Questions
24 November 2025
Topical Questions
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 ind…
Commons
Prime Minister's Questions
Prime Minister
19 November 2025
Engagements
Meur ras, Mr Speaker. On 5 March at the Dispatch Box, the Prime Minister said these words:
“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.]
Since then, I hav…
Commons
Oral Questions
Northern Ireland
19 November 2025
Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023
Yesterday, along with the Veterans Minister, I met a group of special forces veterans based in Cornwall. The legacy Act’s immunity scheme, which would have enabled immunity for terrorists and included other key provisions, was ruled against by our domestic courts. Is it not the case that any new Gov…
Commons
Oral Questions
18 November 2025
2 contributions
Clean Energy: Private Sector Investment
4. What estimate he has made of the value of private sector investment in clean energy since 4 July 2024.
Critical minerals are essential to power our renewable energy future. Since the general election, the National Wealth Fund has invested £28 million into the South Crofty tin mine and £35 million into Cornish Lithium, both in my constituency of Camborne, Redruth and Hayle. This is alongside major cle…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
13 November 2025
Business of the House
This week, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology made the very welcome announcement that animal testing in science is set to be phased out faster, delivering on the Government’s manifesto pledge to strengthen animal welfare. Does the Leader of the House agree with me that, as well as…
Commons
Debate
12 November 2025
8 contributions
Energy
Can the right hon. Member remind the House which party was in power when we reached cripplingly high energy prices that led to the cost of living crisis that we have today?
Robert Gordon University estimates that 90% of the UK’s oil and gas workforce have skills with medium or high transferability to the offshore renewables sector, making them well positioned for the transition. If the SNP does not want those jobs in Scotland, can the Minister please send them to Cornw…
+6 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
11 November 2025
Human Rights Laws
Meur ras, Mr Speaker. There are perhaps other unforeseen consequences of leaving the ECHR, including for the framework convention for the protection of national minorities. Does the Lord Chancellor agree that either the Opposition parties wishing to leave the ECHR have not considered the impact of l…
Commons
Westminster Hall
5 November 2025
2 contributions
Council of Europe and the European Convention on Human Rights
Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
It is an honour to serve under your chairship, Mr Mundell. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Stourbridge (Cat Eccles) on securing this important debate. As a fellow delegate to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, I can personally attest to her dedication in this area.
I …
Commons
Westminster Hall
5 November 2025
Fresh and Nutritious Food: Inequality of Access
I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing this important debate. As he suggests, those in the most deprived communities often face the highest obesity rates, and that is closely linked to limited access to fresh fruit and nutritious food. It may surprise some to know that coastal communities experie…
Commons
Proceedings
30 October 2025
Business of the House
Yesterday, after a sewage pipe burst, excrement flowed into Hayle harbour. That followed the cancellation of the national inter-club surfing championships due to sewage pollution at Porthtowan, and the total and persistent loss of mains water in the village of Chiverton, and comes on the back of ris…
Commons
Oral Questions
Business and Trade
30 October 2025
Topical Questions
Meur ras, Mr Speaker. Spinning out of the industrial strategy is the eagerly awaited critical minerals strategy, the launch of which will happen in due course—or dreckly, as we say in Cornwall. It is of particular interest to my constituency. Canada, the US and Australia have already established new…
Commons
Proceedings
29 October 2025
Gaza and Hamas
There have been recent press reports that the Israeli Government have been arming factions within Gaza in order to destabilise Hamas. Can the Minister comment on any of those reports? What is the position of the British Government on that?
Commons
Oral Questions
Work and Pensions
27 October 2025
Child Poverty: Cornwall
Meur ras, Mr Speaker.
I represent the most deprived constituency in Cornwall, which is itself one of the most deprived areas in northern Europe. Child poverty shot up under the Conservatives. Today our local further education college—Cornwall college, rated “outstanding” by Ofsted—is turning away y…
Commons
Oral Questions
Education
20 October 2025
Children with SEND: Mainstream Schools
On Friday, I attended a meeting in Cornwall of the National Association of Head Teachers. We discussed the adversarial nature of the SEND system for all stakeholders. As we develop a system that focuses on inclusion, does the Minister agree that a key indicator of its success must be that it drives …
Commons
Oral Questions
13 October 2025
Topical Questions
Cornwall’s economic potential is vast. Cornish renewable energy and critical minerals can power the UK’s transition away from a fossil fuel-based economy, but economic development funding through the shared prosperity fund has come to an end. Can the Secretary of State reassure the people of Cornwal…
Commons
Westminster Hall
13 October 2025
Bovine Tuberculosis Control and Badger Culling
Meur ras, Mr Stuart; it is a rare honour to serve under your chairship. I am pleased to speak in this debate. The petition, “End the Badger cull and adopt other approaches to bovine TB control”, had received 102,458 signatures at the final count, 389 of which were from my constituents in Camborne, R…
Commons
Oral Questions
Home Department
15 September 2025
2 contributions
Neighbourhood Policing
4. What recent progress her Department has made on improving neighbourhood policing.
The Devon-based Devon and Cornwall police and crime commissioner announced months ago, with great fanfare, that Camborne in my constituency would be a focus for her. There has been very little evidence of that increased focus since. She also said that Redruth would not be a focus because it was not …
Commons
Debate
11 September 2025
Regional Transport Inequality
Meur ras, Madam Deputy Speaker. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Derby North (Catherine Atkinson) on securing this important debate to highlight the disparity in the effectiveness and adequacy of transport between different regions.
I would like to speak about my constituency of Camborn…
Commons
Proceedings
11 September 2025
2 contributions
UK Ambassador to the US: Appointment Process
The Prime Minister has acted swiftly and decisively. What a contrast with the Conservative party. I note that the shadow Foreign Secretary is not in her place today. What happened when she broke the ministerial code? The Conservatives promoted her. Does the Minister agree that we will not take lectu…
No, Mr Speaker.