Budget Resolutions

Perran Moon Excerpts

Thursday 27th November 2025 Commons Chamber

[Perran Moon (Camborne and Redruth) (Lab)]

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.