Perran Moon

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—