Labour’s Green Prosperity Plan is essential to get Cornwall’s economy moving again, say Labour Parliamentary candidates in Cornwall, Jayne Kirkham and Perran Moon, as new figures show how the Conservatives disastrous mini budget plunged thousands of local people into financial difficulty.

Speaking after the results of the StepChange survey for BBC Money Box showed that a third of adults in Cornwall are forced to cut back on heating and electricity to keep up with debts and bills, Jayne Kirkham (Truro and Falmouth) said: “Everything Labour has set out on climate and energy has been about tackling the cost of living crisis and the climate crisis together. Instead, after the Conservatives’ mini budget that affected mortgages and rent for so many people, they are left to shoulder costs on their own. It simply should not be the case that 1 in 3 people locally are in financial difficulty.”

Perran Moon (Camborne and Redruth) added: “Cornwall is well placed to take advantage of our natural resources of wind, solar, tidal and geothermal energy. We need the jobs that Labour’s Green Prosperity plan will bring to Cornwall to rebuild our economy. Instead we have a combination of low growth, the crisis in public services from the NHS to rail links and ever rising taxes to pay for failure. We need real change now.”

One year on from the mini-budget, that sparked financial instability, new analysis from Labour in Cornwall – building on a StepChange survey for BBC Money Box – reveals a staggering 93,423 adults in Cornwall are forced to cut back on essentials like heating and electricity to keep up with debt repayments. 154,148 are in financial difficulty, and 58,389 have changed their diet to less healthy options to save cash.

A Labour government will grow the economy by:

·       Providing certainty and stability not chaos and short-term fixes: Clear fiscal rules, Office for Value for Money, certainty with a modern industrial strategy 

·       Seizing new opportunities not letting Britain fall behind in the global race: Providing catalytic public investment through our Green Prosperity Plan, updating our planning system to remove barriers to investment in new industries. 

·       Ensuring all parts of the country contribute not tolerating widening inequality: Introducing aTake Back Control Act and setting up a National Wealth Fund to invest in new industries in all parts of the country 

·       Giving working people skills and opportunities not leaving potential untapped: Fixing the apprenticeship levy, improving local employment services and helping first time buyers on the housing ladder. 

·       Building a resilient trading economy not a weak economy exposed to global shocks: Making Brexit work and bringing in a supply chain strategy.