The plight of two women at a Penryn firm who are struggling to make ends meet after their working hours were cut, has been raised in the corridors of power in London.

Falmouth’s MP, Julia Goldsworthy, has pressed the Government to help the manufacturing workers who have been put on a three day week due to the recession.

Madeline Blight, from Penryn and Shelley Bennetts, from Falmouth, have both been working at Phi@Falmouth for over 18 years.

Under current legislation, they work too few hours to receive tax credits and too many for Job Seekers Allowance, and they also do not qualify for redundancy.

Ms Goldsworthy used their case to highlight what she said were the “hidden victims” of the recession in Parliament last week, as part of the debate on the Queen’s Speech.

Ms Goldsworthly said: “There must be thousands of skilled workers across Cornwall who are now in a similar position to Madeline and Shelley.

“Their company doesn’t want to lose them because of their skills, but due to a fall in demand from the recession, they have been forced to reduce their hours.

“It is a cruel irony in this case that the firm’s main customers are banks, who have recently received billions of pounds in Government cash – yet local workers get nothing.”