The campaign group Republic is launching a campaign to abolish the title and estates of the Duchy of Cornwall, this is of prime importance to Cornwall. As we know Duke Charles Windsor is one of the biggest landowners in Cornwall, as well as this he has a multitude of rights, privileges and perks that places him in the position of sovereign of Cornwall. Since the position of Duke of Cornwall was created in 1337, successive Dukes have used incomes from Cornwall and in particular mineral rights from the mining industry to build a massive property portfolio that spreads far beyond Cornwall. Suffice to say Charles Windsor is where he is now and rich as he is now as a result of monies raised west of the Tamar. The future of the Duchy of Cornwall and it's Duke should be decided by the people of Cornwall.
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The Republic campaign blasts the office of Duke as 'arcane, archaic and unfair', I certainly have no problem with this assessment. I greatly agree with the Republic's logic. The days of monarchy have passed, people of great power and influence in a democracy ought to be elected and accountable to the people who pay their wages. Further the taxpayer can ill afford to subside others lavish lifestyles especially when they are already extravagantly rich. It sticks in my throat that taxpayers money gets siphoned off for the royals at the same time as the NHS is being sold off as unaffordable and there are recruitments freezes and redundancy drives for teachers, policeman and servicemen. In my household if we were hard up, I'd be thought of as an idiot if I stopped spending money on food and clothes for my family whilst still spending money on ultimately pointless luxuries such as jewellery and foreign holidays, I don't see why this logic hasn't yet penetrated the thick skulls of Westminster.
The Republic group wants to abolish the Duchy of Cornwall and for that money to be 'nationalised' into the treasury. So rather than a millionaire earning an extra £17.8 million a year, this would be spent on essential public services. Republic have put forward this plan:
The campaign calls for stewardship of the estate’s land and property to be transferred to the Crown Estate or a separate board of fully accountable commissioners, with its net profit passing directly to the Treasury for the benefit of all taxpayers.
A good plan, it is a textbook case of nationalising assets, however I think it does Cornwall a disservice and neglects to recognise that Cornwall has provided for centuries the economic backbone of the Duchy estate as it is today. It may sound a crudely simple thing to say but the Duchy would be nothing without Cornwall and this should be recognised if the title of Duke is abolished. As an alternative I would suggest that lands in Cornwall should be gifted to Cornwall, either to Cornwall Council or hopefully to a Cornish assembly. So the considerable landholdings, farms, quarries, beaches and rivers would be run and administered from Cornwall and any profits made reinvested here. This would mean that the considerable holdings outside of Cornwall would be lost to us but we would go a long way to getting back some of the toils of our mining ancestors.
Of course the other big question raised by the prospect of abolishing the Duchy, is what does this mean for Cornwall's constitutional status? It would also break the line of rule through the Cornish kings, Saxon and Norman Earls and English Dukes...
This is Cornwall story on Republic's campaign
Webpage on the Republic site for the anti-Duchy campaign
It's time for the monarchy to disband and lead normal lives like everyone else, rather than sucking the blood out of the country like an eternal vampire. Good for Cornwall and it's good people.
ReplyDeleteAgreed thanks for the comment.
DeleteI think we are all getting side tracked with the whole royals thing.. It is nothing but a tool to bring the issue to the attetion of the greater public. the Duchy itself gives us what we all desire.. RECOGNITION.. If we allow the issue of the Duke of Cornwall to destroy the Duchy itself, we could find that the Powers that be merely absorb Cornwall and its resources into England once and for all.. The way Charles Windor treats and exploits the Duchy is a matter of fact. With that fact is that Cornwall is not part of England. The duchy gives us our legal legitimisations yet the benefactor cares nothing for what we the people of Cornwall desire, self determination. We can't deny this at the moment. The issue of tax avoidance is a good thing from our point of view because it is something that others outside of Cornwall will want addressed, it brings into the rest of British debate tour issues. We need to have something to move toward in the medium term that can unite us all towards a common goal. Shall we start with a tick box on the next cenus forms. I noticed that there was an effort to achieve this before the last census. So anyone and everyone that has a desire for recognition should begin the campaign now. I will be writing to as many Cornish organisations as possible and will attempt to to bring a some kind of common goal, in the next few weeks. Any contact details of such groups that you are aware of please e-mail me martnoye@live.co.uk We have 9 years to prepare! #CornishRecognition
Deleterepublic have an idealised vision of the UK, where instead of a monarchy there would other types of cronyism, perhaps far worse as it would be dressed up as new and modern. far better to have a bunch of duddery aristocrats as head of state than politicians. easier to keep them in line. 17.8million is a drop in the ocean to what the State spend each year. waste of time and energy. far better to campaign for a Cornish Assembly and ignore these silly protests by an organisation looking to promote itself rather than its values.
ReplyDelete...and Republic are running scared at the idea of Independent Scotland. Really is a shame to see Cornish Nationalists giving credence to unionist groups such as this.
DeleteCornish Assembly now, who cares about monarchy etc, sovereignty for Cornwall is more important than worrying about a confused old duke. republic should pick on the real tyrants in this country, and those who profit from them. how about exeter universitys links with dodgy authotarian states who they are happy to take blood money from..
I don't agree that royalty is preferable to elected politicians. They do after all spend millions of our money, the Duke in particular has a right to veto legislation determiental to the Duchy's interests and in return they perform a ceremonial role. I don't think presents value for money for the taxpayer, I won't argue that politicians can be a pain and we don't always agree with them but I'd much rather have someone in charge I could vote out of office than someone in power for the duration of their lives.
DeleteI am not for a moment endorsing Republic it's aims or methods of campaigning. But I do agree with their logic and I also do not like Monarchical rule. There are indeed lots of more important things to be concentrating on. My blog was meant as a comment to Republic's campaign like them or not agree with them or not they are campaigning to rid us of the Duke. My concern upon reading this was the fact that there seems to be no mention made of Cornwall or our important part in funding the Duchy and the historical significance. To clarify creating a republic is not top of my list of priorities but if someone is going to do it, Cornwall should not be ignored.
A really interesting piece which on the whole I generally agree. A shame about the "anonymous" criticisms of Republic when the author of the comment really seems to have little idea of what Republic proposes and the constitutional position of monarchy.
ReplyDeleteThe idea is for a non-political head of state very similar to that which has been popular and successful in Ireland for some time. It requires a fraction of financial support the monarchy receives (£1.7m as opposed to £200m) and the president is completely accountable to the electorate. I'm not quite sure what he/or she means by "organisation looking to promote itself rather than its values"
I think an honest, open and objective debate on this would be really useful hopefully without unconstructive and uninformed rhetoric.
OK I agree my rhetoric was a bit blunt, but again I question why Republic wants to judge the Duchy of Cornwall so superficially. The Duchy is far from archaic - it is very fine tuned corporate machine, and cynical in the extreme. Republic completely fails to address the Cornish Constitutional question. Republic are a unionist organisation - as unionist as the Tory party or UKIP. They are just as much in opposition to Cornish devolution. I am neither a republican nor a royalist. Like most people I don't really care. Ireland is not the same as the UK. We do not have the same culture to elect a genuinely non partisan and broadly popular president. That is because the UK is pretty much on the way out. There is no real UK identity or culture. Britishness will thrive, but politically we are en route for an independent Scotland, and possibily further devolved Welsh government, and Cornwall?
DeleteTo quote the author: "it is a textbook case of nationalising assets". Indeed. More recent history will point out that nationalising assets simply leads to a decline in those assets, never mind that what you are advocating is a straightforward land grab from the private to the public demesne. I wonder if you've considered the cost of compensation for loss of income in your calculations... somehow I rather doubt it.
ReplyDeleteYou raise an interesting point JE, what would be the nature of dethroning Duke Charles, would he be stripped of his lands? or would he be compensated. I dare say he couldn't live off the profits off his biscuits alone...
DeleteWould the Duchy's assets decline in public ownership? is also an interesting question. I must admit this is also something I have done no calculations for. In fact I do not know how well the assets are currently run and how you might be run them differently. Although it is clear that if the 16 million per annum were transferred to public ownership the state would profit from these assets even if it ran them badly.
Republic's idea of Duchy land passing to the Crown Estate omits to mention the current £7bn value of land and property managed by the Crown Estate originally began as personal and private assets of the monarchy, which it gave to the state in return for receiving a yearly 'allowance' (ie. the Civil List).
ReplyDeleteI always find it odd that people who object to the state giving money to the monarchy fail to acknowledge that the state takes far more money from the monarchy than it gives back.
I might be more sympathetic to the monarchist cause if it didn't keep repeating nonsense about Crown or Duchy lands being private property. They are NOT: their title is entirely Parliamentary (1689 and all that) and so can be changed at the will of Parliament. So why should they not be reorganised without compensation, if that's what a democracy decides? (Was any compensation paid when the Crown woods became the Forestry Commission?) Human rights objections? Betty Windsor might argue the point about her own jewellery but no way does she personally own the Crown Jewels or the Continental Shelf. Please refer to the Crown Private Estates Acts (which would be unnecessary if the monarchists were correct in their reasoning).
ReplyDeleteI agree that republicanism is irrelevant to Cornwall so long as it's about replacing an unelected ruler from London with an elected ruler from London. Especially one who thinks that the income from Cornwall's resources should be captured by London to be spent on whatever the chattering classes there decide. Real progress that would be.
Great blog. I agree that the land should be returned to the people of Cornwall rather than absorbed into general government holdings. Cornwall should also get the bona vacantia funds that currently go to Charles Windsor.
ReplyDeleteDan I'm afraid I fully agree with David Robins's comment.
ReplyDeleteAnon thanks good point about bona vacantia.