government position of ignoring Cornish identity is untenable

In July last year the 2nd Cornish national minority report was published. It urged the government to recognise the difference of the Cornish people in law by adding the Cornish into the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, link here to the pdf. Basically this means that the government officially recognises Cornish difference and admits that we are a different people and deserve as much recognition as any other background within the UK. As of yet and as far as I am aware the government has not added the Cornish. This is despite the fact that the Prime Minister himself admitted: "I think Cornish national identity is very powerful". Note he doesn't question whether the Cornish people do form a national identity but accepts it as a fact. He certainly is not alone in the Conservative party, the leader of Cornwall Council co-signed the report as did the leaders of all the party groups on the council: Liberal Democrat, Mebyon Kernow, Labour and the leader of the Independent group. Despite this no action has been taken by the government.

The status of the Cornish and official recognition is a confused and muddled area. On the one hand the government recognises the Cornish language but unlike any other group in the UK they don't recognise the people from which the language belongs. Name any language and any national group in the UK and both their language and their people are recognised in law, whether French, Polish, Welsh, English or Vietnamese. Similarly with the census, the Cornish people have the option to write in Cornish on the form and this is duly recorded, but unlike any other national group we have this option without recognition either in the Framework Convention or the Race Relations Act. The Cornish are in effect in limbo partly recognised here and there and  equally partly ignored. This situation is untenable due to it's inconsistency.

Further too that recent news stories reveal that Cornish identity is on the rise. According to the school survey 41% of school children in Cornwall are recorded (by themselves or their families) as Cornish as opposed to White British.  This trend has increased over the years, the first PLASC survey in 2006 revealed 24% of respondents as Cornish, 2007: 27%, 2008 30%, 2009 34%, 2010 37%. For whatever reason more and more people in Cornwall are identifying as Cornish as opposed to any other identity.

Today the Guardian has published and updated the results of their online survey: How British do you feel?  less scientific it must be said than the schools survey but nonetheless a strong indicator of Cornish identity. Guardian readers were given the opportunity online to enter their postcode and pick a flag. Across the UK 6,549 recorded themselves as British, 8,948 as not British. Of the non-British respondents 2,386 recorded as English, 1,355 Welsh, 2,874 Scottish and 1,309 as others. Unfortunately the Guardian much like the government has not recognised the Cornish for the purposes of the survey, but much like Cameron they have to admit the identity is real and clearly statistically noticeable. By far the greatest concentration of "others" is in Cornwall, to which the Guardian comments: "Another 1,309 people chose other, particularly in Cornwall" link Now we must bear in mind that the questions and options was one dimensional and others may have included anybody not British,Welsh, English, Scottish, Irish, Northern Irish. Nonetheless the frequency of other flags in Cornwall is far greater than any other area. It is safe to assume that these others are mostly Cornish respondents keen to express their identity as such. My good friend John Ellery Bodrugan tampered with the original Guardian map (see here) changing flags for the others to Cornish.

The government position of recognising the Cornish people here and there is slapdash and incoherent. No other group from any corner of the globe faces this muddled approach to recognition why should our corner of this island be singled out like this? There is little point recording Cornish identity on the official census or on the school census or any other census without it meaning anything. The purpose of statistics is to inform policy, without recognition all this hard work and resources spent has no chance of informing anything. The Cornish people have some recognition by the UK government, we do record our identity in diverse ways, there is a clear need for government to catch up with the desires of the Cornish people and concede that we do exist. I don't know why the government don't recognise the Cornish people's identity but fixing this incoherent fudge is really quite simple.

thinking about devolution to Cornwall and a Cornish assembly

I hope all of my readers had a great Xmas and New Year and ate and drank too much (I certainly did) and caught up with family and had a good break. Welcome back and I hope 2012 is a good year for you all.

Just a quick blog to add some comments about a Cornish assembly. I blogged late last year (A Case for a Cornish Assembly) arguing that politics needs to change in Cornwall, to unlock Cornwall's potential. That our poor economy and poor state of governance could be changed with devolution and that politics could work better for the people of Cornwall if we end the decades of centralisation and start having a greater say in our own affairs whilst remaining part of the UK. Today both the Huffington Post and the Independent have picked up on the story about the EDM: Tenth Anniversary of a Cornish Assembly. It seems that people in London are noticing.... The articles in the Indy and Huff Post seem to be remarkably similar, the former leads with Cornish Devolution Campaign Revived by Show of Pan Celtic Unity and the latter has it as Cornwall Devolution Campaign Revived and Backed by Plaid Cymru. The Huffington Post also has an online poll here which stands at the moment with 62% agreeing with "Cornwall should have devolved powers from Westminster".

It is interesting that over half of an international news sites readers have agreed with the campaign. Certainly many of these people will not be from Cornwall so judging how much support in Cornwall this would mean is difficult and interesting, a bit short of conclusive. It is also interesting how the other peoples of the UK view the subject of Cornish devolution, whether they agree that Cornwall suffers at the hands of an over-centralised state or that Cornwall is served well at the moment. Whether Cornish devolution would secure the future of a fairer and more equitable government in the UK or hasten the demise of the union. In short would devolution to Cornwall be a crisis or an opportunity for the UK and Cornwall itself?

On the subject of outside support it must be noted that the EDM itself is up to 10 signatures now, all of Cornwall's Liberal Democrat MPs have now signed following the path forged by Plaid Cymru's MPs, joining them is 3 Labour MPs. It is perhaps disappointing for the campaign that more MPs have not signed, especially so as Cornwall's Lib Dems find themselves isolated from the rest of their party. Perhaps Labour too might have taken this opportunity to redraw their policy toward Cornwall and ditch the "South West Regionalisation" which meant centralisation west of the Tamar and was that unpopular it kick started Mebyon Kernow's assembly campaign and the 50,000 strong petition in the first place. The Tories are curiously silent, the party that brought us the broken promise of a Minister for Cornwall, seem no longer willing to appeal to the people of Cornwall in such ways. It is fair to say that no Westminster-based party seems willing to wholeheartedly advocate a Cornish Assembly, how much of a problem this will be for the campaign remains to be seen.

On the subject of a support it must be noted that Cornwall will need the acceptance of England and her MPs to get an Assembly, we can not decide for ourselves that is not the nature of our relationship within the UK. We need the support of others to get the required legislation through parliament. Ultimately though it ought to be decided by the people of Cornwall the future of our government arrangements. Personally I am completely in favour of a referendum on devolution, I believe the people of Cornwall should decide what kind of powers we want and what is offered to the public in a referendum.

Therefore I believe the most prescient task for those wanting devolution (whichever party and background they come from) is to make coherent arguments about devolution. To convince not only the people of Cornwall but also the people of England and politicians that a Cornish Assembly would be a positive step forward. That Cornwall could better take her place within the UK with more powers, that we could have a stronger economy of benefit to Cornwall, the whole UK and thus the public purse. That devolution need not be feared, no one wants to isolate ourselves from our neighbours, we want to work better with our neighbours but we need our own voice to do so.

We need to make positive arguments about the benefits to everyone, we only need look to London, Wales and Scotland to see how devolution has had a positive impact. Also we can look to Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man to see how devolved powers within the UK works. We might not be the same as these places and want the same things but they teach us that being part of the UK does not necessarily mean being a county where everything significant has to be decided by London. Devolution within the UK works elsewhere why not here in Cornwall?

The 2nd Cornish National Minority Report, some comments

I am certainly not the first to blog about the Cornish submission to the UK government to be included in the Framework Convention  for the Protection of National Minorities, for example see The Cornish Republican: the 2nd Cornish national minority report and  An Helghyer: Recognition at last?. Both are good posts and well worth a read and I just have some comments to add and feel that I can't let something like this go unblogged.

Firstly and foremostly the submission is excellently put together, written and researched and well worth a read for those interested in Cornish history, Cornish identity and why the Cornish do represent a national minority. Here is the submission as a pdf: Cornish National Minority Report 2. It makes a compelling case that Cornish national identity is no more nor less valid than other national identities within the UK and ought to be recognised as such in the Framework Convention.

Secondly and I feel this is a very important point and hopefully a juncture in Cornish politics, the report is co-signed by the leader of Cornwall Council, Alec Robertson (Conservative leader), Doris Ansari (the then leader of the Cornish Liberal Democrats), John Wood (leader of independent Cornish councillors), Dick Cole (leader Mebyon Kernow) and Jude Robinson (leader Cornish Labour Party). So every political party that has been elected in Cornwall and all the party leaders on Cornwall Council have put their names to the report. This political unity is very encouraging and we are lucky in Cornwall that political parties of different ideas and ideologies can come together like this for the common good.

Please do read the Cornish National Minority Report 2 and share it with others, it's an important step for the recognition of Cornish identity and is a seminal moment in Cornish history. As with other campaigns lobbying is paramount and it doesn't take much to write to elected officials, it's very easy to contact them.
Use http://www.writetothem.com/ and enter your postcode to contact your MP and Councillor.
Use http://www.number10.gov.uk/contact-us/ to contact the Prime Minister
and http://www.dpm.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/content/contact-deputy-prime-minister to contact the Deputy Prime Minister.

Solar Farms: why the government should be investing not reducing the feed in tarriff

Recently the coalition government has cut the favourable feed in tariffs for planned solar energy farms, this has had a great effect on Cornwall where many were planned. Cornwall Council (on the 16/5/2011) has written to the government in response to this act. I wholeheartedly agree with the council on this issue, the government should be investing in developing renewable energy and here's some of my reasons why.

Cornwall is land well known for innovation in the sciences and technology, Humphry Davy, Dick Trevithick, John Couch Adams, Henry Trengrouse to name but a few. It is something of great pride to Cornish people that we are vastly overrepresented in terms of our contributions to knowledge in comparison to our size. In this vein, it was with great pride and wonder as a boy to see on the television news of the construction of the UK's first wind farms at Delabole in 1991. It was exciting that something new was being tried, that envelopes were being pushed and new opportunities were emerging.

With a similar mind I had looked forward too the construction of solar farms in Cornwall. The United Kingdom has been extremely tardy in developing this technology and lags seriously behind the likes of Spain, China, Germany, France, the Czech Republic and Canada. (Although there has been investment in other renewable sources of energy, here in Kernow for example Wave Hub in Hayle and Geo Thermal in Redruth.)

Here in Cornwall as elsewhere plans to build solar farms had their feet knocked out from them when the Government announced that the feed in tariff rates were being cut as part of the austerity measures. There is some controversy about the old preferential tariffs, which effectively meant that the government were subsiding solar energy plants. It should be noted that the subsidy still applies to small scale solar panelling such as on houses, but has been cut for the larger 'solar farms'. Although we must be very critical of government spending  and subsidies in this time of economic uncertainty and spending cuts. We should not lose sight of the very real need to develop alternative energy sources at a time when electricity production relies upon finite resources of fossil fuels.

There is a pressing need to nurture, develop and support renewable energy for the future. We face a time when oil and gas prices are rising and where Britain in general and Cornwall in particular is reliant upon importing energy from elsewhere. We have natural resources like abundant sunshine, it is there all the time a latent energy and economic resource just waiting to be tapped into. It is foolish that we do not make more of this.



Image taken from http://www.investincornwall.com/key-business-sectors/environmental-renewable-energy/solar/


Sure enough solar panels are not wholly profitable which is why they were subsidised. But this need not be the case, with investment of public money then the technology can be developed further. Firstly this will allow more trials of solar panels which will iron out problems and over time will evolve the technology to becoming more efficient and productive. Secondly the production of more and more solar panels will benefit from the economies of scale meaning that construction costs and thus purchase of this technology will be cheaper. In much the same way as coal fired and nuclear power stations required lots of investment initially to make them profitable the same is true of new technologies.

With the proper investment, places like Cornwall could make great profits from renewable energy. Becoming more self sufficient for energy needs and possibly exporting electricity to the national grid. Renewable energy is one of the options available at this critical juncture and although it needs considerable development and investment so too would the other alternative: nuclear energy. Fukushima has brought home to the world that nuclear energy is very volatile and very dangerous. And in definite need of investment itself.

The government despite rhetorically being the greenest ever, truly is not, they seem uncommitted to investing in renewable power. A fact that is no doubt hitting home in the Clay Country where the government and the leader of Cornwall Council Alec Robertson are forcing a waste incinerator on the people there and making a mockery of their own claims to being green. Any hope that waste management would rely upon pushing up recycling in Cornwall, large scale food waste bio digestion or even composting are dashed as it would be much easier for Robertson and Pickles that our waste was simply burned.

There is a lot more detail in the Cornwall Council press release of particular interest is the detailed open statement from Councillor Julian German, which outlines in detail the reasons why the end of the preferential feed in tariff is unwelcome. A very good read.

Will the Cornish LEP learn from the mistakes of the RDA?

The government plans to scrap the South West Regional Development Agency and create a Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Economic Partnership presents a great opportunity to rethink economic policy in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly and to take charge of our own destinies. The RDA was geographically distant and democratically not accountable to the people of Cornwall, this resulted in the body being out of touch with public opinion. Economic solutions were delivered from above with little or no meaningful public consultation and regard for the communities involved. This approach must be resisted in creeping into the new LEP. Which hopefully will have a more bottom up approach to policy and planning and seek to foster stronger relations with the public and business communities.

There are many criticisms to be made of the RDA, bad investment decisions such as the Border Books distribution center in St Columb, which had attracted a 3.5 million investment to open. The folding of the South West Film Studios at St Agnes, which resulted in the director being imprisoned on fraud charges, for the 1.87 million of RDA funding.  Also the failed Gaia Energy Center at Delabole, a tourist attraction which had attracted 5 million in RDA funding. The Helston Business Park rounds off the failed ventures of Cornish Objective One money, attracting 2.6 million in RDA investment and has laid empty for three years. Whether the fault in these cases lies with the RDA, economic realities or other factors is beside the point. They are symptomatic of the RDA's insistence in bringing new business into Cornwall and the ignorance shown toward existing businesses and industry. Of course new business should always be sought, but there are often reasons why some businesses have grown organically and others have not. It should never have been the job of the RDA to invest Cornish Objective Money in such a reckless way. There were some successes of the RDA such as the Eden Project and the National Maritime Museum which both tapped into the existing industry of tourism. The University Campus at Tremough in Penryn which had tapped into a long term tangible need for degree level education in Cornwall. (We'll skip over the subsidy given to the Department of Transport for the A30 improvements).

It should be the job of the LEP not only to look to the new but also to foster and support the old. It is no good letting the perpetual Cornish industries of farming and fishing and mining fall by the wayside while bureaucrats experiment with introducing new business and industry. My point is that the RDA sought to impose solutions from above, this resulted in patchy performance and did little to support existing industry and business. Politically too the same approach prevailed in the RDA, far off in Bristol, Exeter and Plymouth, unelected bureaucrats (and a handful of token councillors) and the seemingly obligatory consultants envisaged grand schemes of redevelopment with no regard for the local area or existing tried and tested business and industry.
The prime example of this was South Crofty, closed in 1998 due to costs and regulation, rather than mineral exhaustion. Many hoped that the advent of Objective One money could be used to reopen the mine, to utilise the natural resources of Cornwall and the skills and ingenuity of the Cornish people to create decent jobs and bring money into the area. However this was not to be even when a new concern bought the mine the RDA for years and years spent what must have been a great deal of time and money, drafting plans to bulldoze the surface structures and to redevelop the land. Time and again Compulsory Purchase Orders, were threatened a multitude of plans were put forward including shops, houses a new road and even a leisure center all oblivious to attempts to rework the mine or even the danger and cost of building over mine workings and their associated shafts. After the best part of a decade and High Court Challenges by South Crofty's owners, the RDA finally reluctantly gave in and 'allowed' the old tin mine to be. The implications of acting like lord and master were completely out of tune with the idea of public sector bodies serving the people and encouraging business. It does occur that the fortune spent fighting this protracted battle could have been spent better by both the mine owners on reopening and the RDA on other regeneration projects. (For those interested in the long and winding battle between the mine owners and the RDA here's the Falmouth Packet archive.)




South Crofty Mine Pool, the graffiti reads the words of a folk song by Chris Bryant:
CORNISH LADS ARE FISHERMEN AND CORNISH LADS ARE MINERS TOO,
BUT WHEN THE FISH AND TIN ARE GONE WHAT ARE THE CORNISH BOYS TO DO?
A lament at the loss of the industry but also indicative of the despair felt at the RDAs solutions and methods.
Photo taken from: http://www.cornwallcam.co.uk/bestofinland/scrofty2.htm

 The real challenge for the new LEP is to learn from these mistakes. To not sit in offices and draw up good schemes on paper without any regard for anything else, but to develop organic schemes that work with not against communities. Perhaps this is a little idealistic and that any plan has the possibility of running into opposition, but it is imperative that this opposition is dealt with properly. The bulldozer approach of the RDA seen at South Crofty was not good in terms of public relations, public service or business relations. The people that work in the RDA never seemed to realise that in life problems are best resolved by negotiation and reasoning not threats and ultimatums. Most importantly of all the RDA never seemed to grasp the idea that in a democracy state workers are public servants, employed to work with the people not against them, to promote consensus not conflict. Further the new LEP needs to look at what Cornwall is strong at and nurture existing industries into bigger ones. Hopefully the new LEP will not gamble with Cornish public money in the way the RDA did and invest in strong cases not outside chances.

I sincerely hope that the approach taken by members of Cornwall Council toward the Route Partnership scheme in Penzance is not indicative of what we can expect from the LEP. For the activities there ranked alongside the RDA in terms of bulldozer diplomacy....

Undemocratic, disengaging, insulting, stupid and unsympathetic, five reasons why Devonwall is a bad idea

Undemocratic, disengaging, insulting,

stupid and unsympathetic,
five reasons why Devonwall is a bad idea

There are many reasons why a Devonwall constituency is a bad idea. It’s tempting to list 1074 for this is the number of years since the Cornish border was established (in 936AD) , this would certainly be possible. However for the sake of your sanity and mine the number of objections to Devonwall can be summed up in five reasons. I know there are many more and I haven’t included for example the historical and cultural significance of the Tamar, Cornwall’s constitutional position and the fact that the Cornish like the Welsh, Scottish and English deserve equal political respect under law. I feel these subjects have been ably covered by other writers on their blogs. Anyway my five are perhaps a little procedural and dry but here they are.

1. Firstly and most importantly, the decision to create a Parliamentary Cross- Tamar constituency is wholly undemocratic. The move is opposed by Cornwall’s six Members of Parliament (both the 3 Liberal Democrat and the 3 Conservative), Cornwall Council has voted unanimously against and in addition a large proportion of town and parish councils are opposed. Democratically elected officials from across the Duchy and from all of the political parties do not want a Cross-Tamar MP at the next parliament. There is no desire for a Devonwall constituency in Cornwall.

2. There has been no public consultation about this move, even as the bill is passing through parliament, the public have still not been told if the proposed Devonwall constituency will join West Devon to North Cornwall or Plymouth to South East Cornwall. Before the coalition government came to power all boundary changes were open to public consultation, not anymore. The public simply have no avenue of official interaction with the government over this matter, thus a public rally has been organised.

3. The plans for a Devonwall constituency are part of the plans for reducing the number of MPs which in turn is part of the reform of the electoral system (the AV referendum). So Cornwall stands to lose its political integrity and millennia old border as a footnote to another issue. However insulting this is, it also means that Liberal Democrat MPs in Cornwall will be whipped into voting for electoral reform and forsaking their own beliefs and those of their constituents. 

4. The most prescient practical reason for opposing the Cross-Tamar is the extra unnecessary work for both the MP and local authorities. Again before the Coalition came to power, great attempts were made to keep constituencies within administrative divisions, not anymore. Say for example if the constituency straddles Plymouth and South East Cornwall, the MP will have to liaise with Cornwall Council, Devon County Council and Plymouth City Council, as well as town and parish councils. This would lead to a lot of unnecessary work for both the MP and the Councils, making everyone’s job harder, much more inefficient and reduce the effectiveness of all involved.

5. Although there are historical, cultural and political arguments to be made for keeping ‘Cornwall Whole’ these have so far been ignored by Nick Clegg and the coaliton government.. This is a great shame for there have been special dispensations made to Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland on similar grounds. In the case of our Celtic cousins the strict new rules on constituency size have been waived in favour of common sense. So if there can be exceptions elsewhere in the Celtic nations, why not Celtic Cornwall?

I have listed below some links for those of you that might be interested in reading more/ getting involved:
Keep Cornwall Whole site, including details of the rallies on the 8th, 9th and 10th October.
This campaign is being considered by 38 degrees, please vote for it here.
The Cornish Republican's blog which provides an overview of the subject.