A rebuttal of Cornwall Labour's lies and conjecture about a Cornish Assembly and Mebyon Kernow

Today there was a frankly bizarre rebuttal of the idea of a Cornish Assembly from Candy Atherton of the Cornwall Labour party. Bizarre not only because we disagree on the principles of the matter, but on the arguments used. I call on the Labour party to actually talk to people, recognise that there is a desire for more powers to come to Cornwall and not rely on lies, dubious facts and made up stories. The latter I will now explain.


The original article is here: Labour positions itself against Cornish Assembly in face of nationalist call. In it the argument, echoes the Tory line that people do not want extra bureaucrats and politicians. As I've written before, we are already governed at the moment, there are politicians and bureaucrats that deal with the business of administering Cornwall. They are in places like Bristol and London, the Tory/ Labour position is that they stay there. Mebyon Kernow's position is that these jobs, this decision making is brought to Cornwall.

Candy explains in that WMN article:

“The last thing the electorate want is more politicians. I challenge you to knock on doors in a wet October and find more than one in 100."

Interestingly this was done ten years ago, over a while year in wind, rain and sun, doors were knocked and people in town centres were asked. 50,000, 10% of the Cornish electorate signed declarations calling for a Cornish Assembly. The then Prime Minister Tony Blair dismissed these. A fact I'm sure Candy is aware of, as she was at that time a Member of Parliament for Falmouth and Camborne and steadfastly kept to Labour policy of devolving power to Exeter and Plymouth.

I digress, Mebyon Kernow has again taken up this challenge, personally I was with other members of Mebyon Kernow on Truro's Lemon Quay on a cold and windy day in January and over 200 people signed the new declaration that day. I was also at Trevithick Day again not October but soaking wet nonetheless and nearly 300 signatures were added. Now I can't tell you how many people on a wet October day would say yes to Cornwall having more say over our own affairs, I can't because I have not done it. But somehow I strongly suspect neither has anyone in the Labour party in Cornwall. But what I can tell you is that in the wind of january and the wet of april, it was much much higher than 1 in 10 let alone 1 in 100 that spoke to us and afterwards signed the petition. As proof there are over 500 signatures from those two days alone, testifying to that fact. Its a sad day when the only argument against something is based on something blatantly no one has tried. Perhaps we will have a wet october and Labour can try out Candy's theory?

Candy also goes on to say that:

"Mebyon Kernow are not exactly top of the pops. Mebyon Kernow’s vote has halved.”

Now this one is perplexing, firstly supporting a policy needn't mean supporting a party. The Cornish Assembly petition I mentioned above was written by MK and promoted by MK activists, yet MK has never received 50,000 votes even across the whole of Cornwall. 

Secondly, unless there's been an election I'm not aware of in which MK did spectacularly badly, this is not even factually correct. MK results in the 2009 Cornwall Council election: 3 candidates elected with a total of 4.3% of the total vote in Cornwall. In the 2013 Cornwall Council elections: 4 candidates elected with 4.8% of the vote. Unless I'm missing something 4 councillors is more than 3 and 4.8% is more than 4.3%. MK's general election record shows a similar trend more votes and a bigger percentage consistently each election. 

There have been 2 Cornwall Council by elections with MK candidates. Although Stephen Richardson's vote share went down by 6.6% from 25.2% to 18.6%, he rose from third to second. In Mabe Perranarwothal and St Gluvias, Karen Sumser- Lupson gained 4.7% of the vote, in a division we had not stood in before. Not a net gain for us over all but still by any ones maths our vote did not halve. It is clear "Mebyon Kernow's vote has halved" is a figment of Labour's imagination.

This is symptomatic of the whole Labour approach to devolution in Cornwall and the idea of a Cornish assembly. There is no considered thought, let alone research/ statistics or door knocking to base their views. It is a knee jerk reaction and one based on a very simplistic view of politics. Sadly (and I thought we could expect more from Cornwall Labour) conjecture intermingles with damn right lies about Mebyon Kernow- the Party for Cornwall. 

I strongly believe that devolution is a very real possibility for Cornwall at the moment and politicians need to give all of the options considered thought. I'm not saying everyone ought to agree that a Cornish Assembly is the way forward but it is a realistic proposal and needs serious consideration. I challenge naysayers like the Labour party to look at what Mebyon Kernow is proposing and whatever the Lib Dems or anyone else come forward with. Come up with criticism that shows you understand the issues, the proposals and the pros and cons, not just glib remarks. Better still try knocking some doors or talking to people in the street. 13 years ago a huge part of Cornwall's population were denied a referendum on a Cornish Assembly. It would be a mistake for Labour to continue the legacy of denying the people a choice out of hand.

On a side note how depressing is it that Miliband, Brown and Darling are putting a lot of thought and effort into offering a whole raft of powers to Scotland, yet here a fraction of those powers isn't even worth Labour making a coherent and factual argument. 

Answers from Labour about the European elections

In the last of my European election series of blogs, the turn comes of Labour. Not the best to last nor the worst just simply one of the first to initially respond and last to clarify party policy. It certainly is an interesting election for the Labour party, in some senses they are on the up and bouncing back from the very low ebb of 2009 and indeed 2010. In the last European elections they polled 15.7% and came in third across the UK behind the Conservatives and UKip. In the South West (and Cornwall and Gibraltar) they got 7.7% of the vote over all (but only 5% in Cornwall) failing to gain an MEP.

In the recent South West opinion poll in the Western Morning News Labour received 25% polling below UKip on 44% but above the Conservatives on 14% and the Green Party on 10% and the Lib Dems on 6%. But polls should always be taken with some caution this is the only South West opinion poll and it was published on the 1st of May from field work a month ago now. Things may well have changed since then and there is no other polls to compare it's accuracy. For those that enjoy electoral geekry there's a great poll of polls for the 2009 Euro election on wikipedia, it interestingly shows Labour gained less votes than any opinion poll had indicated. So after talking around the subject what are Labour's chances? well they aren't strong in the South West, they have strongholds in cities like Exeter and Plymouth but struggle in the less urban areas. They could well gain an MEP at this election and profit from the plummeting of the Liberal Democrats, but perhaps the Greens could challenge them or the right wing duo of Conservatives and UKIP gain enough votes to squeeze them out. Could they win? yes, will they win? don't know.

So anyway to the subject of the blog finally, the answers come from Jude Robinson one of the 2 prospective MEPs that actually live in Cornwall. But unfortunately for Jude she's quite far down the party list in fifth position, so if Labour get 5 MEPs the ex Cornwall Councillor will be one of them. Despite this I am impressed my answers found the way to someone who knows something of Cornish issues and on the other hand a bit disappointed to not have the thoughts of their lead candidate Clare Moody. Credit to Jude Robinson she was the only respondent to include the party manifesto in the email and the Pan European PES manifesto too. As with the others the answers are here unedited, comments on all of the emails to come in a later post. I've bumped the question on the Common Agricultural Policy to the end as it's long and involved:

1. If elected as an MEP what would you most like to achieve in the next parliament?

Jobs and growth across Europe, linked to higher standards of living for people - as opposed to higher bonuses for those ' at the top'. 

2. What is your party's goal in this term of the parliament?

Manifestos attached. 

3. Is the European Union a force for good  in Cornwall at the moment? Why or why not?

Yes. The third round of convergence will be coming on stream soon, bringing a total of around £1 billion in funding. Most people I speak to want decent homes, jobs and a better standard of living. Without a stronger economy we will never achieve those for people here. 

4. Could the EU be doing more for Cornwall?

I don't really understand this one. Should Cornwall do more for the EU? The funding is rarely acknowledged and we have Ukip MEPs who want to take us out of the EU and hardly bother to turn up at the parliament. That is madness. The EU has a democratic structure and if Cornwall wants more, we need to elect MEPs who will work for us not squander public money on websites fighting their own silly battles against Europe. 

5. If there is a referendum on the UK's place in the EU, would you campaign for or against UK membership?

Unequivocally for. 
6. Should Cornwall have a greater say in the EU, how might this be achieved?

We elect MEPs, I think people forget that. Perhaps it is because some of our current MEPs do not work hard enough to be accountable, to build links with Cornwall and to feed back?  A Labour MEP, if elected, would be active here and be clearly accountable.  It is such a waste of time electing Ukip MEPs, who don't want to work in Europe for us and have poor attendance records. Vote Labour. 

7. Do you think Cornish fishermen get a good deal from the Common Fisheries Policy? What aspects of the CFP would you defend and which would you change?

I need to look into this.

8. Do you think Cornish farmers get a good deal from the Common Agricultural Policy? What aspects of the CAP would you defend and which would you change?

As above. 

9. Have European Structural Funds (Objective 1, Convergence) been a success in Cornwall? how should future funding be allocated?

Big question. Yes, on the whole I think successful - especially the university/innovation centres and growth of knowledge economy. I think it will be a while before the benefits are obvious, at the moment they are there and growing but not well known. I hope you have visited at least one of the Innovation Centres. 

10. The Cornish have recently been recognised as a national minority. Is this a good thing? How does this apply to an MEP?

Yes, it's a good thing and I signed up to the minority report. It is a European status and any MEP in the South West must have regard to it and to proper consultation and acknowledgement of the status when discussing and deciding on policies that affect Cornwall/ 

The agreement on the future of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is a "serious missed opportunity".

The European Parliament's Agriculture Committee has decided on a range of funding measures for the next seven years and whilst Labour welcomes some moves towards reform, the majority of the proposals were weak and unambitious.

The scope of the agreement was decided by the European Parliament's CAP negotiating team and it will face a final vote by all MEPs in the autumn, once the wider EU budget has been finalised.

Labour has always maintained that we need to bring an end to inefficient farming and promote sustainable, competitive models that benefit rural communities as well as the wider public

It is good that the new agreement has prioritised the need for greater transparency when it comes to spending on agriculture. This is taxpayers money and they have the right to know how it is spent, so members of the public will be able to find out how much beneficiaries of CAP receive and what they are using the funds for.

But in addition to greater transparency, Labour also proposed a series of radical reforms to ensure that farming in the UK and EU as a whole is modern, green and fit for the future. Unfortunately, we've seen most of these proposals rejected in favour of the status quo.

Labour believes that the funding allocations proposed in the agreement will undo much of the limited agricultural progress already achieved, and has criticised the UK government for not pushing for more reform when the CAP was discussed in the European Council.

We’ve ended up with an agreement between the European Parliament and national governments that is a real step backwards. Its supporter say there will be more money for environmental measures, but in reality there seem to be few tangible environmental benefits..

On top of the limited environmental gains, it is a real shame that there will be even more money spent on production subsidies, or to put it another way - more money wasted on inefficient farming. These are funds that could be much better spent on rural development programmes, to stimulate competitiveness and enhance biodiversity."

Labour supported CAP reforms that would have promoted financial efficiency, environmental protection and investment in our prized rural communities, whilst at the same time rewarding good farming practices. Despite a real opportunity for radical change, we've been left with an unambitious agreement that fails to fully reform the CAP.