Three things that need to change in politics in this next parliament

There's a lot said in a political campaign and certainly I've written and spoke my fair share. On ideas and policies that matter to me. But my ability to pick out a bad policy and build an argument about it is not a reason to elect me. If that logic ran true it'd be Owen Jones fending off coalition advances, but that's not true.

Electing an MP is about electing someone for their ideals, policies and principles but also electing an individual to represent them both in terms of policy and in terms of locality. I'd happily be an MP at the heart of the debate, trying to hold reason, sending constant missives to the press on how I'm right and everyone else is wrong.  But that's not enough, being a talker and thinker is great but we also need a doer and someone with an eye not just for high politics but an eye to the grass roots. 

I've tried to be this way with my blog, I often write and campaign about lofty ideals, devolution, privatisation, austerity and so on. In between those times I've  campaigned on specific issues. Against the pasty tax and Devonwall. For Superfast Broadband in Penzance town centre. For government investment and attention in Wave Hub, among others. I don't pretend for a minute that it was me alone that shifted these issues. I do feel however I can take credit for inspiring debate and getting the situation into the media and further up the political agenda.

I guess my personal plea to you is this, I feel I can have an impact, I feel that I already do. I've had this impact as a blogger, a tweeter and more recently as a town councillor. If I have a bigger mandate from thursday's vote, I will have more influence and more people will take note of me. More importantly than all of that pay more attention to Cornwall and the issues MK has raised time and again in this election, the failures of centralisation, our poorly performing economy, our low wages and Cornwall's affordable housing need. The opportunities of rethinking politics, having the chance to set our own, new, priorities in Cornwall, the chance that by doing things differently Cornwall can be a better place to live, work and play.

I've raised these three truths at this election a number of times, 1. we don't get fair funding for our public services in Cornwall, 2. the St Ives constituency has the lowest wages in Cornwall, 3. Cornwall is one of the poorest parts of Western Europe. Tory, Lib Dem and Labour have had a chance to sort these out and they haven't. I think the time has come to change that, we must change that. The more of a vote I and Mebyon Kernow get on thursday, the more of a say, MK can have in getting the focus of political minds to address Cornwall's fundamental problems head on and unlock the brighter future that we all know is possible. 

Lib Dems on Cornwall council are lurching to the right, Mebyon Kernow must become the ones offering big ideas and change

Nick Clegg last week launched the Liberal Democrat election campaign in Cornwall. Gone was the radicalism that once defined the party, gone were the big ideas, the visions and the desire to change, replaced with the worthy but uninspiring attacks on money wasted. One of Clegg's leads was this trivial attack on his coalition partners:

Here in Cornwall we’ve even seen the Conservative’s waste money hiring taxis to ferry teas and coffees between council buildings link


Don't get me wrong waste in all facets of the civil services is troubling and needs addressing, where there are examples of money going on non-essential things this should stop. That said I'm not a subscriber to the Tax Payer's Alliance/ Eric Pickles school of thought that tightening up on waste, can somehow counter all of the austerity cuts from central government. That the odd hundreds or even thousand of pounds spent lavishly, can make up for hundreds of millions of pounds in cuts to Cornwall Council's funding. Or in other words a taxi fare, will not ensure there is money to keep public toilets open, or keep a care worker in a job.

This posturing to the right is partly a realisation that being on the left is hard for the Lib Dems to credibly do. Bedroom tax, council tax benefit support cuts, privatisation and of course voting loyally with the Conservatives in Westminster on every policy, makes it impossible to sell this to the electorate. Of course the recent Lib Dem and Tory supported Cornwall Council budget that put jobs cuts in Adult Care and Support and Children, Schools and Families at the forefront too. In the past the Lib Dems have sold themselves as pro Cornish devolution, they even tried selling the centralisation of unitary as such, which it has not been. They've previously tried to be Pro Cornwall, again trying to drown out Mebyon Kernow, but Devonwall, pasty tax, regional pay plans and the continuing underfunding of Cornwall's public services again makes this an argument hard to make in face of the facts. The only way they have left to go is right, they know the Tories are suffering both on Cornwall Council and up in Westminster, so they are trying to steal their votes. You can see on Alex Folkes' blog the attempts to appeal to Tory voters, why Tory ministers ought to agree with Cornwall Council Lib Dems rather than the Tories here: Shapp's agrees more with the Lib Dems than Tories here: Tories look to Lib Dems for leadership and various other posts illustrating that Tory ministers see eye to eye not with the Tory led council but with the Liberal Democrats. It's a shrewd approach by Alex too many in the Lib Dems are trying to continue to paint themselves as a party they clearly are not, credit to him they do need to reposition to the right in their rhetoric to match the new reality. If Eric Pickles has a second home in Cornwall perhaps he might find himself voting Lib Dem on May 2nd...

With the Liberal Democrats vacating the pro Cornwall stance and the left entirely, Mebyon Kernow must rush to fill this gap, we must also show ourselves to be the descendants of the radicalism that the old Liberals once were. With One Nation Labour (under the God of neo-liberalism) tied to the tired old ideas of privatisation, deindustrialization and centralisation. Mebyon Kernow needs to be the party, that is radical that is pushing for change. Whilst the others argue over the fine details of the differences between themselves and drone about who is doing what too fast too slow or too shallow.

Our manifesto I believe does this and can be built upon to show how we are the descendants of Cornwall's radical tradition. For me as much as being pro Cornwall is about devolution and us getting a fair share, it's also about policies that are pro Cornish workers, families and businesses. About real change change that works for people in Kernow.

The ten points of the Putting Cornwall First manifesto.

1. Working to restore faith in local government
2. Protecting public services
3. Winning fair funding for Cornwall
4. Protecting the less well off and vulnerable
5. Safeguarding the Cornish economy
6. Developing pro-Cornwall planning policies
7. Delivering proper local needs housing
8. Protecting the Cornish environment
9. Making Cornwall Council democratic
10. Winning greater recognition for Cornwall

Please take time to read the summaries and the full pdfs and see how we are the party offering big ideas, ambitious change and a better Cornwall. Think differently on May the second, do you want change? do you want ambitious councilors? or do you want more of the same...