Devolution for Cornwall a nod in the right direction

Today David Cameron will come to Cornwall and outline a devolution deal for Cornwall (Council). As always the devil will be in the detail and we have to be cautious of what is said and what actually comes to pass.

However it would be churlish of me to dismiss the deal out of hand. I've written before and spoke at hustings earlier this year, about freeing Cornwall from the dead hand of Westminster. Allowing us to be free from policies that don't suit Cornwall. Although there is much progress talked about in the media, there is still work to do. As much as it gladdens me that Cornwall will gain back control of European funding, be free to develop renewable energy, integrate and join up hospitals and health care, to make public transport make more sense by aligning bus and train times. 

My criticisms are about what it does not include. Planning and housing are not included, the promise of being able to develop a Cornish planning policy framework and redefining affordable housing to mean something to people on local wages are sorely lacking. As is powers to define here what housing numbers are needed and of course the option to limit second homes. In all these areas one size fits all policies from Westminster will continue to reign. Housing and planning is just one area and there are similar comments to be made about others.

I do think it was a grave mistake for the government's deal to not be debated in the public realm. It falls well short of Cornwall Council's Case for Cornwall, although many such as Bernard Deacon have criticised it's lack of public engagement. It is at least a great deal more than the government's deal which hasn't even had the pretence of public consultation and wasn't even discussed by Cornwall Councillors in public session. 

Fundamentally it must be said it means giving Cornwall Council more powers. It is already the largest unitary authority in the 'country'. I still do not feel that the centralisation of local government to Truro was a process that was completed satisfactorily and that the unitary authority ever really found it's feet. What makes the Cornish devolution deal a landmark case is not the fact that it is the first "rural area" i.e. non city, it is the fact that it is devolution without any new structures or institutions. Wales got an assembly as did London, Scotland got a parliament, various cities got new mayors. It looks as though Cornwall Council will be given a whole raft of powers without anything new, no new politicians and no elections. 

As anyone that's ever read my blog before will know I am wholly in favour of a Cornish assembly. Devolving power to a new body with a strategic focus and the ability to set funding priorities and make new laws. Underneath that having local government to do what local government does. My fundamental criticism is that the Cornwall Council deal will be a fudge of both being neither a national strategic government nor a local administrative one. Perhaps I will be proved wrong, I wait with baited breath... 

Over all though this must be welcomed as a step in the right direction, even for it's flaws. A brief chink in the armour of the overly centralised state in which we live. I sincerely hope the freedoms that are given to Cornwall Councillors are utilised to the best possible advantage. The Welsh politician Ron Davies said that "devolution was a process not an event" I think we have to see this in that context and hope it is true in our case...

See also the Mebyon Kernow press release on the devolution deal here. 

Devolution is coming to Cornwall, how you vote on thursday will have a huge effect on how ambitious our settlement will be

Devolution is an idea often talked about and little understood. What does devolvement mean? What will change? 

The simple answer to all these questions is a "great deal", the complicated one "that's up to you?"

In the last year or so all of the political parties have addressed the issue of Cornish devolution.

Labour Tory (and UKIP) say a Cornish Assembly would be too costly. Both concede powers should be devolved from the centre. Whether that means to local government? to mayors? Or perhaps to new bodies, both are keen on authorities working with each other, perhaps the ever fated Devonwall or Westcountry devolution will happen and we'll be ruled by Bristol...

The Liberal Democrats talk of devolution on demand, unfortunately unlike say Netflix, there is no preview button. They have committed to a Cornish assembly  (rather vaguely and half heartedly it must be said). They've also pledged to reduce the number of politicians in Cornwall. So they both want more powers to Cornwall Council with less councillors. Bigger budgets and responsibilities with less, oversight, scrutiny and accountability, a true example of Cleggism, being neither liberal nor democratic....

Cornwall Council have the most enthusiastic campaign, the Case for Cornwall. Which has it's merits, it's well presented and has some support in the council. Probably a bit dissapointing for the council that no political party at this general election has come out in support of the campaign. Which is odd as most candidates in Cornwall speak in favour of it and could have taken up this document to champion.

Meanwhile Mebyon Kernow have a policy document, Towards a National Assembly for Cornwall. It has been widely consulted on and spells out what powers we think Cornwall needs. It is by far the most ambitious in the powers and responsibilities it calls for. 

My argument is this, devolution will be a huge issue with the next government. Whichever of the coalitions takes office, power will be devolved. What shape that will be and how effective that could be in forging a better Cornwall, is undecided.

Parties will offer various pitches about how this election is crucially about tuition fees, austerity, climate change, the NHS, the economy, housing, low wages. I've heard all my fellow candidates utter these things. They've made some very good arguments. Clearly explained the problems of these things and why they're such vital issues.

My counter argument is this, yes we must address these vital issues and now, of course we must. However, rather than fight a pitched battle here and a pitched battle there against the entire government system. Vote for MK and push with us for devolution for these vital issues to Cornwall. So the people we need to influence, to change policy, live among us and are elected by the people and held to account by them. So we can look to a future where the privatisation of public services is a Cornish decision. So the definitions of affordable housing and actually building some genuinely affordable housing, is not ruled out by a ministerial decree. So we can have the tools to fix our communities by dealing with second homes. So we can have buses that work in unison with trains, where we can adjust our fares and timetables without meeting central government disapproval. So we can finally have the tools to deal with the problem of being one of the least economically productive parts of Europe and actually improve the Cornish economy. 

It's obviously up to you how you vote on May the seventh. Do be wary though, that devolution will be a massive issue and it will be led by MPs. My view is we need to be ambitious with the future. We need to aim higher and get the most powers and control over funding that we can. If you vote for Mebyon Kernow candidates on thursday you will be voting for the most ambitious people determined to win the most powers, freedoms and funding from central government. 

https://www.mebyonkernow.org/pages/cornish_assembly.php

Winning the Cornish devolution debate at hustings

mebyonkernow.org
Posted by Mebyon Kernow- the Party for Cornwall on Sunday, 19 April 2015

Obviously the idea of getting more powers for Cornwall is a central plank of Mebyon Kernow's election campaign. Myself like all of the candidates are taking every opportunity to raise the issue, on leaflets, online, on the doorstep and at hustings. I've been pleased at how well received the ideas of devolution have been at the various hustings I have attended, especially when I have given examples of the kids of policies we could change if it was in Cornwall's power to do so.

Now I have attended 6 hustings with all of the 6 candidates. The same questions come up time and again at every debate. It's intriguing what candidates say and how that develops over time, I have certainly heard a few, not only making the same points as candidates had previously but even given the very same examples. I think this is partly because we all have different experiences and knowledge and we learn from each other. Although I must say I try not to 'copy and paste' others.

What I have found fascinating is that a few times I have spoken about devolution in terms of planning and housing policy and in terms of public transport policies. We need in both regards policies that suit Cornwall. We have planning policies that allow second homes to rip apart our communities, affordable housing definitions that are meaningless for people on local wages. Yet at the same time we have huge housing developments going up everywhere completely not dealing with the actual housing need we have in Cornwall. It's my argument that we need to make these decisions in Cornwall not let them be taken 300 miles away, so we can have policies that address these issues.

Similarly for public transport we need devolution, all of the rules and policies governing this are currently taken in London and imposed on Cornwall Council. We need local decision making in order to have trains that fit into bus times, so that you can get off one without waiting ages for the other. With more powers to a Cornish assembly we could have a greater say over public transport providers and make sure that buses and trains suit the needs of passengers and indeed the roads, infrastructure and geography of Cornwall.

At the beginning of the debates none of the candidates would talk about devolution in this regard, they would address the issues but talk about them in a general manner. However as time has gone on, I've heard nearly each one of my fellow PPCs argue that transport needs to be devolved to Cornwall, not simply copying what I have said by any means but developing their own arguments and giving their own examples.

I guess at this stage I should be worried about these "tanks on my lawn". I'm not because it's simple to see none of the other parties have a clear idea of what power they would like to see devolved to Cornwall. Far from being worried about this, it's a pleasure to see that the candidates have recognised the strength both of my arguments and of the positive response of people in audiences. There's a real demand for more local decision making and if elected as an MP I would press the case very strongly to the next government. If I'm not elected, I sincerely hope whoever is remembers what they said at hustings and actually does something about it. The time for talking about Cornish devolution is over, the time has come to start demanding powers from central government, Cornwall has had enough of empty promises...

Cornwall needs proper devolution to a Cornish assembly

For the 16 weeks up to the general election the West Briton and Cornishman have asked each candidate to write 200 words on a question put by readers for every day until the 6th I'll post my answers here, hope you enjoy readin any questions get in touch with me on twitter @cernyw or email me robscornishblog@gmail.com

“Should more power be devolved to Cornwall and, if so, in what form? 

If the answer is ‘no’, please say why not.”

For me the question: should Cornwall have more power? Is like asking if I’d like to spend my money

or if I’d like someone else to spend it. Although I might sometimes spend my money wisely and

other times come back with magic beans, it’s about choice. I’d prefer it was my decision, so I could

spend my money, on my priorities and if I end up with a beanstalk, I’ve only myself to blame!

That is the nub of it, currently our taxes travel 300 miles, there they decide how to spend it and send

the money back. People that make these decisions aren’t elected by the people of Cornwall and they

don’t have to live with their decisions day in day out. We need decision making by people that live

here and are accountable to us.


For too long we’ve seen our industries fade, earnings fall and house prices rise with little interest

from successive Westminster governments. This situation must stop. We need the powers to make

our own policies: to foster Cornish successes and address our own problems. Cornwall needs a law

making assembly.

To see Mebyon Kernow’s detailed plans for an assembly go to our website.

Although welcome, the council's case for Cornwall is not enough, vote MK to stand up for a strong Cornwall

Cornwall Council have released their ideas for devolution and they are asking people to 'Stand up for Cornwall'. Starting an online campaign to get more powers for the council. This was recently taken to the full council, the Mebyon Kernow group proposed an amendment that the case be widened to include a Cornish assembly. Unfortunately these was not enough ambition among the Cornwall Councillors (including the Lib Dems who tell us they are in favour of a Cornish assembly). The document we are left with is to ask government to give more powers and responsibilities to Cornwall Council.

Despite this lack of ambition and leaving most of the powers under the control of the dead hand of Westminster, it is tagged stand up for Cornwall!

I spoke to Radio Cornwall about this last week. I spoke about John Pollard and Cornwall Council being on the right track and identifying the right problems but not the right solutions. I don't think Cornwall Council is well placed to take on more powers. What we need is proper devolution to a new body not one that runs nearly everything in Cornwall. I believe the unitary authority is already overly centralised and giving the more powers would only make this worse, I don't think anybody wants an omnipotent Cornwall Council! You can listen to the interview here (skip to 26:50).

There is an election coming up, people that want Cornwall to have more of a say over decisions in Cornwall. Those with vision  and courage that want a new way of doing things, the powers to unleash our potential and deal with our own problems, need to vote Mebyon Kernow. The other parties will all wax lyrical about the powers they will devolve to Cornwall because they know there is distrust of central government but Cornwall will not get a fair crack of the whip until we have politicians elected that promote policies they truly believe in.

Make the difference, stand up for a strong Cornwall and vote MK.

Mebyon Kernow Cornish Assembly plans unveiled

On St Piran's day, MK launched our document Towards a National Assembly for Cornwall availble here as a pdf. In it we outline the powers that Cornwall needs, there are arguments for these responsibilities and an explanation of how things will work. This document was originally launched a year ago. In that time it has been out to consultation with party members and these comments were considered. After that it went out to public consultation and the same process happened. As a result the document is much more robust as it has had a collective input into it.

The broad outline for a Cornish Assembly in the document is that it should be a national legislative assembly, not giving more powers to Cornwall Council. Instead a fundamental rethink of how services are delivered in Cornwall, and many policy areas devolved from Westminster and Whitehall to Cornwall. This isn't about renaming local government it's about bringing real powers to Cornwall and having the crucial decisions made here in Cornwall by people elected and accountable to us not by bureaucrats hundreds of miles away who can act with impunity.

In this way Mebyon Kernow's plans present a whole new slant of devolution. Not simply devolving existing government powers and functions to Cornwall, but also bringing public services and their administration back into public hands. Ending privatisation and abolishing the various quangos and trusts that have an increasing say on public services but are neither elected by nor accountable to the people.

I had intended to review MK's devolution plans alongside the Lib Dems also announced on St Piran's day. However I can not find anything concrete (save for press releases) from them. Slightly disappointing really, as they are an established party of government and as such get millions of pounds of taxpayers money to develop policy, perhaps this lack of commitment and substance is indicative of their approach.

I'm sympathetic to the opinions expressed by the academic Ben Gilby in his article "Cornish Assembly - Can we sit down and talk about this, please?" and of a similar thrust from the Western Morning News London editor Graeme Demianyk in his "Why 'divide and rule' could scupper a Cornish Assembly".  However nearly 5 years in government and Cornwall has watched on as Wales has been given more power, English cities too and Scotland offered a whole host of devolution. I really have to question whether the Liberal Democrats are serious about a Cornish Assembly?

Further when Cornwall Council discussed their version of devolution aka "a Case for Cornwall" the MK group proposed an amendment that this be extended to be more ambitious and the document changed to include the option of a Cornish Assembly. This did not pass, if the Liberal Democrat group had supported this it certainly would have. Further if they had got this into the original case for Cornwall (as they part of the ruling coalition) then it would be a truly a case for Cornwall and not a request for a few more powers for Cornwall Council. The minutes are here.

More missed opportunities for the Lib Dems to push proper devolution to Cornwall onto the agenda. Much like the latter part of the first decade of this century, when the Lib Dems had control of Cornwall County Council and all of Cornwall's MPs, there was little progress on furthering their stated aim of devolution to Cornwall. The real sad thing is that the only conclusion to be drawn is that this is electioneering, sad because many people vote Lib Dem and indeed are members as they think they are the kind of brave radicals that will support positive change like a Cornish assembly. The reality is they are quite scared to be brave and promote radical change and if they'd had the desire this could have been 5 years of successful government for them. I urge people that want more powers for Cornwall to vote Mebyon Kernow a party that is serious about it year round whether there is an election looming or not.

2014 a pivotal year for Cornish devolution

In early 2013 I wrote a post reviewing the last year and focusing on devolution in 2012. The idea was to highlight how the debate had come along in that year and how publicity for the cause had grown. Looking back at that no, it is easy to see how far the issue has come. Back in 2012 there was the odd mention here and there in 2014 it has ballooned and it would now be an unenviable task to link to all of the mentions of a Cornish assembly and devolution. 2014 was an important year in this debate and I review some of the debates below, for MK and the other political parties, Cornwall Council's recent interventions and looking to the new year and the future for the Cornish devolution movement.

Part of this story can only be understood by casting our gaze north and looking to Scotland and the huge events around the independence referendum. Mebyon Kernow's reaction to the indyref was to welcome the opportunity to rethink the structure of the UK. Whilst everyone considered the previously unthinkable idea of Scotland breaking up the union. MK set to the task of making people consider the idea of more power to Cornwall, not independence but devolution to Cornwall.

The Tory MP Sarah Newton had a cynical take on this approach as she put it: “Predictably supporters of a Cornish Assembly are jumping on the independence bandwagon." link Since the referendum was called MK had worked hard getting Cornwall's claim to more powers on the agenda. Cynical? perhaps. A great opportunity to strive for a better Cornwall and to make that argument? definitely.

For Mebyon Kernow's part we've launched an assembly document titled: "Towards a National Assembly for Cornwall" (pdf link). This outlines our ideas for devolution and the powers we think Cornwall needs under a law making assembly. This document sparked debate and went out first to consultation of the party membership and latterly a public consultation. Alongside the donkey work of laying out this vision into a 28 page booklet. We have campaigned online, through blogs and social media, press releases, tv appearances and roadshows at events around Cornwall.

However we are not the only ones campaigning for devolution There have been notable interventions by members of the Cornish Constitutional Convention, most notably 2 senior Cornwall Councilors Julian German and Bert Biscoe (both Independent). Julian wrote a piece called "Why Cornwall's case for a regional government is strong" in the Western Morning News. Bert wrote in the same newspaper: "We are the region most likely to make a success of devolution." as you can from the titles, they're strong pieces and both well worth a read.

In terms of parties the Greens are worth mentioning first. They've always been technically in support of devolution to a Cornish Assembly but are not always that forward about it. Their intervention at the start of the year was bold and brave. They endorsed MK's devolution plans and even the leader of the Green Party came to Cornwall to meet Dick Cole and pledge that parties support for a Cornish Assembly and ultimately Mebyon Kernow's vision. I say bold as most parties go to great lengths to undermine other parties, nice to see someone willing to do politics differently.

Of the established parties the Lib Dems seem the most enthusiastic about Cornish devolution, mostly due to the fact that Labour and the Tories have very little interest. But Clegg's party puts out muddled comments about Cornwall and more powers and their campaigning is on the subject is very limited. The cause of this inertia seems to be disagreements between what shape devolution should take. On the one hand there is MK's position devolution needs to be to a new body, that has law making powers and is not run by Westminster. On the other there's an idea of having more responsibilities to Cornwall Council but leaving central government most of the say. The Lib Dems seem on the fence. Some talk of a legislative assembly others more powers to local government.

This is all despite the fact they passed at Spring Conference a policy on devolution titled: "Power to the People" which was lauded as a great leap forward for Cornwall. But is in itself muddled it mentions Cornwall a few times: "Propose an English Devolution Enabling Act whereby
legislative devolution is in principle available to Cornwall" (P.11)

Then later:
"Our vision is of greater power being exercised by either:
• Strengthened, existing institutions (such as the unitary
Cornwall Council), or
• Agreement to new institutions covering a wider area than
existing local authorities, or
• Simple associations of existing local authorities working
together to exercise the powers they choose to have
devolved (this scenario is most likely in areas where fewer
powers are sought)."

Despite this confusion between a legislative assembly and more powers for Cornwall Council, Julia Goldworthy uses this to boast: "Ours is the only UK party committed at the highest level to a Cornish Assembly, and we have the capacity to deliver it." link. The reality is this commitment is confused and muddled and not backed up by firm ideas. Which is a shame because the Lib Dems have been in government for five years and have failed to use this time to push Cornish devolution (in whichever form) onto the government's agenda. With bleak prospects for the general election, the idea the Lib Dems will have the capacity to deliver it post May is looking very unlikely.

In the last year much has changed in the devolution debate, the Lib Dems have talked about it. Mebyon Kernow and the Greens have supported firm ideas and campaigners and councillors have expressed opinions. The debate has changed and developed. However for the Tories and Labour this process has passed them by completely. The important Survation Poll which asked people about devolution, revealed 60% in favour of taking power from the center to Cornwall a further 49% were in favour of a Cornish Assembly. This must have phased them, as both remain both against a Cornish Assembly and generally dismissive of the idea of devolution.

Both Labour and Tory supplement their support for central rule with vague ideas about giving more powers to Cornwall. unfortunately these ideas solidify into little else but glib comments. There is no detail, no plan, no party policy, it is almost as though both wish to stick their heads in the sand and not have to deal with the question of Cornwall's governance and the opportunity more powers presents to Cornwall. UKIP in this regard seem similar. It's to the detriment of Cornish politics that neither of the three will dedicate any time or energy to constitutional matters and enter into the debate in a mature and interested fashion. This inertia has led to all three being rudderless and adrift from public opinion which is generally in favour of more powers to Cornwall.

The most impressive intervention (to my mind) in 2014 was from John Pollard. An independent councillor and leader of Cornwall Council, under his leadership the council has produced plans. I may not agree with all of the points. But I haven't talked about them thus far so won't be too critical on them (I'll lave that for a later date). As John Pollard himself wrote:

"Mebyon Kernow, not surprisingly felt that the whole document lacked ambition. While understanding that view, I am certain that we need to discuss the achievable and then build to anything more. This is why we have published a list of the things we need now and a list of what we would ask for next.

So the next few weeks will be interesting to say the least. I was sent a cutting from the Metro – the free London newspaper which had the headline – Council Leader ask for Home Rule for Cornwall! Well hardly, but…………………………………"
link.

The next year has the massive event of the general election, this will politicise the debate on Cornish devolution. Hopefully the debate will widen and Tories, UKIP and Labour will realise that this may not be their idea but it is an elephant in the room and that big beast may well sit on them if they aren't careful. Hopefully the Lib Dems will gain some realism and work towards proper plans with other people and retire their notion that they are a big player in UK politics and will continue to be. For Mebyon Kernow and other campaigners dedicated to getting powers for Cornwall. We have the opportunity of a general election and a new government. 2014 is a year that people have pushed like never before, 2015 will be no different. After the general election and whatever happens in it, devolution campaigners ought to put aisde their differences and work to get a deal that Cornwall wants. The first step in this process is by talking to people, taking time to understand what people want, not what politicians want. 2015 is a year of opportunity, those that like central rule will try to distract and derail the push for more power, but I could well imagine sitting here this time next year with significant more progress towards a National Assembly for Cornwall. Well that's my new year wish.....

Blydhen Nowydh Da
Happy New Year

p.s. you know the debate is getting more varied when you can review the year without finding time to talk about the recognition of the Cornish people back on St George's day, good times :)

Tories block devolution to Cornwall to keep power in Westminster's hands

Whilst here in Cornwall we might fantasise about how things could change with devolution. How powers to make decisions in Cornwall would lead to solutions suited to us not to central government. How we might break the status quo of low wages, high house prices and being one of the least economically productive parts of the EU. At the same time David Cameron has pledged to keep the status quo and retighten the grip on the purse strings. Ruling out devolution of tax raising powers. 

This is ridicously short sighted and ignores the fact most states in the world are happy for not every simple decision to be made in the capital. Local tax raising is a common sense solution. As anyone can see, without a vested interest in how much tax is raised and thus how well the economy is doing, what is the impetus for authorities to focus on growth?

The system of the vast majority of taxes going to the center and it deciding what to distribute outwards is a nonsense and leads to an economy where the capital grows and the periphery struggles. A situation where Cornwall will always struggle and continues to face a future where infrastructure investments lags decades behind.

The Prime Minister shows an abject lack of faith in the people and the usual unambitious desire to limit decision making to the inner circle of the M25. As with Cornwall's Tories response to devolution to Cornwall it's about keeping power in the hands of the select few in London including them and in the hands of George Osborne. The party interest trumps the interests of Cornwall. The same is true of Labour they do not want power distributed across the UK and something as powerful as a Cornish assembly is so hated as it suits their parties and their desire for retaining ultimate control in Downing street. This self serving interest is why none of them, including David Cameron, even think of asking people here what they think, what their ambitions for Cornwall are. The lesson from Scotland is the Tories and Labour will offer considerable powers if it curtails independence and losing of much more power.

This whole process of the PM deciding off the cuff what wil happen, illustrates what is wrong with the current system. The decisions about Cornwall's future are not decided by the people of Cornwall nor people elected by us. So much for democracy!

Eustice flashes a glimpse at the unambitious Cornish devolution fag packet

Conservative MP for Camborne, Hayle and Redruth, George Eustice has come out against a Cornish

Eustice's priority English votes for English laws

Assembly. As regular readers can tell I have some frustration that on one side of the debate Mebyon Kernow have detailed plans of what powers we would like to see devolved to Cornwall and how relationships with central government would be redrawn and on the other hand Tories and Labour making vague promises of more powers to Cornwall accompanied with various hollow soundbites. The Lib Dems typically are on the fence, at times pledging a Cornish Assembly, other times non specific powers to Cornwall and completeing all the possible options pledging more power to Cornwall Council. George Eustice has of course finally provided a glimpse of what powers he would 'consider' being devolved to Cornwall Council and the list is neither long nor ambitious.

George is quoted on the Cornishman website after waxing lyrical about English Votes for English Laws, as an afterthought he considers his constituency and Cornish votes:

"an opportunity to consider giving more powers over issues like heritage and culture to Cornwall Council which I would support." link.

Although I agree, heritage and culture should be devolved, there's no real reason these things need to be decided and administered centrally for Cornwall or anywhere. But in the case of Cornwall with recent recognition of the Cornish as a National Minority there is great utility in devolving this. So that the terms of the Framework Convention can be met and that organisations can work to specifically protect Cornish heritage, history, culture and identity in the way that is done for English heritage, history, culture and identity at the moment.

Back to devolution these are the things George would consider being devolved heritage and culture, interestingly the DEFRA parliamentary under secretary for state does not advocate devolution of nature, farming or fishing. Or indeed other vitally important things like transport, health and social care, policing, business rates or crucially spending. George is happy for Westminster to hold the purse strings and take all the important decisions that effect Cornwall. Even the city deals announced gave Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle, Nottingham, Manchester and Sheffield more powers than George Eustice wants for Cornwall. I'd love to say Cornwall was at the back of the queue for devolution but out Tories aren't even bothered to consider getting in line let alone push their way to the front.

As well as an off the cuff look at powers for Cornwall. George also said:

“However, we definitely do not need to waste money on flash new parliament buildings and yet another tier of politicians so I completely disagree with the idea of a Welsh style assembly in Cornwall.” link. 

It's worth considering other events along with these words. Recently George Eustice was one of the most active of the 91 rebels who fought against plans to shrink the number of members in the House of Lords and reduce costs (among other things) because "Lords reform isn't a priority for voters". Also the House of Commons is due to have a refurb that is estimated (politicians are coy on the subject) to be £3 billion, George Eustice's take on that? an ominous silence. If you want Mebyon Kernow's views on flash new buildings? this taken from our assembly document FAQs:

Q8. Would the new Assembly need a new purpose-built 

building?

A8. Mebyon Kernow considers that the National Assembly of 

Cornwall would not need such a new building. It is the view 

of the Party for Cornwall that existing buildings already in 

the public sector, such as New County Hall, could 

accommodate the new democratic settlement for Cornwall.

It's depressing that the politicians elected to represent the people of Cornwall, can't take the issue of devolution seriously. In an ideal world George Eustice's priorities would be Camborne, Hayle and Redruth first and Westminster second but unfortunately he's more than willing to campaign for governance in Westminster on issues like English Votes for English Laws and to resist any modernisation of the House of Lords but when it comes to Cornwall's governance he can't even be bothered to consider lifting a finger. Perhaps George might find that campaigning so effectively for English votes and ignoring Cornwall completely might cost him Cornish votes at the ballot box? Vote for MK's excellent candidate next may Loveday Jenkin.

No plan for devolution for powers and no understanding of a Cornish Assembly from political elite

I blogged a while back on the lack of plans for devolution to Cornwall Council as (flippantly) promised by the Labour and Tory parties. the title of the blog was: "When will Labour and the Tories let everyone see their back of a fag packet ideas for powers to Cornwall Council?" Which unusually for a title of one of my blogs, pretty much sums up my view on the subject, there's no clear plan. I've since realised that a lot of Cornish politicians are far from being on the same page with me about this. That nailing down what powers Cornwall should have, what laws we could write, what budgets we'd have to spend and what relationships it should have with Westminster, the EU, Wales, Scotland and the South West of England is actually something far advanced of where they are in the book. It's pretty clear many of them are stuck on chapter 1; what is devolution and how do people view it.

After watching BBC Sunday Politics South West, it was clear that particularly Michael Foster and
Sheryll Murray are very passionate about the deficit. They can quote facts and figures that show both Labour and Tories are absolutely wonderful and always did the right thing by the economy (yawn). Similarly on the subject of housing, they are well informed and both raise some interesting points. However when it came to devolution that passion was gone the facts and figures were absent. We might expect a debate about should Westminster retain power over business rates or should that be devolved to a Cornish Assembly? should the power to raise rates on second homes be Cornwall's choice? Or something like what are the pros and cons of devolution to Wales and Scotland, ought we skip the various commissions and argue for more powers now rather than over time? Or even fundamentally what priorities should Cornwall expect from government be it hundreds of miles away or closer to home?

The debate is currently a lot more superficial than that. The fundamental questions that are being grappled with elsewhere are largely ignored by the Conservatives and Labour in Cornwall. The proverbial wood is not even in the corner of their eyes, wholly obscured by a single tree (incidentally the Tory party logo). I know people like me that see direct rule from London as a bad thing are always going to want our politicians to consider these things properly. But it's not just me, devolution is being discussed everywhere. In the corridors of power they are discussing things like what relations local government should have with central government, what powers should be Westminster's and which should go to the nations, regions and cities, who should control spending. At the moment this is happening without meaningful input from Cornwall's Labour and Conservative politicians into these discussions. It's time for them to step up and actually care as much about Cornwall's governance as they do about the history of housing and the deficit in the UK. Because the risk is that this government or the next will come up with their own ideas and we won't like them, either because they ignore Cornwall (again) or because they want to foster some kind of odd South West/ Devonwall devolution or pretend Cornwall is a city and give us a mayor. Devolution will be opportunity that we miss out on if Cornwall's politicians are caught napping.

If any Labour or Tory politicians want to skip ahead a few chapters on devolution might I suggest, Mebyon Kernow's Towards a National Assembly for Cornwall or the Cornish Constitutional Convention website particularly their publications page. Or even talk to their party colleagues in Wales and Scotland who have repeatedly tripped over themselves to give more powers, proper devolution, more funding and a better deal for those places.

For everyone else why not sign the Cornish Assembly petition and email your local Tory and Labour reps and tell them Cornwall wants a fair deal for once.

When will Labour and the Tories let everyone see their back of a fag packet ideas for powers to Cornwall Council?

Over the last week, various Cornish politicians have scampered to try to have a position on what Cornwall should get from any new constitutional settlement. They have unbelievably been caught on the hop by the fall out of the Scottish independence vote. Now they are finding themselves trying to both acknowledge Cornwall doesn't do well from direct London rule and at the same time say that bringing significant decision making to Cornwall would be a bad thing. That's quite a tight rope to walk, as such it would be no surprise that their ideas would be a bit of a fudge. But that's the rub, they don't really have any ideas, no proposals and no clue how devolution to Cornwall Council would work. Unless they smoke king size fags I expect the back only has room for "no to a Cornish Assembly, keep power in Westminster." But I'm willing to be wrong and I'd love to see what Labour, the Tories and the Independent group on Cornwall Council, would like to see the future to be. (I've left out the Lib Dems as some of them are in favour of an assembly and some in favour of more powers to Cornwall Council).

Thankfully this is unlike Mebyon Kernow as we were well aware that such a situation would arise from either result after the vote in Scotland. Our document Towards a National Assembly of Cornwall is due to be republished in the coming weeks, after going through a consultation of party members and the general public. We have clear ideas of what powers Cornwall should have, what responsibilities should no longer be in distant politicians hands. We've talked to people about these during various events across Cornwall and online. These are clear, well thought out ideas.

My challenge to the Labour and Conservative parties is for them to come clean, either separately or together spell out what powers they want for Cornwall. How they think it would work? How it would make things better?

Or even better to admit that they issued these hollow statements in response to Mebyon Kernow's ideas. In an effort to snub out growing support for MK by pretending to offer what we are. To come clean, that they are not really interested in devolution and the reason they have no plans and not even a coherent argument is that they are happy with direct London rule for Cornwall as that suits their parties better.

5 things that might have been different with a Cornish Assembly

What is a Cornish Assembly? How would it be different from Cornwall Council? Mebyon Kernow's argument is that we need a legislative national assembly, meaning Cornwall can make it's own laws, decide it's own priorities but remain within the UK, it means fundamental change and for some that's scary. So I thought here I would talk about MK's ideas and provide some examples of what could have been different and hopefully show making decisions in Cornwall need not be feared.

I say could because the spending priorities and legislation would be the responsibility of the assembly members elected by the people of Cornwall. The public may have elected people to do things other than the 5 ideas listed below, but here's what I think would have been vote winners:

1. Temple would have been dualled ages ago.

Dualling of Temple (and indeed Goss Moor before it) well over a decade was spent lobbying government to improve the A30 here. Despite accidents, tailbacks, costs to Cornish imports and exports and the efforts of people, organisations and politicians from Cornwall it has taken so long. (Even now it will not be a proper dual carriageway and Cornwall Council is bearing the brunt of some of the cost, but that's another matter.)

The A30 is crucial to Cornwall as is the A38 but as they are trunk roads, the decision making on them is centralised to the Highway's Agency, the Department of Transport (DofT) and the Transport Minister Conservative MP for the Derbyshire Dales: Patrick McLoughlin. Which effectively means the people that decide may never have driven these roads at all. It is my belief that if the decision making for this had been devolved to Cornwall, it would have been a higher priority. That civil servants who know these routes well would realise their importance because of it. The same for the politicians and as they would be directly answerable and accountable to the people of Cornwall they would have bowed to public pressure much sooner.

2. Wave Hub would be up and running years earlier

The pioneering Wavehub, installed in 2010 is a device for testing experimental renewables, but did not get hooked up to any test devices until June 2014.  When the coalition government came to power they transferred ownership from the RDA to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) under the supervision of Vince Cable Liberal Democrat MP for Twickenham. Power and decision making went to London, to people not directly accountable to Cornwall.

Again bureaucrats and politicians in Cornwall would be well aware that economic development is needed. That there is a veritable treasure trove of wealth to be made across Cornwall through wind and tidal energy. The proving the both the concepts of test devices and the energy of Cornwall could spark more industry and jobs in Cornwall.

3. Housing policy could be made in Cornwall

There are a number of housing issues in Cornwall, the problem is indeed complex. There is the huge questions of people not being able to afford to buy homes, second homes, empty / derelict properties and overdevelopment. The solutions to these things aren't simple make no mistake, it would be a challenge for anyone to fix these things. However it is within the power of Westminster and Whitehall (i.e the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) under Eric Pickles Tory MP for Brentwood and Ongar) to make changes but unfortunately they flit between ignoring the issues and making token gestures. I have no doubt given the tools to address these issues civil servants and politicians in a Cornish Assembly would do so, they might not fully succeed but at least they would give it a go. Perhaps they could do things unthinkable up the line, like invest in (truly) affordable housing?

4. The damage for the floods would have been fixed sooner

The damage by last winters floods did millions of damage. Thankfully Cornwall Council have started work fixing the damage, Down this way Newlyn Green looks very good and work on Penzance prom has started. Unfortunately despite the money is no object rhetoric it is my understanding Cornwall Council has not yet received any of the promised monies from government.

Responsibility for government support schemes for flood damage falls into a few government categories David Cameron MP Conservative Witney, Pickle's DCLG, DEFRA, DOfT and BIS. All centralised in London. They have responsibilities for a huge amount of things across the UK, perhaps not surprising that getting Cornwall back on it's feet after the storms and honouring the PM's hasty promises is not top of the to do list.

5 Hospital services would not be centralised to Treliske and Derriford

Even though the management of hospitals and care in Cornwall has passed through various organisational changes. The policy of closing down smaller hospitals in the furthest reaches of Cornwall has continued without pausing for breath. Unfortunately none of these organisational changes have involved making management more open and accountable to the people of Cornwall. This is indicative of the changes Mebyon Kernow would like a Cornish Assembly to bring. To make decisions like closing down Poltair and downgrading West Cornwall Hospital the responsibility of people open and accountable to the people of Cornwall and elected by them.

These are only 5 things, there are perhaps hundreds we could choose, perhaps Cornwall couldn't afford to do all of them. There would still be discussions and debates to be had, there would still be decisions I or anyone else might not like. However we could all directly influence these debates, vote for the politicians directly involved with these important issues, or vote them out as we so wish. There would still be priorities but these would be set here in Cornwall, by people living here not by people who probably couldn't find Temple, or Hayle or Newlyn on a map.

Mebyon Kernow's plans for a Cornish Assembly are ambitious we don't want merely want more powers to Cornwall Council. Many of these 5 examples could not be done by anything short of a law making assembly. MK want Cornwall to make a huge leap forward in our governance to start having a say in the big strategic decisions, to take influence from Westminster and redistribute it locally. This would mean a big step up for Cornwall, making our own decisions would mean a big step up for politicians in Cornwall and it would mean a big step up for the voters of Cornwall. I hope people can see the positives of us all taking more responsibility.

Mebyon Kernow's Towards a National Assembly of Cornwall document is available here.

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. 

A plea to the Lib Dems, don't reinvent the wheel, get on board with Mebyon Kernow's Cornish assembly ideas

Over the last few weeks the Liberal Democrats have started to campaign on the issue of Cornish devolution. Various pleas have gone around to mount a campaign and lately even a survey on people's ideas. My plea here is for them to stop reinventing the wheel and work with the campaign Mebyon Kernow already have. Over the last year MK have campaigned on the issue of a Cornish Assembly, we've held roadshows, got petitions signed, talked about it in the press, launched a consultation document, posted about it online and a whole host of other things. Why start a ground up campaign, when there is a body of work already there? Especially as the need to make a case to government is now, if Cornwall is to gain devolution the case needs to be made very very soon.

I know the Lib Dems have officially joined Cornwall Council's campaigns to get more powers transferred to the local authority. To beef up local government. But I think many in the Liberal Democrats know in their heart of hearts that Cornwall Council struggles with the power it has. It is widely seen as distant and too centralised to adequately represent all of Cornwall at the same time. It's relationship with the towns and parishes is already strained and Cornwall needs local government reform. I know Liberal Democrats agree with me on this, I've read your election leaflets, tweets and spoken to many of you about it.

Besides which there is a distinct lack of ambition with these plans, slightly more say over this and that won't change a great deal. Whereas MK is calling for government departments, quangos and other public bodies to be devolved. We don't want a token power here or there, we want the power to make decisions and the people and offices moved here into Cornwall that will carry out this change. As a nice aside we would then with devolution take jobs the Cornish taxpayer already pays for and bring them back here, more jobs west of the Tamar.

The Liberal Democrats passed a Cornish Assembly as party policy back in March and no further work has been done on this. It is clear to me that the central leadership of the party are happy to play with idea but they will not bring it forward themselves. I'm trying to appeal to some of you so I'm sorry to be blunt but the chances of both the Lib Dems being in government again after the next election and the party leadership then pushing it onto the agenda are very slim. This is a unique opportunity and may not present itself again for a long time. I do think many grass roots Lib Dems in Cornwall are sincere about the need for a Cornish Assembly and don't want to rebrand Cornwall Council a Cornish Assembly, any more than I do. I appreciate no one wants to break ranks and disagree with the Cornwall Council group's policy of localism in conjunction with the Independents. But you don't really want that any more than I do. You voted at conference for a Cornish Assembly not this hotch potch of localism masquerading as proper devolution.

There is two things that need doing, firstly the argument to the Cornish public needs making, consensus needs to be built. Secondly the hands of those in Westminster need forcing. If the Lib Dems in Cornwall present ideas like Mebyon Kernow's devolution document with public support to local councillors and MPs they and the leadership will have to support it. Cameron will have to follow suit. The Tories in Cornwall have a poor understanding of devolution and thus a weak argument. This great demon of an 'expensive layer of bureaucracy' they so fear, already exists in Whitehall. A strong and wide assembly campaign can easily dismiss the notion we shouldn't move jobs and public spending west of the Tamar for fear of upsetting ministers.

The timetable for getting a proposal before government is tight, if the promises both made to Scotland and by Cameron are kept to. Plans need to be before government in a matter of weeks. If we don't get bespoke plans before government we will end up with whatever they think adequate and probably, what they offer everyone else. Which will no doubt be along the lines of what Cornwall Council is proposing. Or even worse perhaps they will offer us an elected mayor and rename us a city!

The time has come for Cornwall to take matters into our own hands. For the decisions crucial to us, to our environment, our people, our economy to be made here in Cornwall not 300 odd miles away. That process can start now with working together to get decent devolution on the agenda. I heard -for the first time in a long time- a Lib Dem saying on the news that the party wants a federal United Kingdom. Lets see Cornwall playing a full part in that federation.

The Cornish Assembly document is here
Please if you know a Lib Dem, forward to this to them or at least convince them to be bold and brave on this issue.

The indyref and the time Scotland dared to dream

The Scottish Independence referendum, although like many politically attuned people I've thought about little else recently. It's hard for the gravity of the situation to truly sink in. We can see from the scramble of politicians to Scotland and their frenzied activity to convince the Scottish people that the UK can change, that I'm certainly not the only one!

Events in Scotland, will send an earthquake originating in Scotland but with it's epicentre in Westminster and through UK politics (or perhaps rUK). In the event of either a yes or a no vote there will be chaos. The status quo will die this week, all of the assumptions about central government knowing best and blind faith in their judgement will end.

Quite what all of this will mean is yet to be seen, will the neo-liberal view of economics remain intact? or to put it another way will the market and big business remain so powerful in politics? Will austerity remain the basis for all economic thought? Will we see a resurgence in front-line public services? We might see the nature of the state being challenged? How the UK is governed being rethought? Could Mebyon Kernow's long held goal of a Cornish Assembly come into being? The whole of politics itself could be questioned from the House of Lords down to parish councils. What is the role of the monarchy? The UK's place in the world might be reconsidered. Whether the UK retains nuclear weapons and even remains at the top table of the United Nations Security Council will be questioned.

All of these things are mights and maybes, not because the people of Scotland will vote yes or no. But because the whole process of having a vote on the future of Scotland, calls into question the fundamentals of the UK. If the UK was the strong powerful, 'great power' it once was none of this would be possible. Nevertheless these matters are mights and maybes because there are powerful voices in the established order and throughout the Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties that would defend the old order bitterly and would try to curtail even a serious debate on these subjects.

I think the permanent removal of the fundamentals of the UK as a debating point is an unteneable position for two reasons. Firstly as the whole Scottish vote, the whole process of the debate and referendum in Scotland has put them on the agenda. Secondly and this relates to the title of this blog 'The indyref and the time Scotland dared to dream' and dream it certainly has, with enough, imagination, energy and debate for scores of countries let alone one. I think the whole of the UK needs to have a robust debate about the fundamentals, rather than struggle to stuff the cat back in the bag, if that's even possible.

The amount of debate in Scotland is truly inspirational and puts to shame the normal debates around general elections. It shows when the media and public debates focussing not on the same old parties talking from London on the same old subjects, but widens this out the debate becomes much more varied, interesting and overall engaging.

I admire Scotland, I always have, but that admiration has grown in the last year. They have dared to dream and I wonder if that capacity to dream and to question the underlying principles of the UK can be constrained within the UK in the event of a no vote. Politicians often talk about listening to people and engaging the public in debates, these people and indeed all of us would do well to look north. A casual disinterest in politics and low turnouts in election is not a certainty. People can be engaged on a huge scale.

Whatever happens on thursday, Scotland is in a better place for the process and is the only place at the moment in the UK that can call itself a democracy in any meaningful sense. Whatever you decide Scotland, good luck and keep dreaming of a better world.

A progressive case for a Cornish Assembly

I'm on holiday at the moment in Aberystwyth, but here's an article I wrote a while back for Country Standard which features in their latest magazine. I was trying to present an alternate argument for devolution to Cornwall, let me know what you think?

Just firstly to introduce myself I am Rob Simmons a member of Mebyon Kernow- the Party for Cornwall a town councillor in Penzance and the party's general election candidate for the St Ives constituency next May. Like many people in MK I see myself as a progressive and I am proud that one of my first initiatives on the town council was to persuade the council to introduce the living wage for employees. But of course I am as well as a de-centralist. Many of the things I would like to change in Cornwall are to do with social policy as much as they are to do with constitutional change, below is my argument that a Cornish Assembly would be progressive and ought to be supported by people who want fundamental change where ever and whomever they might be. 

We live in interesting times in politics whatever your views on the subjects. The rise of the Green party, the NHA and indeed UKIP in the polls and of course the anti cuts movement, the dispute between the Trade Unions and the Labour party, more powers for the Welsh assembly, localism and the Scottish referendum. Politics is in a period of great flux, certainties that have held for decades and centuries are no longer holding. Things are changing and there are moves in Cornwall to make a great change to the landscape of British politics; devolution to a Cornish Assembly. 

But why should progressives care? indeed why should anyone without a heart full of Cornish pride even bat an eye lid at this idea? I think firstly everyone concedes that politics in the UK is vastly over centralised, nearly every facet of local government is dominated by the austerity agenda of the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats. Sure there are choices to be made in every local authority but these are within the constraints of Westminster's agenda. Every political party concedes that centralisation is a fundamental problem, Labour planned democratic regional assemblies these fell by the way side. The coalition talks a great deal of localism but with the last gasps of that government (thankfully) coming to an end, it seems that localism will go the same way as New Labour plans and become only of interest to historians. Whilst the Labour government and the Tory/Lib Dem one have ummed and erred about how plans will actually pan out. Cornwall has patiently been sitting at the back of the class with our hands firmly up but government like a teacher with failing eye sight hasn't yet caught the master's attention. 

Centralisation is not just a question of constitutional or governmental matters. It is also very evident in economics although the way regional statistics across wide ranging areas doesn't help our understanding. It's only from these kind of catch all analysis that we can make the assumption that the south is rich and the north is poor. The finer detail is that wealth emanates from the capital, slowly leaching out to the Home Counties and reducing as we travel further north and west and in Cornwall's case south west. 306 miles way from Penzance lies London the richest city in Europe and one of the richest in the whole world, yet here Cornwall is one of the poorest places in the whole EU and has recently slipped behind everywhere in the UK to be the poorest region in Britain. The ward I represent is one of the most deprived in Cornwall, there are long terms problems with unemployment, health, low wages and housing. I know that not everything in London is rosy, that among the 72 billionaires there is also real hardship. That economic productivity and the creation of wealth does not necessarily mean a rise in living standards across the board. But this is a separate subject and it is very clear that the London model or rampant neo-liberalism is not one that I would like to see replicated here. It nevertheless holds thought that increasing productivity is a way of making an area better off. For this to happen I would argue Cornwall needs devolution. 

Recently Mebyon Kernow launched a Campaign for a Cornish Assembly with various roadshows in Cornish towns, an internet campaign and a consultation document on our plans for devolution. This document titled: "Towards a National Assembly for Cornwall" is available on the MK website (https://www.mebyonkernow.org/pages/cornish_assembly.php). Our plans are for a fundamental redrawing of governance in Cornwall with both powers devolved from central government to the assembly and powers passed down within Cornwall. For the new assembly to take responsibility for areas like Agriculture, Fishing and Food Production, Health, Energy Policy, Housing and Social Services. Take the various quangos and trusts that run all manner of services back under public control. These ideas are out for consultation which ends soon and we welcome comments from members of the public and organisations on them. Fundamentally what we want is freedom from Westminster to make our own decisions, to find the solutions that our unique to our situation. To see if we can make a better go of thinks and to try to pick up the economy of Cornwall. Right wingers will often say that we are to poor for devolution, but we think that we are to poor for the status quo, things are not right at the moment and doing nothing will not change that. 

I'd love to make the kinds of arguments that are being made at the moment in Scotland that Independence would bring a more progressive government. But not only are we not going for separation from the UK our promises for the changes it might bring are also more modest. I'd love to write here that a Cornish Assembly would see Cornwall's workers earning a living wage, that services like the NHS would be run for the good of front-line services and accountable to the people not shareholders but those situations might not happen. It's no good promising these things. But there are signs that governance in Cornwall might be more progressive with devolution. Despite the fact Cornwall's MPs are split evenly between the coalition partners and that has been the case in the past. (Ignoring the very real possibility of a Lib Dem wipe out next year for a moment). The lower you get down local government the more progressives there are and the more signs that parties like Mebyon Kernow, the Greens and Labour are an active part of politics. Cornwall Council even itself outed the last Conservative leader because he tried to force through a massive privatisation scheme. Since last years elections, despite there only being 4 MK, 8 Labour and 1 Green members on Cornwall Council and they are dwarfed by the 123 others dominated mainly by the 29 Conservatives and 37 Liberal Democrats. There are also 36 independents, between this hotchpotch and despite the overbearing austerity they are currently investigating ways of  all of the authorities workforce being paid the living wage. A progressive Cornish assembly is by no means a dead cert but please don't write off Cornwall as fundamentally regressive based on party rosettes. 

So I started this with a question why should progressives care? I think my argument is this, Cornwall needs change, the economy is far from thriving under centralised rule. We need to do things differently, the wealth created in the financial sectors of the city, like so much else, doesn't trickle down here. My appeal to progressives is not just because I am one, it is because I believe progressives are the people with vision, that is what unites us most. The desire to build a better society, to legislate for fairness the willingness to not go along with the powers that be, unquestioningly. To dare to dream and to not fear change. I call on each and everyone of you to consider what I have written, consider the changes we propose, look at our ideas and if you agree please sign the petition.

My party's website is here https://www.mebyonkernow.org/
My own blog here http://robscornishblog.blogspot.co.uk/

Just when you think we're getting somewhere, Devonwall and South West regionalism both rear their ugly heads

You'd think things were all fine and dandy, the Cornish have recognition now, the government might just keep it's hands off Cornwall's Euro money and the Cornish Assembly campaign gathering pace. But no were dealing with Westminster so nothing is ever that simple.

Devonwall may well come back to haunt us, it seems the powers that be are still intent on redrawing parliamentary boundaries. Much like the Euro funding u turn, it's not exactly clear what is going on. With some of the ruling coalition telling us Devonwall will return and others saying it won't. So perhaps I'm scaremongering about nothing, but with this lot and their other great policy ideas, I wouldn't be surprised. I don't think it's a coincidence that people are talking about it.

On to the other lot and their "great" ideas, rebranded New Labour have rebranded their old regionalist ideas. Digging through the archives we find John Prescott promising regional powerhouses through the regional development agencies in 1998. 16 years on we now find Miliband taking a break from eating bacon sandwiches to promise pretty much the same thing as Prescott, though I reckon the latter looks most normal when eating a bacon sandwich, a sign things do change?

Rebranded and jigged the idea is now "super councils." Hard to see the detail on this one but the Welsh Assembly Government (Labour) is currently at the moment planning their own super councils aka council mergers. Hopefully this isn't being rolled out everywhere because I don't think many in Cornwall saw the creation (again by Labour and the Lib Dems) of Cornwall Council as super in any way.

LEPs are clearly something Labour is considering as Labour's Lord Adonis told the Western Morning News:

“I wouldn’t want to anticipate what would be the ideal LEP arrangement for the South West. But you’ve already got large LEP regions there and they do embrace real economic geographies. So I don’t see any reason why in principal you couldn’t have combined authorities in the South West.”

A Devonwall LEP on the cards? or perhaps I don't know maybe we could call it the South West Regional Development Agency? 

Again we find Cornwall wanting devolution and pretty broad consensus around the idea that Cornwall needs some form of devolution. Although I'm sure we could all argue about the details, but we won't ever get a chance when devolution/ localism/ regionalism is something forced on local government by central government. We need MPs in Cornwall that will convince central government that we want devolution here and that we want to decide on what terms. Or else history will repeat itself over and over again and we will see government after government rehashing Devonwall style ideas and them telling Cornwall what's good for us. Resulting in no real power being ever devolved and constant rehashing of existing bodies. 

A welcome to the European funding u turn and the scandal no one wants to talk about

In the last few days there's been something of a whirlwind campaign against government plans to seize control of Cornwall's European funding. Quite why this has come out now is not abundantly clear. But it did. After a flurry of Conservative and Liberal Democrat press releases condemning (rightly) this centralisation there's now been a u turn. But the real scandal no one wants to talk about is why the delay in the next round of 'cohesion' funding.

Well not quite a u turn, depending on your view of a u turn. If I drive in my car to London get to Stonehenge and turn around that's a u turn. If I plan to drive to London and get talked out of it and never drive there is that a u turn? It's much the same with this. Apparently the 'government was considering a proposal', quite who in the government this came from isn't abundantly clear. But I guess someone somewhere thought government should take control of all of the ERDF funding centrally, hardly surprising considering the government's patronising approach to decentralisation. Now it seems the government line has softened. Compare and contrast this with a statement by Vince Cable last June, outlining a done deal on local control on ERDF funding.  

But not softened completely the car's still destined to drive some of the way to London. The announcement is that central government will let Cornwall decide to spend it's own money, once Westminster has signed it off as ok. Don't get me wrong this is infinitely preferable to losing the hundreds of jobs widely quoted in administering this money in Cornwall but why should London know best?

The real scandal of course is why the Convergence period ran from 1st of January 2007 to 31st of December 2013. Now rather than being part of the way through the 2014-2020 ERDF funding and actually spending money, government has yet to decide how it is managed and how much they want to centrally control. Which raises the question why 6 months into 2014 am I writing this?  And when will the 2014-2020 funding period actually start?

I can't believe I'm even writing this because it's so obvious and patronising. Cornwall needs investment, latest figures show our economy is faring badly. The problems of seasonal work, low wages, high house prices and high living costs are as evident as they have ever been. What we need is action from the government and Cornish politicians yet all we get is silly public arguments on details. Whilst the bigger picture remains the same and largely ignored. Cornwall can ill afford a gap in this funding whilst the coalition gets it's house in order.

The 'u turn' or change in proposals is a good thing. Local control ought to be the default position of government not central control. So we can decide and the jobs the come with deciding and administering this money should be here in Cornwall, not taken away. The government needs to find fresh impetus to getting new European funding online and stop squabbling about the details and then perhaps the 2014 funding period might start in this year!

Green Party to respond to Cornish Assembly Consultation

The Green Party in Cornwall have announced that they will respond to the Mebyon Kernow document Towards a National Assembly for Cornwall. Certainly a welcome move. The Green Party have traditionally supported the idea of Cornish devolution believing like MK that "small is beautiful" and the closer power is to the people the more accountable and responsive it is. They have unfortunately done precious little in the last few years. 

So this is a welcome move. The internet article is here. It must be said as with previous criticisms on this blog of the Lib Dems, Tories and Labour. This does appear to be electioneering.  But unlike the rest, the Greens have not had an opportunity to devolve power and unlike the others doesn't have a history of centralisation in power. So it is more genuine than the establishment parties.

It also must be welcomed that the Green party are interacting with our document.  Thinking beyond grand pronouncements of devolution and getting to grips with how it would work. It'll certainly be interesting to see what they make of our plans and what they can add to them. This is much unlike the Liberal Democrat approach as Stephen Richardson wrote a month ago today, where is the detail in the Lib Dems devolution plans? Four weeks later and we're still no closer to knowing or perhaps those press releases were the sum of anything that will come from this. Perhaps the Lib Dems could learn something from the Greens and interact with the Mebyon Kernow document and take part in the consultation. 

Cornwall stands to be further marginalised by a Labour government

The subject of devolution is never far from the political agenda in UK politics. It's something all parties talk about. We've seen in the last month the Lib Dems make a Cornish Assembly policy and the Conservative party talk vaguely around the idea of more powers for Cornwall.  Now it seems Labour's turn to yak on about shifting power from Whitehall outwards but ignoring Cornwall (again).

Ed Miliband was in the news today, promising regional ministers. In the eventuality Labour form a government in 2015 there will be a South West minister. Shelving my cynicism of fictional ministers promised before elections. We might fear that again Cornwall will be ruled from afar. With Cornish regeneration money funding offices and workers to administer our money from Plymouth, Exeter and Bristol. But a Labour shadow minister tells us things will be different:

“Regional ministers would not be a replica of what came before, but rather would be complementary to our agenda to devolve more power to city-regions.”

Quite how this is different or of any benefit to Cornwall is at best dubious. Quite how this is different to the coalition's city deals is again unclear.

When will the political classses realise that the answer to the centralisation and dominance of London is not making mini Londons?
What does Cornwall have to do to get noticed?
Or does Labour have some unannounced prejudice for Cornwall not having more political power and jobs?