Devonwall: Let's keep up the pressure.

The campaign to Keep Cornwall Whole has been quiet of late.  The lack of meaningful debate about Devonwall and the significance of the Tamar border during the Commons vote was a snub to campaigners and many people in Cornwall and Devon. The defeat of the amendment also hit hard, no doubt many Conservative and Liberal Democrat party members and voters started to question the utility of having MPs at the 'heart of government' when the Coaliton MPs found themselves so at odds with their own parties policies.

There was however a meeting between Andrew George and Mark Harper (Parliamentary under secretary for Constitutional and Political Reform) about Devonwall as reported on the This is Cornwall website, Harper is pictured below.

As with previous conversations with Cameron and Clegg, the government representative duly smiled, nodded, listened and then proclaimed their previously held positon that Devonwall is no problem to them. Whether it's Cameron, Clegg or Harper they do not see the big deal about Keep Cornwall Whole, for them the Tamar is just a river that holds no significance. The significance of brushing aside a thousand years of Cornish history with a stroke of the pen is lost on them.

The challenge facing people who want to Keep Cornwall Whole is to pile on the pressure to these people, to make them understand. There is a need to escalate the lobbying of representatives, after all we elect these people, they shouldn't tell us what we want, this is a democracy what we want should be paramount. Perhaps some of these people need reminding that we can vote for them and we can choose not to. If the only part of democracy they recognise is elections, then we should remind them at the ballot boxes and refuse to vote for their parties.

To help please write to your representatives, (MPs and councillors) e-mail them via this website: They Work for You
Send a message to the Prime Minister to via the Number Ten site.
Also:
Visit the website of the campaign http://keepcornwallwhole.org/ and their email address is info@keepcornwallwhole.org
Join the facebook page: Keep Cornwall Whole on Facebook
As well it is on 'Causes' on Facebook: Stop the Cornish Border Changes
Follow the campaign on twitter: http://twitter.com/Cornwall_Whole
And generally spread the word.

If you are new to my blog, most of my blogs have been about this subject and I argue against Devonwall on a number of levels and I haven't repeated the arguments I have already made but here's some of them:

Undemocratic, Disengaging, Insulting, Stupid and Unsympathetic Five Reasons Why Devonwall is such a Bad Idea

What Price Electoral Reform?

Saving Money? Increasing the Number of Lords and Constitutional Reform


Thanks for reading.

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

Undemocratic, disengaging, insulting,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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