In its formal response to the consultation into plans for a devolution deal brokered by the Government, Mebyon Kernow has challenged the Conservatives leading Cornwall Council to acknowledge the “deal” is inadequate and use their influence with the Government “to bring forward a meaningful devolution settlement for Cornwall”.

The Party for Cornwall has repeatedly said the proposal is not a devolution deal, but a range of possible accommodations between central government and Cornwall’s unitary authority. 

MK says it “does not include the transfer of far-reaching powers from Westminster to Cornwall, as has happened in Wales and Scotland since 1999.”

The MK response states: “The proposed deal does reference Cornwall’s distinct heritage, culture and language, as well as the national minority status of the Cornish people, but it then ignores Cornish nationhood and fails to look beyond treating Cornwall as a local government unit of England. This is unacceptable.

“When the UK Government recognised the Cornish as a national minority (through the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities) in 2014, it pledged that the Cornish would be afforded the same status ‘as the UK’s other Celtic people, the Scots, the Welsh and the Irish.’ That commitment to parity with the other Celtic parts of the UK (which already have their own parliaments) must surely include meaningful devolution for the nation of Cornwall through the creation of a Cornish Parliament. It is the view of Mebyon Kernow that the provision of a parliament for Cornwall would demonstrate that the UK Government is finally starting to meet its obligations to the Cornish and Cornwall.”

The MK representation concludes: “The Conservative administration at the unitary authority should work with Cornwall’s six MPs to persuade the Conservative Government in London to bring forward a more significant devolution settlement for Cornwall, which includes a Cornish Parliament.”

λ The full document is at: mebyonkernow.org/news/mk-response-to-devolution-deal-consultation/