AS with most councillors, the last few weeks were dominated by two things: discussions around the council budget for 2026/2027, and the bad weather and the adverse impacts on residents.

The budget was considered by Cornwall Council’s Cabinet in advance of public consultation and, at the time of writing, there was still great uncertainty about the financial settlement from central government and how this would impact on the unitary authority’s finances. And in terms of the rainfall, I have been monitoring flooding in a number of locations across my division and reporting issues with roads that are being worsened, through eroded highway edges and potholes.

As the leader of Mebyon Kernow and the chairman of Cornwall Council’s Fifth Nation Working Group (previously known as the Cornish National Minority Working Group), there has been some good news to celebrate.

The UK government announced that the Cornish language will be protected through part III of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. It had previously only been covered by part II of the charter, but now Cornish has greater parity with the other Celtic languages of the UK – Welsh, Scottish Gaelic and Irish. I would like to pay tribute to everyone who has campaigned so hard for the language over the last 20 years and helped make this happen.

Steve Reed, the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, has also ruled out the threat of a Devonwall Mayoral Strategic Authority being imposed on Cornwall.

I would also like to commend everyone who has campaigned against Devonwall and I thank Cornwall’s MPs for working so hard to ensure Cornwall is treated as a distinct unit in any proposed political changes.

If I can be of assistance to anyone, please feel free to get in contact with me: [email protected] or 07791 876607.