The first meeting at County Hall

The first full meeting of Cornwall Council has been held and Conservative Alec Robertson has been elected leader of the new authority. He will front up an administration made up of six Conservatives (including himself) and four independent councillors.

I am disappointed that, given no political grouping had overall control, it has not been possible to form an Executive made up of representatives of the three main groupings, namely the Conservatives (50), Liberal Democrats (38) and Independents (31).

It would have been so much better if the best talents from all the different groups had come together to work collectively for the betterment of Cornwall.

Sadly, this was not to be. The Liberal Democrats met immediately after the election and decided that they did not wish to participate in such an arrangement and resolved to go into what they have termed ‘constructive’ opposition. As a result of this, the Conservatives and Independents have decided not allow them to chair any committees and the Lib Dems have themselves decided to form a shadow cabinet.

There has been much reporting of the launch of the new administration and I think it is important we make the position of the MK group clear.

Obviously, we are not part of the Conservative/Independent Executive/administration, but at the same time we are not in opposition – constructive or otherwise. The three MK councillors (above) are committed to playing our part in making the new Council a success for the people of Cornwall. We will be working positively with anyone and everyone to do what we think is best for Cornwall and its communities.

More on the Euro-vote

MK’s strong showing in the European elections in Cornwall has been noted by a number of mainstream media outlets including SKY News and the BBC - ‘there's pain for Labour in almost every part of the country … beaten into sixth in Cornwall - by the Cornish nationalists” - though one commentator on BBC2’s election night programme seemed to think we were the Cornish Liberals!

I have today also been forwarded the full ‘South West’ election result.

As reported previously, MK polled approximately 7% in Cornwall. On the Isles of Scilly, the vote was 4.3% whereas, unsurprisingly, the Cornish nationalist vote in the Gibraltar/Devon to Gloucestershire and Wiltshire area averaged out at a full one quarter of one percent (0.24%).

The full results were as follows:

Bath and NE Somerset - 127 (0.26%)
Borough of Poole - 51 (0.14%)
Bournemouth Borough Council - 53 (0.14%)
Bristol City Council - 287 (0.27%)
Cheltenham Borough Council - 117 (0.38%)
Christchurch Borough Council - 38 (0.23%)
Cornwall Council - 11,534 (6.9%)
Cotswold Borough Council - 70 (0.26)
Council of the Isles of Scilly - 39 (4.3%)
East Devon District Council - 86 (0.18%)
East Dorset District Council - 47 (0.15%)
Exeter City Council - 77 (0.23%)
Forest of Dean District Council - 45 (0.17%)
Gibraltar Parliament - 8 (0.11%)
Gloucester City Council - 78 (0.25%)
Mendip District Council - 92 (0.26%)
Mid Devon District Council - 45 (0.18%)
North Devon District Council - 33 (0.11%)
North Dorset District Council - 50 (0.22%)
North Somerset District Council - 154 (0.27%)
Plymouth City Council - 149 (0.26%)
Purbeck District Council - 17 (0.11%)
Sedgemoor District Council - 90 (0.29%)
South Gloucestershire Council - 183 (0.26%)
South Hams District Council - 63 (0.20%)
South Somerset District Council - 127 (0.23%)
Stroud District Council - 121 (0.22%)
Swindon Borough Council - 103 (0.23%)
Taunton Deane Borough Council - 97 (0.28%)
Teignbridge District Council - 119 (0.27%)
Tewkesbury Borough Council - 63 (0.25%)
Torbay Council - 58 (0.17%)
Torridge District Council - 53 (0.25%)
West Devon Borough Council - 47 (0.24%)
West Dorset District Council - 112 (0.32%)
West Somerset District Council - 29 (0.24%)
Weymouth and Portland Council - 54 (0.28%)
Wiltshire County Council - 406 (0.28%)

MK intends to use this information to make representations about the ludicrous nature of the South West seat and to make the moral argument that MK should have its £5,000 deposit returned as a consequence of managing to poll so well in Cornwall.

Parties needed to achieve 2.5% of the vote to save their deposit. We consider it morally wrong and undemocratic that MK, standing in Cornwall and achieving 7% of the local vote will lose its deposit – but the BNP, for example, standing and campaigning throughout the whole South West and achieving 3.9% of the overall vote, will have theirs returned.

We will be making a big issue of this in the coming weeks.

The European Election result for Cornwall

I have just returned from the Carn Brea Leisure Centre where the Cornish votes for the European Election were counted.

MK has polled extremely well and I can report that MK achieved 11,534 votes (7%) across Cornwall. The full result is as follows:

1. Conservative Party - 46,589
2. UKIP - 39,954
3. Liberal Democrats - 29,436
4. Green Party - 13,361
5. Mebyon Kernow - 11,534
6. Labour Party - 8,483
7. BNP - 5,118
8. Pensioners Party - 3,944
9. Christian Party - 2,168
10. English Democrats - 1,781
11. Katie Hopkins (Ind) - 1,117
12. Socialist Labour - 1,058
13. NO2EU - 890
14. Fair Pay, Fair Trade - 660
15. Libertas - 608
16. Jury Team - 519
17. WA ID - 107

More thoughts on the recent elections tomorrow.

Election news

The polling is over and the local election votes have been counted.

I am very proud to have been elected to serve my home parish of St Enoder and to have received such support from local people. The full result was:

Dick Cole (MK) - 927
Jacqui Fair (Con) - 177
Keith Wonnacott (Lib Dem) - 91

In total, Mebyon Kernow won three seats. Andrew Long won a resounding victory at Callington and Stuart Cullimore picked up Camborne South by 20 votes.

I have yet to study the results in detail, but a number of MK members managed some good results and some achieved solid second places.

I will blog again soon with more thoughts on the results and, of course, the European Election result which will be announced on Sunday.

Have you had our leaflet?

For the European election, MK has produced 272,200 leaflets (see above) that were passed to the Royal Mail on 20th May for delivery to every property in Cornwall.

The Royal Mail had seven working days to deliver these unaddressed materials - not including weekends and bank holidays. For our delivery, that equates to a total of 9 possible delivery days.

I was initially very impressed when I found that the delivery in many areas was almost instant. Residents in St Dennis received the leaflet on the following day, I received mine within 48 hours and other people, eg. at Lanner and on the Lizard, also reported prompt delivery.

All the leaflets have to be delivered by 1st June, but I have been contacted by MK members in Boscastle, Padstow, Newlyn and Summercourt who have yet to receive the mailing.

If you have not received the leaflet by the end of 1st June, please let me know.