No to Hart's Cornwall / Devon / Somerset model

Over the weekend, the leader of Devon County Council claimed that Cornwall was “too small” to secure devolved powers, and argued that Cornwall should work with the English counties of Devon and Somerset to request the decentralisation of some powers to the wider South West.

Cllr Loveday Jenkin has responded on behalf of Mebyon Kernow – the Party for Cornwall. She described John Hart’s comments as “misguided,” and also called on local people to continue to demand a “new and meaningful democratic settlement for Cornwall.”

A specific statement in “Towards a National Assembly for Cornwall” summarises some of the many problems that have impacted on Cornwall because of people who promoted agendas such as those of the leader of Devon County Council.

“Since the 1960s, central government, big business and unelected and unaccountable quangos have been vigorously pursuing a south west or devonwall policy solution for Cornwall. It has been variously argued that Cornwall's interests were best served by merging Cornwall institutionally with Devon or regionalism on the “big south west” model even though Cornwall and its representatives would inevitably be in a minority. We have been told that the wider south west option would enhance the political and economic "clout" of Cornwall. In practice, evidence of this regionalism over the past four decades shows that the reverse has happened and is continuing to happen. Our economic performance is significantly behind the rest of the UK, our wages have fallen steadily further behind the UK average and Cornish jobs have been exported eastwards. We lost the Cornish Police Force to merger in the 1960s and, since then, the centralisation of a range of public bodies and organisations has undermined the Cornish economy and cost thousands of Cornish jobs.”

I think that sums it up quite well.