Calling for a Cornish Assembly does not damage your political prospects!

When I commented on Jeremy Corbyn’s successful election to the position of Labour leader this weekend, I wrote that I had always been extremely disappointed by Labour’s unwillingness to support greater powers for Cornwall through a Cornish Assembly.

In particular, I recalled Labour’s non-response to the 50,000 individually-signed declarations calling for our own Assembly – delivered to Tony Blair in 2001 – was particularly galling for me.

In 2011, when we marked the tenth anniversary of the declaration campaign, Plaid Cymru’s Jonathan Edwards tabled the following Early Day Motion:

“That this House notes that 10 years have passed since the presentation of a petition with 50,000 signatures in favour of a Cornish Assembly to 10 Downing Street on 12 December 2001 which equated to 10 per cent. of the adult population of Cornwall; recalls that this declaration of support for a Cornish Assembly was launched by Mebyon Kernow and received support from those of all parties and none; expresses disappointment that the then Government did not act upon the subject of the petition; believes that the failure to establish a Cornish Assembly has created a democratic deficit; further notes Government proposals for the devolution of power in the UK; and calls for the formation of a democratically elected Cornish Assembly to take decisions for the benefit of the people of Cornwall.”

Sadly, only three MPs from the Labour Party could bring themselves to support the EDM. But the signatories did include Jeremy Corbyn, now the leader of the Labour Party, and John McDonnell, the shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer.

It just goes to show that calling for a Cornish Assembly does not damage your political prospects!