People need to keep shouting for Cornwall

During the recent referendum campaign, a number of Conservative Ministers active within the Leave campaign wrote a letter which pledged that “regional funds” for places such as Cornwall and West Wales would still be forthcoming if the UK left the European Union.

The letter was signed by, amongst others, Michael Gove, Chris Grayling, Boris Johnson, Iain Duncan Smith and Cornwall’s own George Eustice. It stated:

“It is therefore clear that there is more than enough money to ensure that those who now get funding from the EU – including universities, scientists, family farmers, regional funds, cultural organisations and others – will continue to do so … if the public votes to leave on 23 June, we will continue to fund EU programmes in the UK until 2020.”

During Wednesday’s Prime Minister’s Questions however, David Cameron was asked by Torfaen MP Nick Thomas-Symonds if he could guarantee that funding for Wales would continue following the Brexit vote.

But the Prime Minister was less than convincing when he replied that he did "not know exactly what will happen to our economy in the event of a leave vote" so it was "difficult for anyone to give guarantees."

He added that it was a matter for his successor to “make good on what they said at the time" in terms of Wales (and by extension Cornwall).

It was also the case that during the campaign, Cornwall’s five Conservative Brexit MPs stated that Cornwall would continue to get the same money that it would have had through the EU.

And yet, in this week’s Cornish Guardian, Steve Double MP has written that:

“Legitimate questions have been asked about the impact of this on Cornwall, especially with regards to EU funding for our economy. Once again, it is too early to answer those questions.”

This massive change in tone from the Tories is extremely disturbing and shows that we need to keep shouting for Cornwall, so that our communities are not short-changed after the UK’s exit from the EU.