“Brexit” summit in Truro

This morning, I attended a summit on what Brexit will mean for Cornwall. Held at Truro College, the event was organised by Cornwall Council and brought together a wide range of partners in the private, public and voluntary sectors. The initial idea for the meeting came from Bishop Tim Thornton, and I attended in my capacity as the leader of the Mebyon Kernow group on the unitary authority.

There was the inevitable discussion about the uncertainty that surrounds the present EU programme, and a short briefing paper was distributed at the meeting which set out the extent of what was under threat. This was summarised as European Social Fund (£132,913,454), European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (£97,697,000) and European Regional Development Fund (£341,228,733); though no figures were presented for the match funding that would have been provided, and the previous likelihood of post-2020 transitional funding was also referenced.

One of the most contributions for me was the individual who pointed out that the new Prime Minister was already visiting Scotland to meet with Nicola Sturgeon, because of the clear and powerful narrative coming from the elected politicians and the wider community to the north of the Tweed. The message was clear – Cornwall needs to up its game!

The discussions at the summit were certainly wide-ranging and, very appropriately, the recent increase in intolerant behaviour and hate crime towards certain individuals and groups was addressed.

Following the meeting, I did interviews for BBC Spotlight / Radio Cornwall and Pirate FM – which you may have heard.