No Party Election Broadcast for MK

Last week, Mebyon Kernow received a letter from the BBC setting out their provisional plan for Party Election Broadcasts (PEB) for the forthcoming local elections.

We have been told that we can have one broadcast, as long as we meet the “threshold criteria.”

Somewhat predictably, the threshold criterion for a PEB excludes Mebyon Kernow. It is one-sixth of the total number of seats being contested in “England,” which they estimate to be 394.

So – to get a broadcast – we would need to fight every council seat in Cornwall (122) and 272 in England.

This is just like in the General Election, in which MK was told it needed to stand in all Cornish seats as well as a further 83 outside of Cornwall. Or in the European elections, when MK was told it had to put forward a list of candidates for every English region as well as the Cornwall / South West seat.

Who says “democracy” isn’t biased against smaller political parties?