SITA / Eco-bos / Eden Greenwash

On the 2nd August, I blogged about the most recent days at the Public Inquiry into the incinerator proposed for St Dennis. I focussed on the fact that SITA were claiming the proposed eco-town developments at Drinnick/Nanpean and Blackpool could potentially take the heat from the incinerator.

This week, the Cornish Guardian featured the links between the eco-town development and its associated company Eco-Bos (74% Orascom, 25% Imerys and 1% Eden Project) and the incinerator on its front page.

In the story, a spokesman for Eco-Bos stated that there was no agreement in place with SITA, but they would not rule out using heat from the incinerator at this time. The Eden Project – described by the Cornish Guardian as “a leading light in sustainable resources, and at the forefront of eco-friendly ideas” – meanwhile stated it “was not against incineration per se.”

The eco-town developers and the Eden Project spend a lot of time trumpeting their “Green” credentials, but this can be considered little more than “Greenwash” if they are happy to associate themselves with a 240,000 tonne incinerator.

It is certainly not sustainable or green in any way.

"State of the Region"

I have just finished watching BBC TV's "State of the Region" debate from Plymouth, which featured MPs and councillors from the three main London parties, as well as business people, union representatives and other selected guests.

It was a depressing programme to watch. The mantra was cuts, cuts, cuts ...

Not one politician spoke up for fair taxation, to reduce the extent of the cuts.

Not one politician called for progressive tax increases so that the wealthy would pay their fair share.

And not one politician spoke out against the benefit and other cuts, while no action is being taken to address the largescale tax avoidance and tax evasion that is endemic in modern society.

If MK had been invited to participate, then maybe such comments might actually have got a hearing.

The public sector?

At today’s Full Council, a number of questions were asked about the bid for a Local Enterprise Partnership for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.

A 40 page bid document, entitled “Empowering Enterprise” was forwarded to central government for yesterday’s deadline. It states that the LEP would be a “vibrant partnership between businesses, councils, colleges and communities to deliver a stronger local economy with improved employment, skills and quality of life.”

I believe there is a consensus that Cornwall should decide the direction of the Cornish economy, though questions were asked about the democratic accountability of the proposed body.

My own question was about the public sector. It was as follows:

“At the last Full Council, we unanimously backed a motion to lobby for fair funding for Cornwall’s public services. I am therefore disappointed by comments in the LEP bid document about reducing the percentage of people working in the public sector, and “re-balancing the economy” (not my words) towards the private sector. Is this not sending out confused message to central government and isn’t it about time that this Council stood up for workers in the public sector – including our teachers, workers in the NHS and our Council employees delivering vital frontline services?”

I did not really get an appropriate response.

Keep Cornwall Whole

Over the last few days, I have been very active within the new ““Keep Cornwall Whole” group. This has brought together campaigners from across the political spectrum, representatives of community and cultural groups, to oppose the creation of Devonwall constituencies through the Parliamentary Voting Systems and Constituencies Bill.

As has been pointed out many times, the Bill seeks to reduce the number of MPs from 650 to 600. It wants all constituencies to be within 5% of the average constituency size. If the Bill is left unaltered, this would mean that Cornwall would have at least one cross border seat with Devon.

“Keep Cornwall Whole” has sent a submission to the House of Commons Political and Constitutional Reform Committee and it has also written to all 650 MPs, in advance of the Second Reading of the Bill which took place yesterday.

The letter called on them to seek changes to the Bill, which would protect the historic integrity of Cornwall. One section stated that:

“The Bill, if unaltered, would mean that that Cornwall would inevitably have at least one cross border seat with Devon, despite its exceptionally distinct Celtic history and culture, unique geography as a peninsula bounded by the Tamar River, special constitutional position, and a specific economic profile that merits EU Convergence Funding.”

The submission and letter were sent by Adam Killeya, the Mayor of Saltash, with the support of Conservative, Green, Independent, Labour, Liberal Democrat and Mebyon Kernow representatives (myself included).

The Second Reading took place yesterday and I have to say I was very disappointed that the impact of the Bill on Cornwall did not feature more strongly in the debate. I understand, from reading the Hansard record of the debate that 74 MPs put their names down to speak, of whom forty were able to make a contribution.

Of the six Cornish MPs, only George Eustice made a speech. He outlined his opposition to the Alternative Vote and it did not even look like he was going to talk about specific Cornish concerns, until there was a short intervention from Sheryl Murray. It went as follows:

Sheryll Murray (South East Cornwall) (Con): Does my hon. Friend agree that it would be extremely unfair to expect one of the Cornish constituencies—his, mine, or one of the others—to cross the historic Tamar border that we already have?

George Eustice (Camborne and Redruth) (Con): My hon. Friend makes an absolutely valid point. Cornwall is a special case. It is not just a normal county—it is a duchy. That is certainly something that should be considered in Committee.

It is disappointing that the opportunity to address Cornish concerns were not tackled, especially when other members were able to focus in some detail on “regional” concerns, such as Andrew Turner MP from the Isle of Wight, and MPs from Scotland and Wales.

What a wasted opportunity!

I assume the three Lib Dem MPs from Cornwall were among the 30-plus MPs who wanted to speak but were not called by the Speaker.

One further MP, Mr Michael McCann (Labour) East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow mentioned Cornwall and Trotsky! The contribution stated:

“The Bill includes other measures that would be detrimental to our parliamentary system, including the arbitrary reduction of the number of constituencies and the permanent revolution resulting from the boundary changes before each Parliament. Trotsky would indeed be proud of the Bill on that basis alone. However, just in case anyone develops the mistaken and untrue impression that only Members of the House are concerned, I also have a correspondence with Keep Cornwall Whole, which demonstrates that people outside the House believe that the Bill is wrong and that it should not proceed.”

This morning, Cornwall Council unanimously passed a motion that Members of Parliament should vote to enable Cornwall to be represented by MPs whose constituencies lie entirely within the boundaries of Cornwall.

A near-miss in Camborne West

I have just been contacted by MK’s team in Camborne with the result of yesterday’s by-election for a seat on Camborne Town Council.

MK’s candidate Paul Jenkin (right) and his agent Stuart Cullimore ran an extremely strong campaign and missed out to the Conservatives by only 27 votes. Paul outpolled Labour, Liberal Democrat and Independent candidates. The full result is as follows:

Conservative – 427
Mebyon Kernow – 400
Labour – 222
Liberal Democrat – 150
Independent – 115

I am very proud of the team and the hard work they put in. It is a very positive result for MK. It was achieved in spite of the fact that the Conservatives threw everything they could at the seat – including colour leaflets as well as a certain Mr George Eustice – while Labour put out inaccurate / misleading leaflets that claimed MK was part of the Conservative / Independent administration at County Hall (before accepting that this was a nonsense and stopping the distribution of the offending leaflet).

The result certainly shows that MK is a force to be reckoned with in local government elections in Cornwall and we intend to keeping working hardand we will get more MK councillors elected.