Including the Cornish - The Second Cornish National Minority Report

The Second Cornish National Minority Report entitled: “Including the Cornish – a unique case for recognition” has been officially launched. Written by Ian Saltern with the assistance of a broad-based steering group, it builds on the first report produced in 1999.

I was a member of the steering group and pleased to have been able to assist with the initiative, which came about thanks to the efforts of Bert Biscoe.

The report seeks to extend the case for the Cornish to be recognised as a cultural minority, through the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities.

It has the backing of the political group leaders at Cornwall Council, myself include, who co-signed the foreword to the report, proclaiming in unison that the status would “enable the Cornish to play a full and active part in British society, contributing to the diversity of the United Kingdom.”

The conclusions of the document are clear.

Within the spirit of the Framework Convention, implicit through its Articles, the Cornish constitute a national minority.

The Cornish, like the Scottish and the Welsh, possess an historic national identity and national origins.

There are barriers to the Cornish being able to maintain and celebrate their distinct identity.

In attempting to overcome these barriers the Cornish have encountered a legal conundrum whereby they can only bring a case under the Equalities Act if they are a recognised “racial group,” but case law will only identify Cornish people as a “racial group” once the Cornish successfully prosecute a case of racial discrimination.

The UK Government has relied on the “racial group” criterion to define national minorities. The “racial group” criterion is viewed by various organisations as too narrow and unreflective of the purposes of the Framework Convention.

National minority status will legitimise the Cornish in the eyes of statutory bodies and decision-makers. It will ensure that the Cornish are not impeded from maintaining and celebrating their distinct identity.

National minority status will confer upon the Cornish the dignity of visibility. It will deliver tangible social, cultural and economic benefits for the Cornish and the United Kingdom.

National minority status will enable the Cornish to play a full and active part in British society, contributing to the diversity of the United Kingdom.

National minority status for the Cornish will bring coherence to UK Government policy. It will address the current anomaly whereby Cornish national and ethnic identity is officially recognised for the purposes of the Census, but the Cornish people have yet to be recognised as a national minority.

The findings of the report have already been presented to central government. Copies of the report will soon be available from Bert Biscoe at 3 Lower Rosewin Row, Truro TR1 1EN. Please include a cheque for £1.20 to cover postage and packing.

How many councillors should Cornwall have?

There was some pretty shoddy and ill-informed reporting in the Western Morning News last week. The front page and editorial argued that “cash-strapped” Cornwall Council should reduce the number of elected representatives to save money.

The Western Morning News stated that the Council has “123 members – twice the size of the Welsh Assembly, despite having far less power and covering a fraction of the geographic area.” What nonsense!

The 60-member Welsh Assembly is not a council. It is the National Assembly of Wales for heaven’s sake. And below it, there are 22 Welsh Councils with a total membership of 1,255 councillors.

The Western Morning News also made the assertion that “Devon County Council … has just 62 councillors.” This was supported by some comments on the papers website. One stated:

Devon: area 6,564 km2 / population 1,141,600, has 62 councillors
Somerset: area 4,171 km2 / population 912,900, has 58 councillors
Cornwall: area 3,563 km2 / population 534,000, has 123 councillors!!!

Again, what nonsense!

Devon has a County Council (62 members), two unitary authorities – Plymouth (57 members) and Torbay (36 members), plus eight district councils – East Devon (59 members), Exeter (40 members), Mid Devon (42 members), North Devon (43 members), South Hams (40 members), Teignbridge (46 members), Torridge (36 members) and West Devon (31 members).

I make that a total of 492 principal councillors in Devon - exactly four-times the number of councillors in Cornwall.

Somerset meanwhile has a County Council (58 members), two unitary authorities – Bath and North East Somerset (65 members) and North Somerset (61 members), plus five district councils – Mendip (47 members), Sedgemoor (50 members), South Somerset (60 members), Taunton Deane (56 members) and West Somerset (28 members).

I make that a total of 425 principal councillors in Somerset.

The undemocratic imposition of a unitary authority on Cornwall by local Liberal Democrats and the last Labour Government was a disgrace. Prior to 2009, Cornwall had 82 county councillors and 249 district councillors – a total of 331 elected members.

All we have now is a dysfunctional single unitary authority and a massive democratic deficit in Cornwall.

I am a Cornwall Councillor and I take the role seriously. It is more than a full-time job to me and I resent the petty attacks on my role by those who wish to undermine democracy in Cornwall still further.

But we do need democratic reforms. We need to achieve greater self-government through a National Assembly for Cornwall, and we need to rebuild decentralised local government across our nation.

A wonderful couple of days / Lib Dem collapse predicted – the two issues are not linked!

I have just got back from 48 hours away from real life and Cornish politics. My wife, Ann, and I have been on Exmoor, doing a bit of walking and relaxing. Yesterday was our 12th wedding anniversary, while today marks the 20th anniversary of us being an “item.”

Today, sitting and enjoying a pot of tea in Lynmouth, I pulled out a copy of The Guardian to see the headline: “Lib Dems face crisis over new electoral map … Clegg projected to lose a quarter of his MPs in boundary changes.” What a shame!

It has been predicted that the Lib Dems who pushed through the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill, which will lead to the creation of a Devonwall seat, could lose 25% of their seats as a consequence of the redrawing of the electoral map.

It seems the Liberal Democrats are now concerned about the impact of the review on their own chances of self-preservation. Former Lib Dem MP for North Cornwall, Lord Tyler was reported as saying that there could be moves to delay the reforms until 2020.

So they might be willing to oppose the boundary changes for their own self-interest. But they refused to oppose the Bill and fight for the territorial integrity of Cornwall when they had the chance.

The arts in St Enoder Parish

Yesterday (Thursday), Miracle Theatre came to St Enoder Parish and performed “The Death of Sherlock Holmes” at Indian Queens Pit. It was a fantastic play in a marvellous venue and I would recommend it to one and all.

It was only the second night of the tour and there are many opportunities to see the play in the coming weeks. For more information, see www.miracletheatre.co.uk.

Today, it was the first night of the St Enoder Arts Festival. It was opened by Dalla (see above) who performed a rousing and well-received set in the Parish Church.

It is great to see such talent in my local area and a number of other acts will be performing as part of the festival throughout June. Why not go along and support the festival. For more information, go to www.saintenoderfestival.org.uk.

Public meeting planned for St Dennis

A public meeting has been arranged for Friday 10th June in St Dennis to discuss what happens now that the Secretary of State has granted consent for the incinerator. It will be held in the Working Mens Club and will commence at 7.00. The leader of the Council has accepted an invitation to speak at the meeting.

In the meantime, my latest column for the Cornish Guardian is as set out below:

Last week the Conservative Leader of Cornwall Council and the Lib Dem MP for St Austell and Newquay debated the outcome of the incinerator public inquiry on the BBC's Politics Show.

It was not a particularly enlightening discussion. Councillor Alec Robertson described the incinerator as a "Liberal Democrat legacy". Stephen Gilbert MP claimed it would be the "folly and legacy" of Cornwall Council's present Conservative-led administration.

So what's the truth? Let's ignore the spin and look at the bare facts.

In 2006, the Lib Dem-dominated county council agreed a contract with SITA, which specified the construction of an incinerator near St Dennis. Thirty-three Lib Dems and two independents voted for the contract. It was opposed by 28 other councillors – only one a Lib Dem.

Over the next two to three years, leading Lib Dems such as David Whalley and Adam Paynter spent a great deal of time criss-crossing Cornwall, preaching the merits of incineration. Then in March 2009, the incinerator was turned down by the planning committee 20-1, with one abstention. In September 2009, when SITA announced it had lodged an appeal, the Conservative leader of the new council attended a public meeting at St Dennis and reassured local people that the council would robustly defend the refusal.

In early 2010, it became apparent that a clause in the contract gave the Cabinet the option to terminate it. At a meeting of the council's waste panel, I called for this option to be properly investigated. This was opposed by the majority of Conservative, Independent and Lib Dem councillors on the panel, and the Conservative/Independent Cabinet voted not to end the contract. At the same time, the leadership refused to work up an alternative (Plan B) to a single incinerator.

Planning staff and local people did robustly defend the appeal but, in April, Alec Robertson turned his back on the people of St Dennis and wrote to the Secretary of State calling on him to uphold the appeal in favour of SITA. He argued that, if the incinerator was not allowed to proceed, the financial consequences to the council would be dire – but Mr Robertson was a county councillor when the contract was agreed in 2006. He was therefore equally aware of the financial consequences of the incinerator not going ahead in 2009, when he cast his vote against the planning application and promised to robustly defend the appeal.

In the ruling, the inspector and Mr Pickles gave significant weight to the contract signed by the Lib Dems, as well as the perceived and exaggerated costs of ripping it up.

The failure of Conservative-led Cornwall Council to work up alternative proposals or identify alternative sites was also cited as a justification to allow the appeal.

St Dennis has been failed by the planning system, the political process and both the Liberal Democrat and Conservative parties.