Cornish Devolution Now
Concern:
50,000 people signed a petition in 2002 calling for Cornish devolution. I am concerned by the lack of democratic representation for the Celtic nation and constitutional Duchy of Cornwall.
Solution:
The solution is a Cornish assembly now. Full details on the Cornish assembly campaign can be found here: http://www.cornishassembly.org/
Comments:
Email to Official
Dear Official,
I live in "your local area" and I have just supported the !Change, "Cornish Devolution Now", on www.digitaldemocracy.org.uk. I'd really like to hear your views on the issue and would be grateful if you could you comment.
Thank you
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Cornish Devolution Now
Concern:
50,000 people signed a petition in 2002 calling for Cornish devolution. I am concerned by the lack of democratic representation for the Celtic nation and constitutional Duchy of Cornwall.
Solution:
The solution is a Cornish assembly now. Full details on the Cornish assembly campaign can be found here: http://www.cornishassembly.org/
Category:
Democracy
UK supporters
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South West
Date posted: 27-Apr-11 18:29
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@Dai:
I am not sure what else I can say that has not been previously said above.
The facts are that during the debate/consultation on Devolution, the Cornish Constitutional Convention pursued a course of action that was taken up by Mebyon Kernow to gather signatures for a petition calling on the Government to give Cornwall a referendum on a Cornish Assembly. The required number of signatures where obtained and sent to the DPM, as referred to above, but the whole process died, when the referendum in the North of England rejected Devolution. I suspect that the proposal offered fell far short of what the North anticipated and deliberately designed, presumably, to be rejected, in order to parade the result and 'kill the Devolution' idea.
Therefore the call for a Cornish Assembly is not only 'real' but considerably reinforced by the snub to the Cornish Petition. A snub, which whilst it will confirm, in some way, your final observation, will not alter the strength of the demand - and our right to demand! - that the Cornish Constitution is restored to its rightful position within the United Kingdom.
Whilst the reasons may differ, Cornwall is not the only place that is suffering a democratic deficit (see above) and the Government are consistently putting out mixed messages, which suggest localism in one sentence and then introducing flawed bureaucratic style constituencies, which will inevitably destroy communities and doctor voting patterns to give an allusion of greater democratic accountability and representation.
South West
Date posted: 29-Apr-11 05:20
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D
ai, we don't want devolution to any South West/Westcountry region because:
a) SW/Westcountry is an artificial construction that nobody identifies with;
b) Cornwall is a British nation, not a sub-district of a region of a nation, and should have its own assembly;
c) The people of Cornwall want an assembly, and democracy is about choosing how you are governed, not having your political status decided by distant, uninterested parties;
d) Cornwall has its own culture, language, identity, heritage, economic issues and political priorities separate to those of "South West England";
e) Every time Cornwall gets lumped in with Devon or South West, it's Cornwall that loses out, both in terms of jobs and economically. Any administrative machinery will be located east of the Tamar, resulting in no jobs going to Cornwall and more decisions being made outside of Cornwall.
f) The Duchy of Cornwall is not just a private estate, according to still valid laws it is a territorial duchy, and gives Cornwall certain rights and powers that nowhere else in the UK has. These should be taken from the Duke and Stannators and transferred to a Cornish Assembly. They would be incompatible with any SW/Westcountry bloc.
g) There are countries smaller than Cornwall so the idea that Cornwall is too small even to be a region within the UK doesn't hold much weight. If Singapore can be a city and a state, then why can't Cornwall be a county and a region?
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London
Date posted: 4-May-11 03:41
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As a scot i have some sympathy for the desire to distance yourselves from Tory dominated central government, however I believe that aside from administrative matters, we are stronger together and weaker apart.
Sure, Cornwall has a historic identity, but so does Manchester, and it doesn't have a separatist movement.
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North East
Date posted: 4-May-11 03:42
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@dtrerise Hello,
Just like to clarify that;
a) Cornwall is a British nation, not a sub-district of a region of a nation, and should have its own assembly; This is so false that a case that agrues it is fundamentally flawed!! Cornwall is a county similar to every other one in England and the system in place for your county council is your elected assembly you get to vote them in and they decide what happens at a local level.
b) Why should the English Tax payer pay for such a stupid idea when we are facing such huge cuts even to the services that aren't meant to be cut like the NHS due to extaernal inflation.
c) The referendum on such a split would be decided not just by peoplein cornwall but by every person in England and you would certinaly lose unless the referndum was to split up Westminster further into North, Middle, South East and South West or similar lines at once. This will be shown once all the people in the UK get to Vote on this campaign as it is looking that you will be the top UK campaign for that month.
South West
Date posted: 4-May-11 06:23
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@SteelPriest:
Not sure from where you draw the inference that this is about a “Tory-dominated central Government” or some form of segregation, which you further incorrectly claim is based on a “separatist movement”?
A Cornish Assembly (by definition) is ONLY ever about the civil “administration” of Cornwall and the need to draw in more powers to facilitate decision-making within Cornwall that are more appropriate to be understood and made from within Cornwall.
@Goodfellow:
a) You allege that the Cornish argument is “ fundamentally flawed, but only offer the ‘official’ propaganda to support such an obvious - but only! - de-facto assertion.
You choose to completely ignore any of the other comments that are provided to indicate that this is not the historical and constitutional truth (de-jure). Nevertheless, I would simply point you in the direction of my preceding comment in response to SteelPriest.
b) That same response also applies, because we are only debating here a change to the form of administration of the disputed territory of Cornwall. Let us also not forget that we are, supposedly, living in the United Kingdom, or that the Cornish Constitutional Convention has shown that there would be an economic advantage were Cornwall to have its own Assembly.
c) Whilst I totally disagree with your assumption, does not your terminology simply flag up, sadly, that we live in an English Democracy by the English for the English and that the UK is the flawed institution?
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North East
Date posted: 16-May-11 06:47
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Whilst the arguments put for independence certainly feel right, I think its important to try and clarify what truly justifies the 'independence' position. To me this should be more about preservation of current culture and way of life rather than historic rights. But obviously, its very hard to tightly define a culture or way of life as all communities in the UK are very varied. What should define nation? What level of independence do people really want from their neighbours? Can we ever accept that others from outside our 'nation' should have an influence over the way we do things - if so what should be the issues and decision making structures? Lets get back to basics on this.
South West
Date posted: 16-May-11 08:51
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I much preferred your basic comment of the 12th April above, which clearly spells out what this whole debate is about - and only about! You have now taken the spurious line of "independence', which I can assure you is not on anyone's agenda or, indeed, radar and which has been responded to above (q.v. 4th May).
If the Cornish argument brings into the scope of the debate matters of historical, or constitutional, significance, then that purposefully presents aspects of the Cornish Case that we perceive as of particular relevance. Such issues might well represent critical factors in enabling those in power to make an objective judgement, if/when faced with other requests for similar aspirations.
I am not aware than any other area/community has yet sought to do so, but such attributes that you pose for clarification would certainly be part of the package, where considered relevant, but not particularly so, imho, at this point in the Cornish argument. The future must take care of itself, but those at the top must respect the rights of our Cornish Duchy. This would be particularly crucial, when/if there has to be a constitutional rethink about the United Kingdom.
North East
Date posted: 16-May-11 09:14
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I was just trying to broaden the debate
South West
Date posted: 16-May-11 11:58
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I appreciated the intention and hopefully others (more well-briefed) might feel obliged to respond with some more detail. I have sent a communication to someone more directly involved with the Cornish Constitutional Convention and Assembly Campaign.
My concern with brodening the debate is that it soon escalates into wilfully developed chaos by those with a negative alternative agenda and the main thrust of this campaign debate could be lost.
Scotland
Date posted: 24-Mar-12 13:12
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It seems the Cornish 'cultural identity' is given as a primary reason for devolution in Cornwall. What about Cornwall's economic differences to the rest of Britain? Cornwall is a poor county - if it's to pull it's weight it needs a different economic environment. Devolution will allow this to be created.
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