In last week’s PMQs, it was great to see North Cornwall MP Ben Maguire ask Kier Starmer to “meet all six Cornish MPs to discuss devolution for Cornwall, with a Cornish Assembly that recognises our unique culture, language and national minority status …” I am pleased that the PM has agreed to a meeting, but I found the bulk of his response to be disturbing. He did not acknowledge Cornwall’s unique place within the UK, but instead spoke about the “south-west”…

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On 16 July, less than ten days after Labour’s General Election victory, the five Group Leaders on Cornwall Council wrote to the Prime Minister with a request that Cornwall be invited to join his proposed Council of the Nations and Regions. The letter to Keir Starmer stated that the “rationale for this request is based on the fact that, like the Welsh, Scottish and Irish, the Cornish people and the language are recognised and protected by virtue of two Council of…

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The consultation into the latest version of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) ended last week and, as I usually do, I submitted comments on behalf of Mebyon Kernow – the Party for Cornwall. Previous representations have gone unheeded and I do not have any great hopes that critics of the UK Government’s approach to planning policy will be listened to now. In my response to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, I made the argument that politicians and…

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