Article by Cllr Dick Cole to be published in Cornish Guardian newspaper (29th November 2023)

The UK Government published its “level 2 devolution deal” for Cornwall on Wednesday 22nd November. This follows on from the decision of Cornwall Council’s ten-strong ruling Cabinet, in April, to not proceed with a weak “level 3” deal that was linked to the imposition of a mayor. This latest deal is even more insubstantial.

By the time that this column has been published, the deal will have been considered by the unitary authority’s Customers and Support Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee and voted on by the Cabinet. I will write more about the deal as a whole next week.

I do welcome that there is some limited acknowledgement of Cornwall’s national identity in the arrangement. The deal notes the 2002 recognition of the Cornish language under Part II of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, and the inclusion of the Cornish within the European Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities in 2014.

The Government  is promising to “provide £500,000 of funding in 2023/24 to support Cornish distinctiveness, including the protection and promotion of the Cornish language,” and confirms that the new Media Bill includes Cornish “in the list of regional and minority languages referenced in the new public service remit for television.” It also states that the leader of Cornwall Council can attend meetings of the British-Irish Council, but only as an advisor “on matters pertaining to the Cornish language.”

This does reflect progress – albeit slow progress. The deal is not proper devolution as enjoyed by our fellow Celtic nations in Wales and Scotland, and it remains my view that the UK Government needs to recognise Cornwall as one of the constituent national parts of the UK state to meet its obligations to the treaties it references in the document.

Likewise, it is ridiculous that it has taken more than 20 years to include Cornish within its definition of a “recognised regional or minority language.” But this has happened and I hope it will be a catalyst to meaningful progress.

In terms of the Media Bill, this states that public service broadcasters must provide “a sufficient quantity of audiovisual content that is in, or mainly in, a recognised regional or minority language.” At the second reading of the Bill, last week, numerous MPs sought greater clarity on what this would mean for Scottish Gaelic, but Cornish was not discussed. I appeal to Cornish MPs to engage with the coming stages of the Bill to seek guarantees that there will be a significant amount of Cornish language programming in the future.