The leader of Mebyon Kernow – The Party for Cornwall has challenged councillors, politicians and public figures to be ambitious in the upcoming negotiations for a ‘devolution deal’.

Cllr Dick Cole was speaking at MK’s Spring Conference, which was held at Heartlands, Pool, on Saturday (12th March).

At this event, MK members and other guests considered the content of the UK Government’s recently published ‘Levelling Up’ White Paper, which states that Cornwall is one of nine ‘local authority areas’ to have been invited to commence discussions about a ‘county deal’.

Debate at the Conference focussed around a briefing on the White Paper, which:

• Rubbished claims from Government Ministers that it represented the, “biggest shift of power from Whitehall to local leaders in modern times,” offering ‘London-style’ powers.
• Pointed out that the ‘devolution’ on offer was not really devolution at all, but extremely limited accommodations with local council structures.
• Informed participants at the event that the White Paper contained a ‘devolution framework’ which offers three levels of ‘devolution’ and that the level 3 option, being explored by the Conservative administration at Cornwall Council, would need to be accompanied by an elected mayor or governor, who would become the leader of unitary authority.
• Made it clear the limited new responsibilities were less than the ‘trailblazer deeper devolution deals’ for ‘Mayoral Combined Authorities’ in Greater Manchester and the West Midlands; much, much less significant than the meaningful devolution achieved in Wales and Scotland.

In his keynote address at the Conference, Cllr Dick Cole argued that the suggested ‘county deal’ was inadequate and the people of Cornwall – a Celtic nation – need to work and campaign to achieve democratic parity with Scotland and Wales, through the creation of Senedh Kernow / a Parliament for Cornwall.

He said, “Westminster politics had corralled Cornwall’s aspirations for more powers into limited accommodations between local government and the centre. We need to put pressure on the unitary authority and the wider political class in Cornwall to have the courage to go beyond the unambitious constraints of the present ‘devolution’ debate as configured by the UK Government. We need to build a powerful campaign for a Parliament for Cornwall.”

MK’s Spring Conference also included a ‘Devolution – what next for Cornwall?’ debate and, as well as Cllr Cole, speakers included Cllr Linda Taylor (Conservative leader of Cornwall Council), Cllr Andrew George (Liberal Democrat), Cllr Stephen Barnes (Labour), Cllr Tamsyn Widdon (Green) and Cllr Julian German (Independent).

All panellists agreed that Cornwall should have greater control over its future, but there were significant differences of opinion about the extent of political powers that should be sought from central government. Some panellists opposed the need for a mayor linked to any ‘county deal’ who would be elected by ‘first-past-the-post’.