Mebyon Kernow’s National Executive Committee (comprising the Party’s leadership team, councillors and other prominent members) met on Friday (24th May) to consider the General Election, which will be taking place on 4th July.

We would like to issue the following statement:

Mebyon Kernow – the Party for Cornwall can confirm that it will not be putting forward candidates for the 2024 General Election.

Party members have discussed participation in Westminster elections on a number of occasions during the last couple of years, though we have repeatedly made it clear that MK’s electoral priorities are the upcoming Cornwall Council elections and associated town and parish council polls, due on 1st May 2025.

Our activists who campaigned in recent General Election campaigns know how difficult it is for non-Westminster political parties to secure access to fair levels of televisual and other coverage during the campaign.

It has therefore taken the conscious decision to focus MK’s resources onto the 2025 local elections, where we expect to make significant progress, rather than the General Election.

We acknowledge that there will be some people who will be disappointed that they will be unable to vote MK on 4th July, but we have concluded that this will be the best approach to helping us make progress with our campaigns for Cornwall.

MK members are working hard building the pressure for meaningful devolution for Cornwall and fair funding for our public services, while challenging politicians of all shades to commit to meeting the Government’s “national minority” obligation to treat Cornwall the same as the other Celtic nations of the UK.

During this election, we will be lobbying candidates on their commitments to Cornwall, in advance of the representations that we will be making to the next Government.