A meeting was held at Lys Kernow on Friday 30th August, which mainly involved the leader of Cornwall Council, Cornwall’s MPs and their group leaders. At this gathering, it was agreed that a letter be sent to the Deputy Prime Minister calling for  “greater autonomy and devolution for Cornwall.”

Following the meeting, the leader of the MK/Green Group was invited to also sign the letter.

Key extracts of the letter are as follows:

“As the foremost elected representatives of Cornwall, we stand united in seeking greater autonomy and devolution for Cornwall, based solely on a Cornwall geography and non-mayoral model. Cornwall’s geography, culture and language set it apart as a proud Celtic nation. This is evidenced by all six MPs taking their oath of allegiance to the Crown in Cornish, in the year that we are also celebrating ten years since the Cornish were officially recognised by the Government and the Council of Europe as a national minority in 2014.

“A decade on and two devolution deals later, we are now seeking a much broader and deeper devolution settlement enshrined in law that reflects the status Cornwall shares with Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland in all areas of economic, social, political and cultural life …

“As the MPs have already requested, we would welcome the opportunity of a conversation with you to convey a sense of our proposals … we want you to know that Cornwall is ready, willing and able to participate in the Government’s ‘new wave of devolution’ in its own right, as opposed to any suggestion of a combined authority that stretches across the Tamar.”

Signatories to the letter were:

Leader of Cornwall Council Cllr Linda Taylor (Conservative), Shadow Leader of Cornwall Council Cllr Julian German (Independent), Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group Cllr Colin Martin, Leader of the MK / Green Group Cllr Dick Cole,  Leader of the Labour Group Cllr Kate Ewert, Anna Gelderd MP (Labour), Andrew George MP (Liberal Democrat), Jayne Kirkham MP (Labour),  Noah Law MP (Labour), Ben Maguire MP (Liberal Democrat),  Perran Moon MP (Labour).