Article published in the Cornish Guardian (16th September 2026) and West Briton newspapers (17th September 2026)

A few weeks back, there was considerable coverage of the amendment tabled by Reform UK to the Representation of the People Bill in the House of Commons, which would criminalise the use of the Cornish language on election materials. The amendment (NC107) stated that a “person shall not print or publish … any bill, placard, poster or printed document … unless the material is in the English language or the Welsh language.” It added that any person committing an “offence” in this regard would face “imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months” or a fine or both.

It was obvious that the amendment sought to ban the use of “foreign” languages, but it was drafted so badly that it would also lead to bans on some of the UK’s indigenous languages – such as Cornish, Irish, Scots and Scottish Gaelic – as well as British Sign Language.

Reform UK have since modified their position. They have submitted a new amendment, which states that a “person shall not print or publish … any bill, placard, poster or printed document … unless the material is in English, Welsh, a language native to the British Isles or accessible communication formats.” So they no longer seek to ban the use of Cornish, but I found it interesting that they could not bring themselves to specifically name our national tongue in their paperwork.

For the record, I totally disagree with their wish to jail people for using “non-native” languages. I also disagree with other changes to the Representation of the People Bill being promoted by Nigel Farage’s party, such as the removal of voting rights of Commonwealth citizens and the reduction in the use of postal voting. I find it disappointing that Reform MPs such as Danny Kruger are claiming that “Britain’s political system is broken” and scaremongering about our democracy, while using such claims to argue for non-inclusive changes to electoral law.

As someone who has been actively involved in politics for over 35 years, and has contested 16 elections, I acknowledge there are indeed ways that we can improve our democratic processes. But changes need to be positive and inclusive – how about the introduction of a more proportional voting system, for example.

I would add that, in my experience, politics is not just about the processes, and success for politicians in parliamentary contests is often predicated on lots of publicity and having lots of money to spend. It seems to me that Reform UK is lacking in neither – especially after the £72 million it has just received from two cryptocurrency billionaires!