Mebyon Kernow was formed on Saturday 6th January 1951 at Oates Hotel in Redruth and is the only political party to represent Cornwall. In 2000, MK launched the Declaration for a Cornish Assembly campaign and in less than two years, this won the support of over 50,000 people, which equates to more than 10% of the Cornish electorate.
A Scottish Parliament, Assemblies for Wales and Northern Ireland and a London Authority have been established, but Cornwall remains the only Celtic nation within the British Isles to have no form of effective self-government. Labour's response has been to ignore the overwhelming public support for a Cornish Assembly. Instead, it has constructed a network of bogus unelected and unaccountable bodies such as the South West Regional Assembly and the South West Regional Development Agency, which have taken control over areas such as economic development, housing and strategic planning, further and further away from the communities of Cornwall. Mebyon Kernow's position is that the only region for Cornwall is Cornwall.
In February 2003 a Cornwall Council MORI poll showed 55% in favour of an elected, fully-devolved regional assembly for Cornwall and 13% against. (Previous result :46% in favour in 2002).
Cornwall has a well developed and unique identity, grounded in its culture, language, traditions, history and distinct constitutional position. This forms the bedrock of the growing support for greater Cornish self-government. Cornwall is one of the six Celtic nations; the others being Brittany, Ireland, the Isle of Man, Scotland and Wales. These five nations are becoming more confident in their own identities - Ireland is pushing its case at the centre of Europe while Wales and Scotland have won their own assembly and parliament. Cornwall meanwhile suffers because central government refuses to accept Cornwall as an entity in its own right. Cornish institutions are linked to those of Devon and the wider south west, destroying our identity and damaging our economy.
Our identity could be our greatest asset, nourishing a real sense of place and purpose, providing a unifying element for the whole population of Cornwall. But this identity must be supported and reinforced.
The London-based parties (Conservatives, Labour and Liberal Democrats) have failed Cornwall. They have collectively tied Cornwall into south west bodies where our Cornish voice is submerged, they have imposed ill-conceived and unsustainable policies that take no account of the unique nature of Cornwall and refused to devolve political and economic power to our nation. The Cornish language (Kernewek) is the most obvious example of the identity of Cornwall and it must be available to all who want to learn it. Although covered by the Council of Europe's Charter for Regional and Minority Languages, appropriate levels of government investment in the language's future has not been forthcoming. MK remains the only political party committed to investment in our national language, both for the training of language teachers and the provision of courses for all ages.
Mebyon Kernow is also committed to a National Curriculum for Cornwall, that ensures subjects such as Cornish history, culture and language are taught in all local schools.
Mebyon Kernow is playing a leading role in many campaigns for a better deal for Cornwall and its communities. These include campaigns for greater investment in public services, to tackle the housing crisis and the lack of affordable housing locally, to protect the local environment and support initiatives to create well-paid jobs in Cornwall.
MK are against proposals for 70,000 new houses for Cornwall by 2026. The threat of more mass house building in Cornwall, much over green field sites, as dictated by Central Government under the Regional Spatial Strategy Plan, will be opposed and control of building policy should be reverted to democratically elected local representatives. Everything that people like and come to Cornwall to enjoy will eventually become spoilt by housing estates and tarmac. Housing should be provided for local needs, not just more holiday and retirement homes.
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Fraternal greetings to the Cornish nation from the Scottish nation.
Norrie754 2 years ago 7
I like this.
piskey6 2 years ago 2