News regarding Devonwall and the Cornish language

News from Kernow Matters To Us:

24 Mis Hedra 2016

Cornwall Council appoints QC as part of the fight to save Cornwall

In a commendable act taken on behalf of the Cornish people and indeed the people of Cornwall, Cornwall Council has announced that the Duchy would be well served by five MPs rather than the proposed six where one is shared with Devon up in England.

This had in fact been a suggestion from the start, albeit one which flies in the face of Cornwall's scheming and increasing unpopular MPs who in colluding in an act of gerrymandering, hope to secure longer term futures for themselves and who have placed their own ambitions and those of the Conservative Party before their responsibilities to Cornwall and her people.

A Queen's Counsel has been employed by Cornwall Council to offer legal advice on how to resist the unlawful English Boundary Commission proposals.

A report drawn up by Cornwall Council officials says: 'If Cornwall is to retain its historical border an allocation of either five or six constituencies to Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly would be required,' going on to explain that six whole MPs would not be acceptable to the Boundary Commission, as it would mean Cornwall was over-represented at Westminster.

The report adds: 'Such a proposal would be outside of the permitted electoral quota variances, but only by a very small amount, and so other substantive arguments will need to be developed.'

Even this news fails to take into account KMTUs submission regarding the building of 52,500 houses in Cornwall over the coming years, an announcement in itself forced to a review in Newquay where a heavily guarded Planning Inspector, Simon Emerson, was bundled down from England and faced a barrage of protest from Cornish people both outside and during the hearing.

It is amusing that the unelected quango can make exceptions for the Isle of Wight and its counterpart in Scotland can make exceptions for the Scottish Islands but treat the Cornish as second rate citizens as usual, propose to cast aside our 1,000 year old border.

Hearings regarding the gerrymander are due to occur at Lys Kernow, Cornwall Council during the 10th and 11th November, 2016 and the faceless civil servants are promised a tough time when anti-Devonwall activists courageously speak out.

Putting this announcement to the test on one of our social media sites, the news was viewed by 1,110 people over just half an hour with some of the comments made repeated hereunder:

'I thought that ages ago. Makes sense. We stay whole and they get their fewer MPs'

'Absolutely, we can easily arrange 5 constituencies, perhaps by plebiscite we can choose which MP to dispose of'

'Doesn't make the slightest difference, self-centred careerist Tories, who don't give a monkeys about the place will continue to get elected'

'Well it would be better for Kernow, especially the way the MPs vote'

'One less tory to worry about.....'

'Anything to get rid of the so called Christian, pastor Double, no more loyal to our Cornwall than he 

was to his wife and our God and to think I was stupid enough to vote for him'

'if the Cornish people the Tories had made homeless were counted Devonwall wouldn't be necessary me thinks'

Cornish language petition clears 10,000 name hurdle, forcing government to respond!

In another slap to the faces of Cornwall's six Conservative MPs including the one who rushed to meet with the then Minister for Local Growth and the Northern Powerhouse at the Department for Communities and Local Government, James Wharton MP, and who did a dirty deal in an act of spite to stop our taxes being returned to be spent on our indigenous language, no less than 10,342 people signed a petition raised by Dr Jon Mills calling for the following:

'In 2002, Cornish was granted official minority language status under Part II of the 1992 Council of Europe Charter for Regional and Minority Languages (Hansard 5 Nov 2002 : Column 207W).In implementing the Charter under Part II, the Government is obliged to consider the needs and wishes of groups that use the Cornish language and those who wish to learn the language (Council of Europe 1992).'

By Westminster Constituency division, the breakdown of signatories was as follows:

St Ives 675

Camborne and Redruth 594

Truro and Falmouth 629

St Austell and Newquay 502

North Cornwall 419

South East Cornwall 400

This was topped up to the final figure by participants from elsewhere including Wales and Scotland, our natural allies. We now wait for the appropriate Minister to cobble together a pack of lies in response to the petition as they are obliged to do. It was particularly galling that the original announcement made by the Westminster politician was timed to coincide with the International Day of Small Languages.It has been reported by other sources that 'Cornish' MPs Messrs Thomas, Double, Mann and Ms Murray all opposed funding for Cornish. George Eustice and Sarah Newton supported funding.Cornish born actress Susan Penhaligon re-tweeted support for  the Petition to the UK government, via Twitter, and has helped spread the news of the treachery.Remember, it’s Cornish language supporters in the UK’s tax money and it was the UK Government promise for five years funding!Other native languages to the UK receive government funding, why not Cornish?

Of course, the 112-year history of the Cornish language revival has only had this limited government funding in the last few years, so the work goes on despite the best efforts of the MPs to hamper it.  

John, Teresa, Craig, Tony, Matt, Mike, Clive, Ronan & Samuel
Elected Members of the KMTU Steering Group