Campaigners have launched a petition for more devolved power to Cornwall, urging signees to back the recognition of the southwest county as the UK’s fifth nation. While calls for devolved powers to Cornwall authorities is nothing new, the Liberal Democrat-run Cornwall Council has backed the new campaign and a petition has attracted more than 23,000 signatures, requiring the Government to provide a response.
The local authority passed a motion called for recognised nation status by 53 votes in favour and 22 against in July, and has promoted the petition on its social media channels. “This isn’t about independence, it never has been,” council leader Leigh Frost said in a video message. “This is about making sure decisions for Cornwall happen in Cornwall. We are not just a bit of England at the end of the train line: we are a strong, proud Celtic nation.” Reform UK councillors, who have a party majority of 87 seats, have largely opposed the campaign, however. Rowland O’Connor, deputy council leader, warned that gaining nation status could sow “further division” by forcing people to choose a national identity.
“It feels like we are being asked to choose between being English and Cornish,” Mr O’Connor told The Times. “In reality, most of us are very proud to be Cornish and English.
“I think there is the possibility to see some further division in our society, which is one of the last things we want to encourage at the moment.”
The campaign for nationhood urged the Government to “grant Cornwall equal status to Wales and Scotland” including through “devolved powers, cultural preservation and official recognition of Cornwall’s distinct heritage, language and historic autonomy”.
It comes amid continued efforts from Cornish MPs to fight plans for a combined mayoral authority overseeing Cornwall and Devon, which Perran Moon, MP for Camborne and Redruth stressing his constituents’ feeling that their “voice is [not] being heard”.
“I do feel the petition is a reaction to that feeling of being ignored within key decision-making departments in government,” he added.
Tying the two counties together in a devolution deal would cause Cornwall in particular to “lose out”, Mr Frost said, because of the disrportionate sizes of the two regions. Devon has a population of around 1.2 million, while Cornwall has approximately 575,000.
He pointed to Cornwall’s history of devolved power, achieving settlements over transport, education and renewable energy and, more recently, adult education and the Cornish language.
“Cornwall has existed as a nation longer than England,” Mr Frost added. “We are a recognised national minority with a recognised language. We just want the bit of recogntiion which is born out of the Devolution Bill going through parliament now.”
