Letter from Cornwall

A Kenny Sheerin ker,

I am a Penryn born Cornishman from the United Kingdom and a growing Cornish and Breton speaker. I have been raised by a family and community that has endowed me with what can be best described as a Cornish national identity, another way to look at it would be of Cornish ethnicity.

The Cornish are a Celtic ethnic group and nation of the southwest of Great Britain. We have our own lesser used Celtic language (Cornish), sports, festivals, cuisine, music, dance, history and identity. Cornwall also has a distinct constitutional history as a Duchy with an autonomous stannary parliament. This Celtic Cornish identity was recognised and described in the April 2006 edition of National Geographic.

The results from the 2001 UK population census show over thirty seven thousand people hold a Cornish identity instead of English or British. On this census, to claim to be Cornish, you had to deny being British, by crossing out the British option and then write Cornish in the others box. Additionally the decision to collect information on Cornish identity was extremely badly publicised.

How many more would have described themselves as Cornish if they did not have to deny being British or if there had been a Cornish tick box? How many people knew that it was an option? How many ticked British but feel themselves to be Cornish British?

Cornwall Council’s Feb 2003 MORI Poll showed 55% in favour of a democratically-elected, fully-devolved regional assembly for Cornwall, (this was an increase from 46% in favour in a 2002 poll). Many English and other nationalities who have settled in Cornwall wish to see an assembly as some of these people identify closely with Cornwall and actually feel ‘Cornish’. London, Wales and Scotland have devolved assemblies and are still part of the United Kingdom as well as the Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey - why not Cornwall ? The Cornish Assembly petition was signed by 50,000 people, which is the largest expression of popular support for devolved power in the whole of the United Kingdom and possibly Europe.

In July 2000 Mebyon Kernow launched the Declaration for a Cornish Assembly campaign which some three months later led to the creation of The Cornish Constitutional Convention with the objective of establishing a devolved Assembly for Cornwall. In less than two years, it had won the support of over 50,000 people, which equates to more than 10% of the Cornish electorate. A delegation led by the West Cornwall Liberal Democrat MP Andrew George and representatives of the Cornish Constitutional Convention (Bert Biscoe, Richard Ford, Dick Cole, David Fieldsend and Andrew Climo Thompson) presented 50,000 declarations to 10 Downing Street on Wednesday 12th December 2001 calling for a Cornish Assembly. This was an opportunity to give the people of Cornwall the chance to demand greater control over their own future.

A recommendation by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on the ‘concept of nation’ has been backed by the European Parliament regional and minority language Intergroup.

The PACE recommendation stated that, “Everyone should be free to define themselves as a member of a cultural “nation”, irrespective of their citizenship”. In response, the Intergroup commented that ‘Council of Europe member states should avoid defining themselves in exclusively ethnic terms, and should do their utmost to help their minorities, a source of enrichment, to flourish’. Today, both the French and the British Governments still deny people from some of the Celtic countries to legally describe themselves in terms of their Celtic national identities in all areas of life. Intergroup leader Mr Csaba Tabajdi, Member of the European Parliament, said that, this recommendation is of utter importance, representing a paradigm change in the protection of minorities in Europe. It contains a new, elaborate concept of nation.

The recommendation states that: The term “nation” is deeply rooted in peoples, culture and history and incorporates fundamental elements of their identity. “It is also closely linked to political ideologies, which have exploited it and adulterated its original meaning. Furthermore, in view of the diversity of languages spoken in European countries, a concept such as nation is quite simply not translatable in many countries where, at best, only rough translations are to be found in certain national languages.

The UK government has so far failed to recognise the Cornish people under the Council of Europe’s framework convention for the protection of national minorities.

The UK government has failed to give the people of Cornwall the democratic referendum on greater autonomy and a devolved assembly that they have shown a demand for.

Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott and local government minister Ruth Kelly have been less than forthcoming to Mebyon Kernow under the Freedom of Information Act.

In 2005 Mebyon Kernow the party for Cornwall wrote to the then Office of the Deputy Prime Minister requesting copies of government documents prepared in the wake of the 50,000 signature “Cornish Declaration” which was passed to the Prime Minister on 12 December 2001.

Cllr Phil Rendle, MK’s Deputy Leader (Campaigns) explained:

“We have long wondered what Tony Blair’s government made of this magnificent expression of Cornish support for devolution. In 2005 we decided to use the Freedom of Information Act to find out. The result was disgraceful.”

Even though, the ODPM is obliged under the Act to respond to requests promptly and in any event no later than 20 days, Mebyon Kernow’s original request remains unacknowledged and unanswered. Last year, as part of their celebration of the fifth anniversary of the Declaration, MK resumed its demand – this time to Ruth Kelly’s new Department for Communities and Local Government. So far, two letters have been received – although no information has yet been released and no explanation or apology given for failing to respond to the 2005 request.

“Crucially” says Cllr Rendle, “the DCLG have admitted that ‘The Department holds the information you are seeking’ - but getting it into the public domain is proving difficult to say the least!”

The two letters are peppered with phrases such as “qualified exemptions”, “public interest tests” and the most tortuous reasons are given not to yield this information without delay:

“Your request, however, raises complex public interest considerations which must be analysed before we can come to a decision on releasing the information… consideration must be given as to whether or not the public interest in withholding the information requested outweighs the public interest in disclosing it…[the] balance needs to be struck between disclosing sufficient information to allow informed debate and protecting the space within which ministers are advised and formulate policy.”

The second letter from Ruth Kelly’s department pontificates:

“The application of the public interest balance in relation to this exemption is particularly complex. The public interest both in disclosure of some information and in the withholding of other information lies in what might broadly described as good government”!

Phil Rendle asks:

“We are just trying to find out what Government made of Cornwall’s 50,000-signature petition. Why all this prevarication? Why all this legalistic mumbo-jumbo? If government “holds the information [we] are seeking” why not release it to the people of Cornwall. We have received two stalling letters, but we will continue to press until all the information is released.”

1) I would like to know your position on national and linguistic minorities and in particular the Cornish question in the United Kingdom.

2) I would also like to know your thoughts on a devolved Cornish assembly.

I look forward to your response.

Lowena dhys

Phil Hosking