It appears a modern Trelawny’s Army is assembling as leading politicians in Cornwall stand fast against growing moves across the border to include the Duchy in a “super council”. Both Plymouth City Council and Torbay Council agreed yesterday (Thursday, January 9) to proceed with talks to create a South West Peninsula Mayoral Strategic Authority which would include Cornwall, Plymouth, Torbay and the rest of Devon.
The move to create a ‘Devonwall’ authority led by a mayor – akin to the way Andy Burnham oversees Greater Manchester – has been frowned upon in Cornwall, where the majority of politicians believe it should remain a unitary council due to its national minority status. There are growing calls for Cornwall to have its own senate, similar to other Celtic nations such as Wales and Scotland, rather than being subsumed in a giant authority with its geographical neighbours.
Plymouth City Council called an urgent meeting of all 57 councillors yesterday to discuss the way forward after the Labour Government’s publication of the English Devolution White Paper – Torbay Council also met to discuss the matter. The white paper is set to create a bill which will go through Parliament this year with the ambition to have mayoral elections in 2026 and a new council structure in place by 2027. Both Devon authorities favour a combined authority with Cornwall.
Cllr Tudor Evans, leader of Plymouth City Council, has called the creation of a South West Peninsula Mayoral Strategic Authority “thrilling” but has stressed it would not mean a “super council” or a “merger” with other authorities. He has said that Plymouth would continue to be self-governing and likely to have a say in the regional strategy.
However, in order for the city to remain an economically sustainable entity it will have to expand and grow its population. This would mean the likely creation of a new council which would embrace Plymouth’s 267,000 inhabitants and expand to an area of at least 300,000.
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What areas that will include have yet to be decided, but Cllr Evans stressed it would not include any part of Cornwall. He said: “We will not be seeking an incursion into Cornwall.” He added it was in the best interest of the region to create a new combined authority covering Cornwall, Devon, Plymouth and Torbay to give the region a voice to match other metro mayor areas and Wales and Scotland, which have their own form or government. Cllr Evans said: “A single voice advocating for us in Westminster will be really helpful.”
However, his opinion has not gone down well with politicians on the Cornish side of the Tamar. CornwallLive spoke to a number of MPs and party leaders.
Dick Cole, leader of Mebyon Kernow – the Party for Cornwall
Cllr Dick Cole, leader of Mebyon Kernow
“The decision of Plymouth City Council to vote for the ‘establishment of a South West Peninsula Mayoral Strategic Authority’ which would ‘encompass the combined geography of Cornwall, Devon, Plymouth, and Torbay’ is extremely presumptuous. Cornwall’s politicians, the leaders of the political groups on the unitary authority and its six MPs, have been collectively calling for devolution to Cornwall as a political unit.
“It is important that we continue to demand a meaningful devolution settlement for Cornwall, which properly reflects Cornwall’s national identity and the national minority status of the Cornish. In terms of national minority status, the UK Government has stated that it would treat Cornwall the same as Wales and Scotland. It is time that this happened in regard to devolution and our democracy.”
Mr Cole has tabled a a cross-party motion to the next meeting of Cornwall Council on January 21 which, among other things, calls for confirmation that elected members will not countenance any cross-border combined authority deals. It also calls for a “meaningful devolution settlement for Cornwall, which properly reflects Cornwall’s national identity and the national minority status of the Cornish”.
Perran Moon, Labour MP for Camborne, Redruth and Hayle
Labour MP Perran Moon
“Less than two years ago, over 6,000 people in Cornwall responded to a consultation on whether Cornwall should have a mayor – 69 per cent were against with 25 per cent in favour. It is crystal clear to me from multiple conversations over many months, that there is comprehensive consensus across the Cornish political spectrum that there is no desire for a combined authority or a mayor.
“We are first and foremost Cornish, with a distinct heritage, culture, language and identity. I wonder how the taxpayers of Plymouth would feel about funding Cornish language place names, Cornish language lessons and Cornish cultural events? Devolution should not be imposed. But ultimately this is a decision for Cornwall Council, not the MPs and not politicians from Devon.
“I just wish that our friends from the other side of the Tamar, if that is what they want to do, would spend a little more time focussing on combining with English counties to the East, and a little less time focussing on our Duchy, protected by national minority status.”
Andrew George, Liberal Democrat MP
(Image: Greg Martin)
“Plymouth has as much right to tell Cornwall how it governs itself as Cornwall has to dictate to Plymouth, or indeed anywhere else over the border in England for that matter. To suggest that if Cornwall wants devolved power, it can only do so if it establishes a partnership with neighbouring areas, would have been like telling Wales it could only form an Assembly if it partners with the West Midlands, or that Scotland may only secure devolution if it partners with the north of England.
“The principle of devolution is letting go of power, not holding on to authoritarian, top-down power to micro-manage. Cornwall’s six MPs are united in our determination to secure devolution on a Cornwall-only footprint. And to invite the Isles of Scilly if it wishes to form any kind of whole or partial/provisional partnership; on the same principle of respecting its right to decide itself, just as Cornwall reasonably expects others to respect ours.
“We wish local authorities to the east, including Plymouth, well in their own negotiations with whoever they wish to form partnerships, and note the desire to establish a South West Peninsula Mayoral Strategic Authority, which Cornwall will not be part of but which would of course be pleased to work with, just as it would with any other new devolved authorities which emerge from this process in other parts of England.
“Cornwall has acquiesced over the years to various service partnerships for administrative convenience, but as this process would crucially undermine Cornwall’s right to retain our distinctive status, to reflect Cornwall’s different cultural, historical and Celtic identity, just as has been asserted in Wales and Scotland, Cornwall must now assert its right to self-determination.”
Leigh Frost, leader of the Liberal Democrat group at Cornwall Council
Lib Dem councillor Leigh Frost
“I disagree with Plymouth’s view. Cornwall needs to have a deal in its own right, so more power is put back into local hands. We have a unique identity and geography but instead of being properly recognised for that, we are always fighting for to get our fair share. We already know what decisions being made elsewhere means for Cornwall, less funding and less support.
“We get below average funding per person in a range of issues yet our costs are so much higher. We have sparse population centres, which means that in a combined authority, we can expect money to flow into places like Plymouth and Exeter, and we’ll be left fighting again to get what we need.”
Noah Law, Labour MP for St Austell and Newquay
Labour MP Noah Law
(Image: Greg Martin / Cornwall Live)
“I can under no account support a South West Peninsula Mayoral Strategic Authority including Cornwall. Cornwall is a small but independently-minded Celtic nation, with a distinctive cultural and linguistic heritage, a coherent physical geography, but also a clear functional economic geography with its own unique opportunities, which we are working hard to capitalise on and which a proper devolution deal for Cornwall would enable.
“It also has an existing unitary administration which has many such devolved functions already and which the people of Cornwall are in absolutely no rush to layer additional complexity or distant bureaucracy onto. I look forward to continued and increased cooperation with neighbours across the Tamar and I wish Plymouth, in particular, the very best in the successful expansion of its unitary authority and realisation of its own unique economic opportunities.”
Cornwall Council’s Conservative leader Linda Taylor has not yet responded to a request for her view on moves over the border.
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