Mebyon Kernow
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Mebyon Kernow - the Party for Cornwall | |
|---|---|
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| Leader | Cllr. Dick Cole |
| Founded | 6 January 1951 |
| Headquarters | Lanhainsworth |
| Political Ideology | Cornish self-governance, social democracy |
| Political Position | Centre-left |
| International Affiliation | none |
| European Affiliation | European Free Alliance |
| European Parliament Group | n/a |
| Colours | old gold, black and white |
| Website | www.mebyonkernow.org/ |
| See also | Politics of the UK |
Mebyon Kernow (Cornish for "Sons of Cornwall", often abbreviated MK) is a political party in the United Kingdom. The main objective of MK is to establish greater autonomy in Cornwall, through the establishment of a legislative Cornish Assembly. They claim to campaign for all the people of Cornwall with a political programme that offers an alternative to the London-centred parties.
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[edit] Early history
MK was founded on January 6, 1951 at a meeting held in Redruth. Helena Charles was elected the party's first chair. At the first meeting, MK adopted the following objectives:
- To study local conditions and attempt to remedy any that may be prejudicial to the best interests of Cornwall by the creation of public opinion or other means.
- To foster the Cornish Language and Literature.
- To encourage the study of Cornish history from a Cornish point of view.
- By self knowledge to further the acceptance of the idea of the Celtic character of Cornwall, one of the six Celtic nations.
- To publish pamphlets, broadsheets, articles and letters in the Press whenever possible, putting forward the foregoing aims.
- To arrange concerts and entertainments with a Cornish-Celtic flavour through which these aims can be further advanced.
- To cooperate with all societies concerned with preserving the character of Cornwall.
By September 1951 they had officially come to a stance of supporting self-government for Cornwall, in what they hoped at the time would be a federal United Kingdom. MK won its first seat at local level on the Redruth-Camborne Urban Council in 1953. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, MK was in essence a political pressure group rather than a true political party, with members being able to join other political parties as well. However, by the 1970s the group developed into a more coherent and unified organization. During this decade, MK began contesting Westminster parliamentary seats as well as local government ones. A schism in the early 1970s led to the formation of the Cornish Nationalist Party.
They currently describe their philosophy as based on being: "Cornish, Green, Left of Centre, Decentralist." Mebyon Kernow is a member of the European Free Alliance although it did not contest European Parliament elections in 2004 or 1999.[1] The party has close links with Plaid Cymru (their partner in the EFA) including a twinning arrangement with Plaid's Blaenau Gwent branch, and to a lesser extent with the SNP.
Daphne du Maurier, the well known novelist, was at one point a member of Mebyon Kernow, as was Andrew George, the Liberal Democrat MP; he still remains sympathetic to many Cornish issues, but is no longer a member since they became a political party.
MK have an electoral partnership with the Greens. In the 2005 Westminster elections, MK did not contest the St Ives constituency to make room for the Green Party candidate. In return, the Greens did not stand against MK in any of the other four Cornish constituencies. MK has announced it will contest St Ives at the next general election.
[edit] Electoral performance
In 1979, in the first elections to the European Parliament, Mebyon Kernow's candidate Richard Jenkin was able to attract almost ten percent of the vote in the Cornwall seat. This reflected a decade of steady growth for the party. MK continues to contest parliamentary seats with little electoral success, and also local government seats with more success. They lost their only Cornwall county councillor in 2001.
The electoral results of Mebyon Kernow in Cornwall are shown in the table below.
| Election | Votes cast | Share of Vote | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 European election | 10,205 | 5.9 | |
| 1983 General election | 1,151 | 1.2 | 2 candidates |
| 1989 European election | 4,224 | 1.9 | |
| 1994 European election | 3,315 | 1.5 | |
| 1997 General election | 1,906 | 0.8 | 4 candidates |
| 2001 General election | 3,199 | 1.3 | 3 candidates |
| 2005 General election | 3,552 | 1.7 | 4 candidates |
(Source: Election Demon)
| Engish Local Elections 2007/Party | Councils | Councillors | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | 165 | 5,315 | |
| Labour | 34 | 1,877 | |
| Liberal Democrats | 23 | 2171 | |
| Residents Association | 1 | 67 | |
| Green | 0 | 62 | |
| British National Party | 0 | 10 | |
| Liberal | 0 | 9 | |
| Mebyon Kernow | 0 | 7 | |
| UK Independence Party | 0 | 5 |
(Source: BBC local election results May 2007)
Since 11 November 2004, there have been four MK councillors on Kerrier District Council, along with one in Restormel (the party leader Dick Cole) and, until his death in 2005, John Bolitho in North Cornwall. One of the MK councillors in Kerrier, Loveday Jenkin, joined the district council government in 2005 becoming the first MK councillor in such a position.
In May 2007 Mebyon Kernow achieved its best-ever round of election results in Cornwall’s district and town and parish councils. There were 225 district council seats up for election and MK put up 24 candidates. MK won seven district council seats, a nett gain of one; seventeen town/city council seats and four parish council places, a nett gain of one town/parish seat. MK polled about 5 percent of the total votes cast in the district council elections. The seats won included their first seat on Caradon Council for 24 years; defended their seat on North Cornwall District Council; three seats on Kerrier District Council, where they lost one seat; and two on Restormel Borough Council. The results put Mebyon Kernow in third position behind the Liberal Democrats and the Conservative Party and ahead of Labour in several seats including Kerrier, Restormel, North Cornwall and Caradon. The total MK vote in the May 2007 local elections was over 10,000 votes across Cornwall. [2][3]
In the Town Council elections MK maintained groups of five councillors on both Camborne Town Council and Penzance Town Council, with three new councillors also elected to Truro City Council and is also represented on town councils in Callington, Liskeard and Penryn.[4]
Several former Cornish MPs were also members of Mebyon Kernow, including Peter Bessell (Liberal Party), John Pardoe (Liberal Party), David Mudd (Conservative), David Penhaligon (Liberal Party) and currently Andrew George (Liberal Democrats).[5]
[edit] Cornish Assembly
In July 2000 Mebyon Kernow issued the "Declaration for a Cornish Assembly".
Cornwall is a distinct region. It has a clearly defined economic, administrative and social profile. Cornwall's unique identity reflects its Celtic character, culture and environment. We declare that the people of Cornwall will be best served in their future governance by a Cornish regional assembly. We therefore commit ourselves to setting up the Cornish Constitutional Convention with the intention of achieving a devolved Cornish Assembly.
– Senedh Kernow
Three months later the Cornish Constitutional Convention was held with the objective of establishing a devolved Assembly. In less than two years, it had collected signatures from over 50,000 people, of whom 41 650 were resident in Cornwall, which is about 10 percent of the total Cornish electorate. A delegation led by the West Cornwall Liberal Democrat MP Andrew George and representatives of the Convention (Bert Biscoe, Richard Ford, Dick Cole, David Fieldsend and Andrew Climo Thompson) presented the declaration to 10 Downing Street on Wednesday 12 December 2001. [6]
Currently the South West Regional Assembly and the South West Regional Development Agency have control over areas such as economic development, housing and strategic planning. The dominant Cornish political party, the Liberal Democrats, and Mebyon Kernow have called these unelected quangos "undemocratic and unaccountable".[7] They claim that the SW area covered is an artificially imposed large region and not natural.[8][9][10] This opinion is based partly upon geography, arguing that having the Isles of Scilly and Cornwall in the same region as Gloucestershire would be comparable to linking London with Yorkshire.[11] On Tuesday 17 July 2007, Local Government Minister John Healey MP announced Government plans to abolish regional assemblies. Functions of regional assemblies are planned to pass to Regional Development Agencies in 2010.[12] There have been calls from Mebyon Kernow and Liberal Democrat MPs for a Cornish Regional Development Agency to be implementated instead of the larger SWRDA.[13]
[edit] Support
Cornwall Council's February 2003 MORI poll showed 55% in favour of an elected, fully-devolved regional assembly for Cornwall (Previous result :46% in favour in 2002). [14]
The campaign has the support of all five Cornish Lib Dem MPs, Mebyon Kernow, and Cornwall Council.
Lord Whitty, as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions, in the House of Lords, recognised that Cornwall has a "special case" for devolution although "not a region... which can on its own determine its economic, transport and planning infrastructure".[15] On a visit to Cornwall deputy Prime Minister John Prescott said "Cornwall has the strongest regional identity in the UK".[16]
[edit] See also
- List of topics related to Cornwall
- Regional Assemblies in England
- English Core Cities Group
- Constitutional status of Cornwall
- Cornish Nationalist Party, an early splinter of MK, often conflated with it.
[edit] References
- ^ South West, Members elected to the European Parliament on 10 June 2004
- ^ BBC - 2007 Local Election results
- ^ Cornish World Magazine
- ^ Mebyon Kernow achieve best ever election results in 2007 district and town/parish elections
- ^ Mebyon Kernow
- ^ BBC News 11th December 2001 [1]
- ^ Motion to Cornwall Liberal Democrats’ Conference [2]
- ^ Mebyon Kernow opposes SWRA
- ^ Liberal Democrat MP backs Cornish Development Agency
- ^ Mebyon Kernow says Cornwall needs its own Development Agency
- ^ Senedh Kernow
- ^ BBC news July 2007 - Regional assemblies will be axed
- ^ Cornish MPs and Mebyon Kernow demand a Cornish Regional Development Agency
- ^ Give Cornwall what it wants.[3]
- ^ House of Lords debates, Wednesday, 21 March 2001, "Devolution: England" transcript of speech
- ^ Mebyon Kernow (2003-02-01). A democratic choice for Cornwall. Retrieved on 2007-05-04.
[edit] External links
- Cornish Assembly Official Website 2006
- Cornish Assembly - Senedh Kernow (archive)
- Mebyon Kernow
- Motion to Cornwall Liberal Democrats' Conference Nov 2005
- Blair gets Cornish Assembly call
- Scots leader backs Cornish Assembly
- George takes Cornish Assembly Campaign to Downing Street
- Prescott pressed on Cornish Assembly poll
- Minister leaves door open for Cornish Assembly
- House of Commons Hansard Debate on Regional Government 12 Jul 2005
- The Cornish: A Neglected Nation?
- Territorial Devolution
- South West Regional assembly
