Does the future for Cornish identity and culture look positive or will those of us who care about such things be left feeling a bit blue about it all? It’s early days but it looks like the new Cornish Conservative council is not giving too much thought to this at present.
The Tories document the Conservative Plan for Cornwall is slim in both size and detail. It’s the usual political manifesto grand in scale of promise but not much on facts, promises to spend taxpayers money wisely, plans to build homes for locals, protecting the environment or building on the legacy of the G7,all very laudable…. But…
No mention of the huge financial loss that has affected the council due to covid and how they are going to make up the shortfall,is it going to be cuts or council tax rises or are both on the cards?
Also no mention of the Rt Hon Robert Jenrick MP Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government who is piloting through the commons a radical overhaul of the planning system, dubbed the developers charter that will kill off the last remaining safeguards in the planning system, and make it easier for developers to push through unwanted developments and far harder to build affordable homes for locals and also damage the natural environment, can we expect our Conservative Cornish councillors to start their dynamic tenure by picking an argument with their leadership at Westminster?
And of course the less said of the G7 and the Carbis Bay Hotel fiasco the better.
To be fair what else could you expect the Cornish Conservatives to do in their manifesto than breakout a can of gloss and give their erstwhile coalition colleagues the Lib Dems a good kicking.
Away from such political chicanery what makes the Conservative manifesto really standout is what is missing.
The manifesto talks of Cornwall and county hall, the Cornish Conservatives website mentions the county of Cornwall but it does not contain words such as Kernow, Duchy, Kernewek or Lys Kernow neither does it make any mention of Cornish culture.
This maybe just a small thing to some, it is after all just a pamphlet. The Tories may be all powerful at present but if the lack of Cornish culture in their manifesto is a hint to the future then they must realise that in Kernow they are elected on a small turnout and they cannot push Cornish identity back in the box however much they want to.
It’s understandable with Scotland demanding another independence referendum and Wales watching very closely that the Tories are very wary of the Cornish demanding more recognition and more political powers to be devolved to Kernow.
It is a possibility that all is not lost, there is a charming photo of Conservative group leader Linda Taylor Councillor for St Ives East, Lelant & Carbis Bay and now leader of the council in the Cornish Conservative manifesto wearing a Cornish tartan scarf. Maybe this is a message to the Cornish that the Cornwall Conservatives are radical, that they will stand up to Westminster and that the Cornish have their identity and this council will always defend this… Or maybe not.
What is certain is that our esteemed council leader will have to do a lot more than just wear a scarf to burnish her Cornish credentials.
KernowCalling 