Change - but in a Cornish way

With Thursday's election approaching like a completed HS2 I thought that I would make a final case for voting for your local Mebyon Kernow candidate.

You should vote for MK because it is the only political party which is made up of members who have an intuitive grasp of what Cornwall needs to begin to move forward. This understanding is intuitive for MK but it is incomprehensible to the Tory, Lib Dem, Labour and UKIP Westminster drones

Mebyon Kernow believes that we need to cherish and preserve what sets Cornwall 'a land apart'.

This doesn't mean that we argue that Cornwall should be stuck in the past. Far from it, we need to change things - but the change needs to be 'Cornish change'.

For example take the housing debacle that has condemned us to potentially constructing more than 42,000 houses over the next 17 years.

The Westminster solution is to 'presume in favour of development'. London is desperate to be seen to be doing something about the economic crisis that it has created and it encourages development at almost any cost. Houses are to be built where there is no demonstrable local need and this is justified by the claim that the only way to build 'affordable' homes is to build unaffordable homes. The problem is that more and more unaffordable homes are going to be needed because the same government is allowing developers to maximise their profits by reducing the requirement for 'affordability'.

The Mebyon Kernow approach is to focus on local needs houing. Yes - we may well need to build some houses but lets make sure that what we build actually address the problem that Westminster is refusing to face.

We need to stop building houses to become second homes and holiday lets and tie new housing to local needs.

Instead of selling council houses let's start building them. Lets rent them out at levels that Cornish people have a chance to afford. If entreprenneurs can accumulate huge buy to let portfolios to command massive profit why can't our government do it on a non-profit basis to house those who are in need - especially as it has the enormous advantage of a purchasing power not available to most development companies.

And lets start thinking about a jobs led recovery instead of on false hopes that out of control hyper-development will do the trick.

We need to focus on what Cornwall does best - innovation and hard work.

Instead of buying in to the Westminster way of throwing money at high profile projects like Newquay airport lets start investing in small and medium size businesses. Rather than encourage global companies to 'invest' in Cornwall by using our people to generate their profit through part time, seasonal and low wage employment lets empower the people to be responsible for their own livelihoods. Instead of Cornwall being used as a profit laundering centre for companies from up country, or even further afield, lets create wealth which recirculates in Cornwall.

The people of Cornwall are more than capable of building a prosperous future for our children - we just need the right leadership. An intuitive Cornish leadership for Cornwall. A leadership that will put Cornwall first and be prepared to make the changes required to build that future - but built in a Cornish way.