Nominations and congratulations to Cornwall Council Electoral Services

The nominations for the Cornwall Council elections have closed and the list of candidates is out.

In Illogan I am contesting the District with the sitting Conservative and Lib Dem, Labour and UKIP candidates. There is no Independent.

This will make for a very interesting campaign as the mix of candidates is very different to 2009 when there were Conservative, Lib Dem, Labour, Liberal and Independent candidates.

In 2009 the Tories were riding high in the polls on the back of a deeply unpopular Labour government. The Lib Dems were also peddling the myth that the only way to stop the Tories was to vote Lib Dem (and we all know how that turned out later in 2010) in an attempt to hold on to power at Cornwall Council level.

Now, as Nigel Farage likes to point out, the Tories will be splitting the UKIP and right wing vote, and opinion polls show that  the Lib Dems are haemorrhaging support. Labour do not have a strong record in Cornwall.

Mebyon Kernow have 26 strong candidates across Cornwall.

I am relishing the campaign challenge. It is a privilege to be out on the street talking to the people of Illogan, Park Bottom and West Tolgus. How the election finally turns out is, of course, in the gift of the electorate but I am becoming more confident as time goes by - and I receive support and encouragement from the people that I speak to. I hope that I am doing the Mebyon Kernow message proud and that I will be able to perform well in the poll and perhaps deliver a new MK Cornwall Councillor.

I would like to take time to say thank you and congratulations to Cornwall Council Electoral Services.

Throughout the nominations period they have been professional, extremely helpful and very patient. They have managed to publish the lists of candidates across Cornwall within an hour or two of nominatuons closing - the very model of efficiency. We all like to criticise officialdom at times so it seems only fair to give credit when, as in this case, it is thoroughly deserved.