tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9926069835909245422024-03-14T00:34:55.466-07:00Thoughts from CornwallStephen Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02642285715014538976noreply@blogger.comBlogger327125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-992606983590924542.post-89050385874079408962021-03-29T09:07:00.002-07:002021-03-29T09:09:56.408-07:00Flying our National Flag<p>Johnson's idea of flying the national flag seems ok to me. So come on everyone in Cornwall get your Baner Sen Peran out and fly it proudly across the country!</p><p><br /></p><p>... and while we're at it why doesn't MK take the chance to support a local Cornish business, raise some funds and support their Cornwall Council election candidates campaigns?</p><p>Surely MK could launch a campaign to fly our national flag, team up with a local flag producer (which would make a small donation to MK funds whenever they sold a flag to someone with the MK code) and give the media an opportunity to interview election candidates about flying our national flag!</p><p>MK winning here?</p>Stephen Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02642285715014538976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-992606983590924542.post-75586885059148039252021-02-01T06:29:00.003-08:002023-03-13T05:10:24.633-07:00Does Association with Nationalism Affect A Party's Electability?<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-IRjUmqxNLl0/YBfvH_nCSSI/AAAAAAAABOo/6UVikn47gN8N-nDsPHDNBQs9rrsltSzfgCLcBGAsYHQ/What-is-Hashtag-1-1080x628.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="628" data-original-width="1080" height="186" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-IRjUmqxNLl0/YBfvH_nCSSI/AAAAAAAABOo/6UVikn47gN8N-nDsPHDNBQs9rrsltSzfgCLcBGAsYHQ/What-is-Hashtag-1-1080x628.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>I fired up Google in an attempt to find a definition for "nationalism". There were literally dozens of widely differing versions of what nationalism was on just the first few pages.<p></p><p>This is the overwhelming problem with this word.</p><p>Nationalism means different things to different people.</p><p><br /></p><p>It is overwhelmingly associated with bigoted opinions, nasty and narrow minded people and insular and judgmental outlooks by the establishment and the MMS. The person on the Camborne bus is likely to view nationalists as frothing at the mouth lunatics verging on terrorists. Whether this is right, fair or proper is neither here nor there - it's just the way it is.</p><p>The trouble, of course, is that some 'nationalists' do actually deserve this kind of portrayal. The out and out racist or ethnic nationalists would certainly come to mind - for example the EDF (and UKIP more and more these days.)</p><p>On the other hand some people who are proud to call themselves nationalists are the very antithesis of the political thugs who provide the basis of the popular nationalist stereotype. Many nationalists want to promote their identity in conjunction with others doing the same thing. To be self-governing but co-operative with other nations. To be inclusive and tolerant of all their citizens.</p><p>However, when someone turns up proudly wearing a badge saying: "I am a nationalist" - guess what the person on the Camborne bus sees.</p><p>I think it is a massive mistake for any serious micro political party have its members proclaim themselves to be proud to be nationalists (unless, of course, their ideologies do actually run along the lines of the EDF etc.)</p><p>The odds are immediately stacked against you. Why spend time, energy and resources defending your badge of honour and trying to convince someone that it actually means something totally different to the observer's perception? Why would you want to spend your valuable chance to engage and communicate with a potential voter defending a word instead of setting out your vision and ideas for a better future?</p><p>I know it's a matter of pride for many people to call themselves Cornish Nationalists but if you are seeking to be elected then you are playing into the hands of your political opponents. It is not cowardice or backing down to refuse to play this game - it is electorally savvy.</p><p>Why not upset the apple cart a little. Call yourself something like a Cornish Positivist (just an arbitrary suggestion - I'm sure there would be better). Immediately you are not linked to frothing at the mouth lunatics but also invite the question - "What does that mean?" There's your chance to engage in a positive way rather than have to defend a misconception!</p><p>Any Cornish political party outside of the Westminster establishment needs to make the very most of each and every opportunity it has to engage and persuade. A stubborn pride in allowing itself to be associated with a derogatory label will simply detract from any positive opportunity to communicate with the electorate which scant resources have facilitated.</p>Stephen Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02642285715014538976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-992606983590924542.post-60674175885359658392021-01-31T04:40:00.001-08:002021-01-31T04:57:44.517-08:00Party Politics vs Cornwall<p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br />Over the last couple of days I have had a couple of discussions with some Westminster political party wannabe MPs.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">My concern is to discover whether leading Westminster political party politicians in Cornwall use their positions in their parties to further Cornish issues or use Cornish issues to further their Westminster political party careers.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Facebook has a group "STOP THE DESTRUCTION OF CORNWALL NOW". </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Andrew George <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/2231030427120239/permalink/3079686112254662/?comment_id=3080475485509058&reply_comment_id=3080498378840102&notif_id=1612011174059587&notif_t=group_comment&ref=notif" target="_blank">posted in that group </a> about the scandalous fact that "<span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;">Over £100 million of covid aid has been handed out to folk who're lucky enough to have a second home in Cornwall."</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fair enough.</span></span></p><p><span style="color: #050505; font-family: georgia;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">The problem is that George then goes on to pin the blame squarely on the Tories - when in actual fact the legislation enabling this was down to the Lib Dem/Tory coalition.</span></span></span></p><p><span style="color: #050505; font-family: georgia;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">When I pointed this out he called me a liar - claiming that he opposed the legislation in many ways.</span></span></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="color: #050505; font-family: georgia;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">The thing is - I'm sure that Andrew George is a hard working and dedicated Cornish patriot who has spent a lifetime doing great things for </span></span><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); white-space: pre-wrap;">Cornwall - but he is also a Lib Dem, Westminster political party career politician. Something that is highlighted by his gross disingenuity by blaming the Tories rather than acknowledge a fair proportion of blame be attached to his own political masters.</span></span><p></p><p><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: georgia; white-space: pre-wrap;">Is this using his position to further Cornish issues or using a Cornish issue to further his career - you decide.</span></p><p><span style="color: #050505; font-family: georgia;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Then hot on the heels of the Andrew George exchange I read a the article that Jayne Kirkham wrote for (I think) the West Briton and then <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/1584025891885077/?multi_permalinks=2843029939317993&comment_id=2843788485908805&notif_id=1612090218016070&notif_t=feedback_reaction_generic&ref=notif" target="_blank">published in the Facebook group</a> "Cornish Politics Discussed".</span></span></p><p><span style="color: #050505; font-family: georgia;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">In the article Jayne asks what Cornwall will get from the G7 conference scheduled for Carbis Bay later in the year. A legitimate question we might all say but she failed to make any proposal for how any of the things that she thought were deficient might have been implemented by a Labour government.</span></span></p><p><span style="color: #050505; font-family: georgia;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Is this using her position to further Cornish issues or using a Cornish issue to further her career - you decide.</span></span></p><p><span style="color: #050505; font-family: georgia;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Now Jayne is a very hard working Cornwall Councillor and I'm sure she is dedicated to improving the life of people in her division but another point emerged during our discussion on Facebook regarding her post.</span></span></p><p><span style="color: #050505; font-family: georgia;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); white-space: pre-wrap;">Jayne recently abstained on a vote implementing an increase in the allowance paid to Cornwall Councillors.</span></span></p><p><span style="color: #050505; font-family: georgia;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); white-space: pre-wrap;">She said that she believed:</span></span></p><p><span face="system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif" style="background-color: #f0f2f5; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-size: 15px;">"if we want councillors who can represent and speak for all the people of Cornwall then we need to pay something they can live on, otherwise we will end up with what we’ve got at the moment. Which is a council mainly full of retired older men who don’t have the experience of the life that many of us who live in Cornwall have. We have more men over the age of 70 on cornwall council than we do women of any age."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Despite this belief she abstained</span><span style="font-family: georgia;"> saying that now was not the right time.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The thing is when will there ever be a good time to increase Councillor allowances?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">I agree wholeheartedly with Jayne's reasoning for an increase. I think (with some reservations that I explained within the Facebook discussion) it is vital that Cornwall Councillors are paid enough to allow them to spend the time to do a stellar job for the people of Cornwall rather than encouraging a lot of (certainly not all) (small c) conservatives who have enough private income to fund their hobby and delusion of grandeur to run Cornwall's local politics.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">My problem is that I believe her failure to vote for the increase was more down to protecting her chances of election for her Westminster Labour party next time around. A courage of conviction for what is right for Cornwall (in my mind) means changing the demographic of the people who run Cornwall Council and increasing allowances is a good way to start this process. However, councillors who vote for allowance increases are lambasted by a lot of voters who are goaded on by the righteous hobby councillors who enough private income to do away with allowances all together.</span></p><p><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: georgia; white-space: pre-wrap;">Is this using her position to further Cornish issues or using a Cornish issue to further her career - you decide.</span></p>Stephen Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02642285715014538976noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-992606983590924542.post-38817869559708811292019-05-22T01:58:00.001-07:002019-05-22T01:58:22.489-07:00Why is MK entering the PPC election?<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-StA6sNcuf0A/XNu4YL5_1_I/AAAAAAAABHo/fetOZ2ZG0vM1Zx4zBKk3abchVtf-lwSoQCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/PCCpanel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-StA6sNcuf0A/XNu4YL5_1_I/AAAAAAAABHo/fetOZ2ZG0vM1Zx4zBKk3abchVtf-lwSoQCK4BGAYYCw/s400/PCCpanel.jpg" /></a><br />
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It will cost well over £5000 to enter the Police and Crime Commissioner election in 2020 - why would MK waste that money?</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The Police website states that:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">"<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Police and crime commissioners (PCCs) are elected representatives who oversee how crime is tackled in a police force area. Their aim is to cut crime and to ensure the police force is effective."</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">In 2012 the turnout for the election of this august office for Devon and Cornwall was a mere 15%. By 2016 this had risen to 22%. In other words people care even less about this election than they do about local council elections! </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Yet despite the 'non-entity' status of this election (and the £5000 deposit required to enter the farce), MK is adamant that it is a good idea to take part. Why might this be, and do MK have a chance of winning - or even saving their much needed cash deposit?</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Why would MK even contemplate risking so much cash, not just the £5000 deposit, but all the campaign materials as well?</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">First of all - does MK have any chance of winning this election? Of course you can't absolutely prove something like this in advance so its impossible to say that MK has zero chance of winning the election - but I don't think any sane person would stake anything of value on such a bet. There are all sorts of reasons why MK are rank outsiders to win this election.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Can MK secure enough votes to beat one of the big Westminster parties? Again this seems doubtful - there's too much stacked against this possibility - not least the resources available to MK compared to Westminster parties.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Well can MK at least get enough votes to secure its £5000 deposit - at least that would be a worthwhile effort and save what is a massive sum for a party which only managed to fundraise £300 in 2016. Again, as we will see, even this would be a massive task.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Can MK gain publicity from the campaign? This is very doubtful because nobody, including the media, gives a damn about it. If you want publicity - use the £5000 on a public relations media campaign - it would be money much better spent.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">It seems highly unlikely that MK will win the election, beat a big Westminster party, save its deposit or get value for money publicity from this election.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">But why is any achievement in this election going to be so difficult?</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">The election takes place with an electorate from Cornwall and Devon. This means that only one third of that electorate will be residents of Cornwall. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Michael Bunney is the MK candidate. In his speech at the last MK conference, he pledged to campaign across all of Cornwall - no mention of Devon. MK will not even be actively campaigning with two thirds of the electorate in mind. Even the message of Michael's campaign is (quite correctly for MK) going to be Cornwall focussed - so why would anyone in Devon even be remotely interested?</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Does MK have any 'background' appeal whatsoever outside of Cornwall? It seems highly unlikely that the level of support for MK in Devon would be anywhere near the level in Cornwall - and even that is horrendously low for Cornwall nationally. On top of this Michael's campaign is going to specifically focus on Cornwall. It's hard to see how MK could pick up even 1% of the vote in Devon.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Let's look at some figures.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">In 2015 in the general election MK polled 2% of the vote. That is bad enough - but if you take out Dick Cole's personal result of over 4% then the average drops to well below below 2%. On a good day the background vote for MK in Cornwall would appear to be somewhere between 1% and 2% probably closer to 1%.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">So is there any chance at all that MK might achieve something from this election?</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Well, let's look at the optimistic arguments for taking part.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">MK's best recent electoral achievements to date, in national elections, are Dick's parliamentary results. Excluding 2017, which MK didn't enter at all, in the two general elections 2010 & 2015 Dick achieved over 4% of the vote. Let's set a target of </span>achieving 5% to save the deposit and beat the previous best. </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">As we have seen this is a big ask, but we are being positive and if MK did achieve this it would be something to shout about and, maybe, grab some media coverage.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">In 2016 the total votes cast in the PCC election were 294120 of which 74648 were in Cornwall. Let's assume similar figures for 2020. 5% of the total would be 14706 - this is the minimum target number of votes that MK would need in order to claim some sort of success in this election.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">MK will not be campaigning in Devon and will have a Cornish-centric campaign so to be very optimistic let's allow that MK gets 1% of the vote in Devon. That would be 2165 votes which leaves 12541 votes to be found in Cornwall - this would be 16.8% of the Cornish vote.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">So the task ahead of MK is to go from a national Cornish average of around 1.5% of the vote to 16.8% of the vote. Quite a mammoth task given that this is a national average - across all of Cornwall. It is not a single parliamentary constituency never mind a Cornwall Council electoral district that we are talking about.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Could MK achieve this?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">There might be some factors that could work in favour of a determined and focussed MK organisation. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">For example, the election is extremely low key. The big parties might not focus on it as much as other, higher profile elections. This could give MK an advantage to use.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Also the nature of the election might mean that voters would be more willing to go with less well known parties and independents for once as it wouldn't matter so much if their normal political party choice didn't get elected.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Similarly, this could be an ideal election for the protest voter to abandon the bigger parties.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Finally, although MK will undoubtedly be outspent by the bigger parties at least they have one resource in equal amounts - time.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">So yes, there are circumstances which MK might use to advantage - the question is will they?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">To be honest it doesn't look as if MK are living up to the claim to focus on this election and make a big thing of it. We are now probably about 12 months away from the election and MK has already squandered a lot of the one resource that it had - time. What campaigning has MK already done. How many leaflets has MK delivered in order to get the electorally crucial 'name recognition' building up? How many press releases or publicity stunts has Michael created that set out his vision for policing or get his campaign noticed?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">And what of money, has MK been busy raising funds to build the substantial war chest needed to compete - never mind the initial £5000 deposit?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Is there a strategic plan in place to target selected voting areas and reach the 12541 vote target for Cornwall?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Somehow, unfortunately, I doubt it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I really, truly hope I'm wrong - but I just can't see why all the talk this time will be any more productive than all the talk on previous occasions.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Please, MK, prove me wrong. Prove me wrong and give me hope that a Cornish political party is truly serious about gaining political power.</span><br />
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Stephen Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02642285715014538976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-992606983590924542.post-61009400227506422732019-05-14T07:32:00.001-07:002019-05-14T07:32:19.548-07:00Is Brexit Democratic?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WSNO1A4W3h8/XNprIZX_J7I/AAAAAAAABHY/PzvVPHl1G4U2HPQgDsrA--IOnEMo8siwgCLcBGAs/s1600/Screenshot%2B2019-05-14%2Bat%2B08.13.39.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="536" data-original-width="804" height="266" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WSNO1A4W3h8/XNprIZX_J7I/AAAAAAAABHY/PzvVPHl1G4U2HPQgDsrA--IOnEMo8siwgCLcBGAs/s400/Screenshot%2B2019-05-14%2Bat%2B08.13.39.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Brexiteers are constantly telling us that Brexit is the will of the people and that the current impasse is a betrayal of democracy by the ruling elite.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">How true is this?</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>On 23rd June 2016 the people of the UK were asked "Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union?"<br />
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17,410,742 replied leave and 16,141,241 replied remain with 25,359 spoiled papers. A clear result that at that particular day in time an opinion poll of the people clearly indicated that a majority of people who voted wanted to leave the EU. This is undeniable. Whatever else follows it is clear that we had a democratic vote and there was a clear result - with normal usage of words it is undeniable that a democratic mandate to leave the UK had been given to the Cameron government.<br />
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But what exactly does this really mean?<br />
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To start with I want to clear one thing up! <b>Any democratic mandate is not the 'will of the people'.</b> In 2016 the population of the UK was estimated to be 65,788,574. Only 26% of the population of the UK actually voted to leave the EU. I can hear howls of derision from Brexiteers claiming that children and people ineligible to vote shouldn't be included - and that's fair enough - I just wanted to put that statistic out there because if you are talking about the will of the people then surely you need to include all of the people? Don't you?<br />
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Let's look at it another way. In all 46,500,001 people were registered to vote. This gives us a figure of 37% who voted to leave. So a minority of those eligible to vote actually voted to leave. <b>Surely now it is absolutely clear that the referendum result was not the 'will of the people'?</b> The referendum result was the will of the people who bothered to vote on one particular day. Nothing more than a snapshot, an opinion poll on one day in history.<br />
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Does this mean that the result didn't provide a democratic mandate? Not at all. With our first past the post voting system our government is usually elected with around 30% - 40% of the vote. In 2015 the Conservative Party obtained 36.8% of the vote and formed a government - although 63.2% of voters did not actively want a Tory government the democratic process provided us with one anyway.<br />
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<b>Brexit is not the will of the people - but it is the result of a democratic process and it does have a democratic mandate.</b><br />
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There are challenges to this though. An objection that hard line Remainers often bring up to the democratic efficacy of the vote is the question of illegality. The case is made that the Leave campaign acted illegally during the campaign and, indeed, this has been borne out in the courts. But there are a few problems with this argument.<br />
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To look at this argument in context we need to first discuss the advisory nature of the referendum.<br />
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Remain makes a big issue of this advisory status. The argument goes that because the referendum wasn't legally binding we should be able to ignore the result. Well this is true - but why would a government ignore a democratic mandate given to it (when it made a promise that it would act on that mandate) just because it wasn't technically bound by the result? As a staunch Remainer I have to agree that it would be a gross betrayal of the democratic process if the government chose to ignore the mandate given to it after it had made a clear promise. In fact I often criticise politicians when they do this so how can I complain when they actually follow through on a promise?<br />
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How else can you construct this advisory status objection? You can argue that we only had a referendum because Cameron wanted to protect the Tory vote and fend off the electoral challenge from UKIP once and for all. This seems undoubtedly the case - but it doesn't mean that the vote was undemocratic. Just because the referendum had a poor basis for coming into being in the first place doesn't justify using the advisory status to trump the democratic implications. The government made a promise to act on the result of a vote - end of story - <b>though it isn't quite the end as I will show later!</b><br />
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Going back to the illegality aspect of the referendum - and this is why we needed to examine the advisory status of the referendum - the courts have declared that if the referendum had been binding rather than purely advisory then the result would have been made void because of the illegality of the campaign.<br />
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In other words the referendum can't be ignored - even though the illegal acts of the Leave campaign would have technically made it void in other circumstances - because of its advisory status. Another heavy blow indeed for Remain!<br />
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Yet Remain still tries to have its cake and eat it. Remain can't argue both that we should ignore the referendum result because it was advisory only and simultaneously argue that the result should be ignored for illegality. It has to pick one or the other, and to be frank, neither really holds water.<br />
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I have already shown why I don't think it would be right to ignore a democratic process simply because of an advisory only status. I also don't think it would be right to ignore the result on the basis of the illegality of the Leave campaign.<br />
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The courts have said that in a strictly legal term the referendum would have been voided if it had not been advisory. That is certainly the case but it is a legal position rather than a democratic one. On this issue if you wanted to show that the democratic value of the result had been so tainted by illegality as to warrant it being ignored then you would need to make a much better case. Yes, the Leave campaign broke the law - what I am saying is that I don't believe that the effect of that illegality was so great that an entirely different result would have been produced if the illegality hadn't occurred. I don't think the scale of the illegality would necessarily have affected the result that much. And yes, this is my OPINION. This is my personal blog so just an opinion. I don't have evidence for this statement - but then I don't see evidence to the contrary either. So let's move on from the issue of the advisory status of the referendum.<br />
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Another argument against the democratic nature of the referendum, and possible justification to ignore the result, is the plethora of lies that the Leave told during the campaign. (Again, I hear howls from Brexiteers that Remain also told lies. Maybe they did but then the result went in favour of Leave, so Remain lies are therefore irrelevant to the result.)<br />
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Well this argument doesn't hold any more water than the advisory status red herring. Politicians lie, bears shit in the woods and the Pope is Catholic. If you are stupid enough to believe lies told to you by politicians then you deserve the consequences to be honest. What else can I say?<br />
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<b>So my conclusion is that the referendum gave a clear democratic mandate to leave the EU - but this is isn't the end of the matter it is just where the problem starts as far as I am concerned.</b><br />
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Yes - the government has a democratic mandate to proceed with Brexit. Indeed there is a <b>democratic requirement</b> that it should proceed with Brexit because it made a promise that it would.<br />
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A big problem though is that the government made a promise which it isn't able to keep and which it had no right to make in the first place!<br />
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The UK has a constitutional system of government which involves a principle known as the 'separation of powers'. There are three distinct bodies which provide the constitutional framework by which we are governed. The 'government', known as the executive, brings forward new legislation and uses current legislation as the authority to govern. Parliament enacts new legislation and is distinct, in theory, independent of the executive. This means that the government doesn't automatically get to create new law as it sees fit - new laws can only be created by Parliament. Finally the judiciary exists to interpret the law and make rulings whenever there is a dispute.<br />
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When Cameron promised that his government would act on the result of the referendum what he actually promised was that his government would bring forward legislation to do so. <b>The problem is that he had no right to promise on behalf of Parliament that it would enact his legislation.</b> Normally there wouldn't be this problem because the government of the day usually has a majority in Parliament - but on this issue it doesn't. Parliament is in no way bound by the promise made by Cameron's government. This situation is perfectly democratic, given our constitution, it is quite right for Parliament to exercise its power and refuse to enact the legislation that the government brings forward - if it sees fit. <b>All of you people out there, Brexiteers or otherwise, who are decrying Parliament as being undemocratic and betraying the will of the people have got this so wrong. You should be celebrating the fact that we have a sovereign Parliament and that our constitution is doing the job it is supposed to do!</b> Not that this helps solve the problem that our 'balanced' constitution is generating.<br />
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There is no answer to this problem until Parliament is prepared to enact a proposal that is brought forward - and this it has been unable to do.<br />
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Why hasn't Parliament been able to enact the required legislation and why shouldn't it be bound by the government's promise? Ultimately this is because the referendum didn't address the question of exactly what the terms of leaving the EU should be. This was a question that wasn't addressed because the complexity of the issue would have prevented a sensible referendum question being brought forward in the first place. It has taken three years and we still can't agree on the best way to actually leave the EU - there's absolutely no way that we could have had a referendum question that addressed the mechanism of leaving the EU without several years of debate - as has been proven.<br />
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"Well so what!" I hear those Brexiteers shouting. After all Brexit means Brexit and leave means leave. But that's the trouble - this circular reasoning is offered because the detail of what Brexit or leave truly mean was never discussed before the referendum. There were lots of claims made - most of which have now proven to be false - but no clearly defined plan. Whenever the Remain campaign asked the Leave campaign - "well exactly what is your plan?" the question was met with deafening silence - apart from the platitudes of "it will be alright on the night." But it wasn't alright on the night was it?<br />
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During the campaign no clear plan of how to leave the EU was offered by either side. The closest we ever got was for it to be stated that the UK government would negotiate with the EU and everything would be fine and dandy. How wrong that was!<br />
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But still what's the problem? After all Brexit means Brexit, leave means leave - we can just exit the EU with no deal. Sure - but <b>there's no more democratic mandate for that than there is to revoke the Article 50 invocation - and that's the knot in the grain that we have with democracy and Brexit.</b><br />
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The government has a democratic mandate to leave the EU based on a negotiated settlement with the EU. Unfortunately nobody likes the negotiated settlement and, as I have shown, Parliament has no obligation to enact something that nobody likes.<br />
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So yes Brexit is democratic - but only on the basis of a negotiated deal - there is no democratic basis for either no deal or to remain.<br />
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The answer? Who knows? Maybe May will be able to cobble together enough support for some proposal at the umpteenth time of asking - I certainly don't have a clue and I have given up trying to predict what will happen next in this embarrassing saga.<br />
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My suggestion is a third (binding) referendum which is based on preferential voting options.<br />
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On our ballot papers we rank the options to leave with no deal, accept May's negotiated deal or remain. If one option achieves more than 50% of the vote after the first round of vote counting then that option wins. If not then the option that receives the lowest support is eliminated and the second preference of those voters are added to the other options. In that way we would arrive at the option that there is most democratic support for on referendum day.<br />
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The referendum could easily be binding (so we could avoid the problems of a non-binding referendum) if Parliament enacted a Bill which included what happens after the referendum without further Parliamentary voting. The last three years have given us plenty of time to consider the real pros and cons of leaving the EU so we would all be better informed.<br />
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Indeed, as far as I can see this is the only way forward that can possibly heal the division that we now face within the UK. Unless Parliament votes through May's deal there is no democratic basis for any decision and all sides of the argument would be justified in claiming that democracy had been overridden if we left with no deal or if we remained in the EU.<br />
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Whatever happens, without a third referendum there will be years of condemnation from one side or the other and immediately new campaigns will be set up with a view to reverse whatever has happened - and the whole cycle will begin again.<br />
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<br />Stephen Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02642285715014538976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-992606983590924542.post-48261052321035305982017-09-28T05:31:00.001-07:002017-09-28T05:31:14.339-07:00The Cornwall Council boundary row and how it illustrates my frustration with Cornish politics!<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_c6O-xGo2Dc/Wczo3C6kZMI/AAAAAAAABBA/VAZLImNKp2E1NIndkR24Rl83vCHxsRMOgCLcBGAs/s1600/frustration-1583655_960_720.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="479" data-original-width="960" height="198" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_c6O-xGo2Dc/Wczo3C6kZMI/AAAAAAAABBA/VAZLImNKp2E1NIndkR24Rl83vCHxsRMOgCLcBGAs/s400/frustration-1583655_960_720.jpg" width="400" /></a>So the LGBC has decreed that democracy in Cornwall needs to be further reduced! The number of people that we can actually choose for ourselves to have any input into how Cornwall is run will be slashed from 123 to 87.<br />
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Why are the <a href="http://www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornwall-news/boundary-commission-cornwall-councillors-cuts-532394" target="_blank">Tories crowing about this</a> and why are the other Westminster parties going through the motions of being appalled while indulging in the usual rhetorical inaction - designed to give a pretence of opposition for the benefit of voters?<br />
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A little thing like local government isn't particularly important to the Westminster bunch. The Tories are desperately trying to get rid of it. Labour simply uses it to attack the Tories and the Lib Dems are desperate to use it to make them appear even slightly relevant in the current political world.<br />
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All of these political uses of local government by London-centric political parties benefit from one thing. Reduced numbers of candidates in future elections will make it easier for those parties to use their vastly superior resources to greater effect - at the expense of independent candidates and smaller political parties. Fewer councillors mean larger electoral districts with more households. More households to visit individually and provide with expensive electoral literature. On top of that the London lot will have fewer candidates to find meaning that it is more likely that we end up in Cornwall with more councillors who will be taking their orders direct from London rather than the people of Cornwall.<br />
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All of this is before you look at the thing rather more objectively as Bernard Deacon has done <a href="https://psephologyfromtheperiphery.wordpress.com/2017/09/27/the-questions-the-local-government-boundary-commission-refuses-to-answer/" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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So how does this illustrate my frustration with Cornish politics?<br />
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Well - the first and obvious thing is the sheer undemocratic nature of the decision combined with the felling of "Why is it Cornwall, yet again, that is being treated so appallingly by our Westminster masters?"<br />
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But more frustrating than that is the way that MK has no power to prevent this kind of attack on Cornwall. What adds to the frustration are the reasons why MK has no power to act and the way that people still expect it to act - even when they are part of the reason why MK does not have the power in the first place.<br />
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Let me explain - so that I can be shot down in flames and totally vilified by everyone - what larks!<br />
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MK have no power to do anything to stop this because they are a political and electoral irrelevance - even less relevant than the Lib Dems, and probably still less relevant than UKIP in Cornwall. I don't mean this to sound harsh - just objectively realistic when you consider the number of votes that MK would receive if there was a general election tomorrow and MK had its deposits funded so it could stand candidates.<br />
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MK has just four Cornwall Councillors and has never managed to retain a deposit in a general election. If you took Dick Cole's personal vote out of the equation the party would struggle to achieve 1% of the vote in Cornwall.<br />
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Until MK, or any other political party, can ever begin to be able to challenge the dictats of Westminster it has to achieve massively more electoral support than it currently gets - surely that's just an obvious fact. A political party exists to win power to be able to give effect to its policies. Anything other than that makes it a pressure group at best. MK has an excellent record of achievement if you judge it through the prism of a pressure group - but as a political party it is failing.<br />
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Westminster will listen if it is forced to listen because of a concerted electoral challenge to its power - this is how UKIP have been successful and we are facing Brexit. If you have no electoral challenge then (as a political party) you have no challenge - end of story<br />
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But just as galling is the way that Cornish politicos still turn to MK and expect it to act and expect it to lead the fight against attacks on Cornwall.<br />
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Why is it galling? Because although the expectations and demands are always laid on MK they are very rarely backed up with the very thing that MK needs in order to lead the fight - votes!<br />
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How many people who voted tactically a few months ago for Corbyn's Labour party are now turning to their local Labour party and demanding that they do something in the same way that the demand is made of MK - not many!<br />
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How many people are turning to the likes of Andrew George or Dan Rogerson - because they are such champions of Cornwall - and demanding that they lead the fight against this - not many!<br />
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So we are in the bizarre situation where miracles are expected of MK and yet the votes go to the Westminster parties because one of them might possibly be slightly less bad than another of them.<br />
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That is my frustration in a nutshell. We have a failing Cornish political party - MK - which could and should do better. At the same time people in Cornwall deny MK the very things it needs, give those things to Westminster <b><i>and then demand that MK does something about the end result</i>.</b><br />
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If we are ever to get out of this seemingly hopeless situation we need a Cornish political party that behaves like a political party and a population that is prepared to vote for it - even it seems like a 'wasted' vote in the first instance.<br />
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Otherwise we are all doomed to continuing unwanted hyper-development, poor quality jobs and the eradication of Cornish culture.Stephen Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02642285715014538976noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-992606983590924542.post-85196247434889253402016-06-26T08:21:00.001-07:002016-06-26T08:21:41.802-07:00The cause of the disconnect between politics and voters?<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/--ejtkY8wQMY/V2_yfTkFmJI/AAAAAAAAAqs/h-Wr_dJZ57oBEDeANUZXiTPVA-AZFWVqwCLcB/s1600/maxresdefault.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/--ejtkY8wQMY/V2_yfTkFmJI/AAAAAAAAAqs/h-Wr_dJZ57oBEDeANUZXiTPVA-AZFWVqwCLcB/s320/maxresdefault.jpg" width="320" /></a>One thing that the referendum has highlighted is a reported feeling of a disconnect between our politicians and voters.<br />
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I have read many times that one of the reasons that people have given for voting in the referendum (either way to be fair) is to give the establishment 'a bit of a kicking'.<br />
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People feel that no matter how they vote they are not going to get what they actually want.<br />
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I think the obvious cause to this is the electoral system that we use. It is first past the post which is causing this disconnect.<br />
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When was the last time that any government won an election with more than 35% - 40% of the vote - possibly a lot less. The Conservatives are currently governing the country when around 65% of people didn't vote for them - is it any wonder the majority of people feel disconnected?<br />
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The problem with the system is that we have a government which represents the biggest minority and doesn't reflect the majority view point on the majority of issues.<br />
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Political parties are encouraged to come up with policies designed to upset as few people as possible in an attempt to be the least worst option - that seems to be the the way to ultimate power.<br />
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We need proportional representation to sort this out as then you could truly vote for what you wanted instead of voting to prevent what you don't want.<br />
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If we had proportional representation then getting 20% of the vote might put a party in the strong position that convincing one fifth of the electorate surely deserves. Currently it gets you zero influence.<br />
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In the meantime the big parties tell lies, or are deliberately misleading, in order to lose as few votes as possible instead of setting out what they truly believe in order to gain votes.<br />
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Of course, this might mean that our governments might be forced to work together more - but is that a problem really?Stephen Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02642285715014538976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-992606983590924542.post-6997683848114582872016-06-26T04:42:00.000-07:002016-06-26T04:49:27.253-07:00An Announcement<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-F7a6T6XHKTU/V2-_Os0CFtI/AAAAAAAAAqc/Y-uYaYnzMi8F-d71ed_3WLiv3oMJeYNqwCLcB/s1600/images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-F7a6T6XHKTU/V2-_Os0CFtI/AAAAAAAAAqc/Y-uYaYnzMi8F-d71ed_3WLiv3oMJeYNqwCLcB/s1600/images.jpg" /></a>Several weeks ago, before the referendum, I contacted MK and let the party know that I no longer wished to have an active campaigning or administrative role with MK.<br />
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I have shared my views and opinions, concerning the referendum result, on social media and I am being responded to as if I am still a spokesperson for MK. In fairness to MK and to myself I think it is best that I make it absolutely clear that this is not the case - I do not represent MK in any way.<br />
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I reached my decision to step back from active involvement with MK because I don't believe that it is focussed enough on being a political party and winning elections.<br />
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When I moved to Cornwall, eight years ago, I had no interest in politics. It was only through living here, and trying to embrace what is here rather than change it, that I became interested in politics.<br />
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I remain passionate about the strength of the case for Cornwall to have a devolved government of its own and that has always been my main motivation in becoming involved in politics. But I think that this can only be achieved by persuading enough people to actually vote for this in an election and MK simply doesn't focus on winning elections.<br />
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I don't wish to be critical of MK. I remain a life member. I know that MK has achieved many great and good things for Kernow. I know that MK councillors are individually well respected because they work untiringly for their communities. This can be seen in the outstandingly high number of votes that sitting MK Cornwall Councillors receive to be re-elected. The problem is that I think these champions for Cornish communities are being elected despite them being members of MK rather than because of it.<br />
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There are too few members who are able, or prepared, to do the hard and long term work that is necessary to win elections. There are too many who expect their ideas to be actioned by someone else rather than committing to the hard work themselves. Ideas are easy - it is putting them into action that is difficult.<br />
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I will never join a Westminster establishment party - their leading members are motivated first and foremost by their career opportunities. They use serious social issues as political footballs in a game to enrich their career. I don't want to be a career politician - I just want to see an assembly for Cornwall in my lifetime.<br />
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I will never be an independent politician as independent politicians will never be able to achieve strategic change on a wide scale which is what is needed in Cornwall. Independents are good at representing their constituents in a microcosmic type of way but they could never drive a change in wider macro-society without grouping together - then they are no longer truly independents (what is the meaningful difference between an 'independent group' and a political party?)<br />
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To my friends and colleagues within MK - I hope we can remain friends. I wish you the utmost success for your goals and ambitions and I pay respect to your hard work and passion.Stephen Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02642285715014538976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-992606983590924542.post-89369572937171506152016-06-26T01:00:00.000-07:002016-06-26T01:04:59.283-07:00Corbyn - A Dead Duck<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-n9hxii9hWc4/V2-MmwIbNNI/AAAAAAAAAqM/HIgyG2rzzzUMBbvKi7jY9MURD9mCFYZ5ACLcB/s1600/31193-dead_duck.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-n9hxii9hWc4/V2-MmwIbNNI/AAAAAAAAAqM/HIgyG2rzzzUMBbvKi7jY9MURD9mCFYZ5ACLcB/s1600/31193-dead_duck.jpg" /></a>What is the point of Jeremy Corbyn?<br />
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With Jeremy Corbyn as leader the Labour Party is dead in the water.<br />
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The party is at war with itself. Its career oriented MPs know that they're likely to lose their seats in droves come the next election and the new 'members' aren't likely to ever do anything constructive or anything that smacks of hard work for the party on the campaign trail.<br />
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And Corbyn himself is a just a big let down. He stood for election full of ideals and principles and we have watched them slide one by one as he morphs from rebel to establishment figure.<br />
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I don't know what Labour can do - or if it really matters in the end. In order to get elected in the current climate the Labour party would have to follow the Tories to the right.<br />
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What is the point in that? What colour do you want your right wing government blue or red?<br />
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Corbyn will never be able to get Labour back to truly progressive policies - so what is the point?Stephen Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02642285715014538976noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-992606983590924542.post-56089670410401615552016-06-25T06:20:00.001-07:002016-06-25T06:20:10.383-07:00My thoughts on the referendum result and the future<br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I wanted to take time to summarise my thoughts on the referendum result and the future for the UK after the momentous decision to leave the EU.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This is my personal blog and these are my personal opinions. I'm not at all an important person and I'm not claiming to hold any monopoly on common sense, decency or intellectual capability. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">If you don't agree with my thoughts then that's fine I accept that - please accept that I have a right to my opinion - however unimportant it is in the grand scale of things - to anyone else but me.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This is the status that I put on Facebook when the result was finally declared:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><i>I am utterly appalled and dismayed at the result today. I am ashamed and embarrassed to be 'British'.</i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><i>As the economy crashes, and the politics of hate have become acceptable, it looks like the United Kingdom (once Great Britain) will truly become Little England. We will lose all international credibility and the process of decline in our global status will accelerate.</i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><i>I have two hopes. First that if you voted to leave you will accept responsibility for what you have done in t<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">he future and not try to pass on the blame.</span></i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><i>My second hope is that I am totally wrong and Brexiteers are right. Never have I hoped to be wrong so much.</i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><i>Cornwall needs its own assembly - but, given the result in Cornwall, does it deserve it?</i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #1d2129;">That was an initial reaction to what most people agree was a shock result. Do I stand by it now? Yes just about every word. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #1d2129;">I admit that as I wrote 'As the economy crashes' - while it was accurate at the time that I wrote it - it was (perhaps understandably?) hyperbola given that I knew and understood that the capitalists and speculators were out in force trying to make a quick buck and that it would bounce back almost as quickly and to almost the previous level. Indeed I had discussed exactly this scenario with my son as the poll was being conducted - though I admit the scale of the dip and recovery was beyond what I expected.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #1d2129;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #1d2129;">But let me explain some of the other parts.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #1d2129;"><u>I am still ashamed and </u></span></span><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><u>embarrassed to be British - the politics of hate have become acceptable.</u> </span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This is not because of the result of the vote - we had a referendum and I accept that a majority of people wanted to do something that I disagreed with. That is absolutely fine by me. As Leave campaigners now keep pointing out we live in a democracy so have to accept that result. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">(Though as an aside I find it incredulous that there are so many people lecturing me on democracy and the triumph of the will of the people being heard. Incredulous because just the day before many of the same people were claiming how the vote had already been rigged and that a remain victory would not be a democratic statement by the people at all?)</span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I have no problem in accepting the fact that, as a society, we have voted to do something.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">What I have a problem with is what this decision and how it appears to have been reached says about our society.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">As I see it there are three types of Brexiters. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">First there are the people (almost certainly the majority) who have actually thought long and hard about the decision, respected its importance and carefully weighed the evidence before voting to leave.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I respect and applaud these people - I may not agree with you - but you have exactly the same right to vote leave as I have to vote remain.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The problem is that there are two other categories - probably sub-groups of one basic group.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Many people (and this is admittedly a purely subjective opinion from what I have personally witnessed) have voted because they agreed with what they thought were the two fundamental propositions of Brexit: 1 - There will be £350m per week which we can spend on the NHS and 2 - We will have complete control of immigration and only those who we think are 'acceptable' or 'necessary' will be 'allowed in'. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Why I think there are two groups here is because it was absolutely clear that both of these propositions were outright lies and falsehoods designed to con people and to subliminally appeal to more latent qualities of selfishness and prejudice. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">That they were lies was always clear to any critical thinker. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The ink wasn't even dry on the declaration of the result before Farage and co were carefully explaining how:</span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>'actually - you know that £350m for the NHS - it was a mistake - er.. sorry' </i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">or </span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>'you know what - we never said we were going to stop immigration - just that we <u>migh</u>t be able - in <u>some </u>way - at some point in the <u>future</u> - be able to<u> say</u> - in <u>some</u> way - that we have <u>allowed</u> an immigrant to come here <u>without actually changing anything whatsoever</u>'</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Two central lies exposed within hours!</span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">That is why I think there there were two groups. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">There was a group who didn't really think about anything much - but allowed themselves to be taken in by a promise of 'getting our money back to spend on the NHS' or 'stopping all these foreigners coming here and ruining our country' This group is exemplified by the reports in Friday evening newspapers of hordes of voters admitting that they had voted leave and now wished that they hadn't.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Then again there was a group that knew that lies were being told and knew why the lies were being told. They went along with the lies and reinforced them. This was done because they preferred to condone this in order, for whatever personal reason, to ensure that leave would win. In my mind this was the more cynical and rather more nasty element who have put personal gain or bigoted opinions and principles ahead of what they know to have been the truth. Should the leave campaign leaders and groups like Britain First be included in this category? You decide.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So why am I ashamed to be British? Not because we have had a democratic vote which has led to us leaving the EU but because what it has revealed about a significant element of our society.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We have politicians who are prepared to lie and cheat. We have people who are prepared to back them in full knowledge of what they are doing. And we have people who aren't prepared to look at bit more closely at what is being offered - but are prepared to be duped time after time.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Now you might say this is nothing new. Correct! But it doesn't make be proud to be British and each time it happens it makes me that bit more cynical and ashamed that, as a society, we are letting these people get away with it.</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><u>It looks like the United Kingdom (once Great Britain) will truly become Little England. We will lose all international credibility and the process of decline in our global status will accelerate.</u></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">There are so many people saying how Britain can now be Great again. I don't think Britain was ever particularly 'Great' and leaving the EU will only accelerate any respect and standing that we have had in the world.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">'Great Britain', as I understand most people seem to allude to, was something built on the colonial rape and pillage of societies for the benefit of a ruling elite. Of course, we have all been 'educated' along the way that we were bringing 'civilisation', 'modernisation' and even 'salvation' to 'backward savages' but the truth is that a few people got very rich by using one lot of people to murder another lot of people and then stealing all their stuff. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Does this make us 'Great' - I don't think so?</span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Even if it did, the colonial era ended a century ago. What might have made us 'Great' a century ago doesn't apply to day does it? </span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So what could make Britain 'Great'? Surely it has to be about working together to get rid of 'bad things' from the world. Surely it's all about co-operation, understanding and tolerance for betterment of all. For me it is.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The 'Little Englander' mentality does not make Britain Great - it makes us morally impoverished and isolated.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Our 'Greatness' in the nineteenth century is long gone. We are now just another, fairly wealthy, state which is comparable to many others. If this is a decline from our nineteenth century status of global superpower then that is simply the way it is. We're never going to change it back - even if we really wanted to. Our global status and the respect which the world community pays us has deteriorated steadily since the first world war. It is because we no longer have an empire and the military might to hold it, yet there are those that seem to want to maintain an empty imperial arrogance in our relationships with others. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Leaving the EU won't bring back the empire. There will be plusses and minuses. If we do better at one thing then we will do worse at something else. There will be no reversal of our our colonial decline and, worse still, it reinforces the international view of our imperial arrogance.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Then again we stand to lose even more. Scotland will almost certainly leave the UK and Northern Ireland may well follow. That's a 'Great result' isn't it? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><u>I have two hopes. First that if you voted to leave you will accept responsibility for what you have done in t<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">he future and not try to pass on the blame.</span></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><u>My second hope is that I am totally wrong and Brexiteers are right. Never have I hoped to be wrong so much.</u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><u><br /></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #1d2129;">Now I'm sure that the element who gave the issues serious thought about Brexit will take responsibility and will admit if it shown that they were wrong. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #1d2129;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #1d2129;">On the other hand it already apparent the the leaders of the leave campaign are already trying to find ways of doing exactly the opposite. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #1d2129;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #1d2129;">No doubt we will have the 'wrong type of Brexit' - even when (or if) it becomes clear we have made a mistake, <u>one thing for sure is that it won't be Farage and co's fault.</u> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #1d2129;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #1d2129;">I really do hope that I am wrong and that Brexit will be a massive success. I can't see it at the moment - but if I ever do then I will own it. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #1d2129;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #1d2129;">Of course I want our society to be the best it can be. I hope you Brexiters are right and I am wrong. Time will tell.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #1d2129;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #1d2129;">But at this point it should be worth noting that the democracy, which Brexiters claim calls on us all to pull together to make Brexit a success, actually means that I am liberty to disagree. In fact, if I wished, I could actively campaign and seek to persuade people that we should rejoin the EU. I could form a 'UK in Europe' political party and seek support for re-entry. That is what democracy is all about and shouldn't anyone, who claims to love democracy, agree that I have the right to do so? Surely it doesn't mean blithely accepting any democratic result for the long term. You're only as good as your last result!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #1d2129;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #1d2129;">Just saying ....</span></span></div>
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Stephen Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02642285715014538976noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-992606983590924542.post-9858964285776382272015-09-16T09:51:00.001-07:002015-09-16T09:51:13.131-07:00A Second Open Letter to Cllr Candy Atherton<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px;">
<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">Dear Cllr Atherton</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; text-decoration: underline;"><b>Does Labour still rubbish the idea of a Cornish Assembly?</b></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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Just about a year ago you rubbished the idea of a national Cornish Assembly in the local press and made the claim that, should you knock on doors in Cornwall on a wet October day, you wouldn’t find one person in a hundred that supported the idea of such an assembly.</div>
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Consequently I challenged you to join me and knock on one hundred doors to check your hypothesis. However, I had to assume that you weren’t prepared to put your theory to the test as you were unable to accept my challenge. I would like to renew that challenge now.</div>
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I would also like to congratulate your party on electing Jeremy Corbyn as its new leader. I’m sure that many of us outside the Labour Party are waiting to see if Mr Corbyn continues to be a politician of principles now that he has to attempt to make the party electable.</div>
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One principle that Mr Corbyn appears to have supported in the past is the establishment of a Cornish Assembly. in 2011 Mr Corbyn supported an ‘Early Day Motion’ in the House of Commons which called for “… the formation of a democratically elected Cornish Assembly to take decisions for the benefit of the people of Cornwall.”</div>
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Perhaps you might confirm whether you approve of your party leader’s support of a Cornish Assembly and whether you would like to finally accept my challenge?</div>
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Yours sincerely,</div>
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<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px;">
Stephen Richardson</div>
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(Chairman of the Camborne and Redruth Constituency Party of Mebyon Kernow)</div>
Stephen Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02642285715014538976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-992606983590924542.post-62042940423219999312015-05-25T04:32:00.000-07:002015-05-25T05:02:49.914-07:00A Case for Cornwall - Neither fish nor fowl!<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WUI6YrEcaiQ/VWMIGLJHB7I/AAAAAAAAApQ/PyvqL9MFv0E/s1600/11215123_892052207505452_191080518215374473_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WUI6YrEcaiQ/VWMIGLJHB7I/AAAAAAAAApQ/PyvqL9MFv0E/s320/11215123_892052207505452_191080518215374473_n.jpg" width="213" /></a>Cornwall Council, through its leader John Pollard, has produced a document 'A Case for Cornwall'<br />
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Cornwall Council is currently responsible for a budget of just over £1.1 billion. In total there is up to £5 billion spent on providing public services in Cornwall.<br />
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Cornwall Council, as our local government, is responsible for around one fifth of public spending in Cornwall while four fifths are spent on our behalf by central government or central government agencies.<br />
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John Pollard's Case doesn't stand up. It is neither one thing or another. It is neither fish nor fowl.<br />
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On the one hand it is big in ambition for Cornwall Council - or, actually, democratically unaccountable 'public service delivery partners' - on the other hand it is woefully short of ambition for the people of Cornwall.<br />
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A Case for Cornwall will not lead to greater public accountability for delivery of public services in Cornwall. It is not about devolution to local communities or strategic accountability to the people of Cornwall.<br />
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Much of the Case talks in terms of 'piggy backing' on existing Westminster programmes or EU schemes controlled through Westminster to 'unlock' access to various pots of money.<br />
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The problem is that, almost without exception, the implementation of any benefit derived from these schemes will be implemented by bodies that are not directly accountable to the people of Cornwall through any elected body. Further, it is worse than this because more often than not the pots of money come with many central Westminster strings attached.<br />
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For example - take the LEP. This is a body which has been set up by central government - but how is it accountable? It certainly isn't accountable to the people of Cornwall. We can't remove its board members if we don't think it is doing a good job.<br />
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The LEP has been given a pot of money under a deal with central government called the 'Growth Deal'. This has been heralded as a major achievement for Cornwall. The problem is that the Growth Deal is about 'unlocking potential for development' in Cornwall - code for enabling the building of more houses. Worse still it is absolutely clear that the Cornwall and isles of Scilly LEP will be responsible to Westminster rather than Cornwall Council for the way that the fund is administered and used.<br />
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The headline is: 'Devolution to Cornwall' the reality is 'Disguised Central Control from Westminster'.<br />
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The Case is also inevitably rhetorical and unrealistic in areas where Cornwall might expect to see some real benefit. It is often like the wish list that the beauty queens of old would compile. John Pollard may as well wish for 'world peace' or 'an end to hunger' as for some of the things in the Case. Why would a Tory government which has just slashed £197 million from local government in Cornwall start to hand some of this back in the convoluted schemes to be found in the Case. It just won't happen while there exists a central government ideology of reducing local government funding to levels where it can't function properly.<br />
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Throughout the document John Pollard, through Cornwall Council, speaks as the 'voice of Cornwall'.<br />
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I think that, actually, the 'voice of Cornwall' is calling for real and meaningful change in the way that Cornwall is governed.<br />
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If Cornwall Council were serious about meaningful devolution to Cornwall and truly believed that Cornwall deserved 'parity' with Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland (as it says it does) it would be adding its voice to calls for a legislative Assembly which can take control of the £5 billion spent in Cornwall without reference to Westminster.<br />
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If Cornwall Council were serious about developing:<br />
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" ... a governance model which will strengthen local accountability, ensure democratic decision making and provide greater transparency to reconnect communities with public services."<br />
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it would recognise that it Cornwall Council itself needs to be reformed.<br />
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In fact the imposition of a single unitary authority in 2009 needs to be recognised as the failed experiment that it is.<br />
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We need to get rid of one single local authority and replace it with local government that truly is more locally accountable, democratic and community based. Local government which can operate within strategic and cohesive frameworks developed by a democratically accountable legislative Assembly.Stephen Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02642285715014538976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-992606983590924542.post-29821833424076763732015-05-22T04:50:00.001-07:002015-05-22T04:50:36.643-07:00After 30 years - sensible street signs for West Tolgus<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-y4NyQpctqSs/VV8XxdH_ABI/AAAAAAAAAo4/wxmoAsE9xS0/s1600/IMG_0294.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-y4NyQpctqSs/VV8XxdH_ABI/AAAAAAAAAo4/wxmoAsE9xS0/s320/IMG_0294.jpg" width="320" /></a>Beacon View Park has a rather curious layout. While one part is contained in a cul-de-sac the first <br />
few houses are around the corner - on a different road altogether.<br />
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This has proved a nightmare for local residents for over thirty years. Now new signage has been installed - making it clear where the different houses are.<br />
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I managed to work with officers at Cornwall Council to get the job done for residents after they bought the issue to my attention.<br />
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One resident told me what a tremendous difference the new signs make - her visitors and deliveries arrive now without problems.<br />
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<br />Stephen Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02642285715014538976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-992606983590924542.post-45610183880976368092015-05-19T00:45:00.000-07:002015-05-20T00:10:21.638-07:0010 questions to ask John Pollard about his 'Case for Cornwall"<div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica'; font-size: 18.000000pt; font-weight: 700;">10 Questions to ask John Pollard about </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica'; font-size: 18.000000pt; font-weight: 700;">‘A Case for Cornwall’</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10pt;">The new Conservative government will be bringing forward plans to create a Devonwall parliamentary
constituency. A major part of the justification for ‘A Case for Cornwall’ is that Cornwall is a single political
entity - </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-weight: 700;">what do you intend to do to ameliorate the threat of Devonwall to Cornwall’s distinct
political status?</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;">
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<span style="font-size: 10pt;">‘A Case for Cornwall States’</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;">
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<span style="font-size: 10pt; font-style: oblique;">“An increasing number of Cornwall’s towns and villages have more than 1 in 5 dwellings classed as
second homes, which are distinct from holiday homes in that they are invariably empty for large periods
of the year. We want to work with the Government to develop proposals that would enable local
communities to have a greater control over the numbers of second homes to maintain a more balanced
housing market.”</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> <br />
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</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;">What are the proposals that have been formulated to be ‘developed’ and </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-weight: 700;">why don’t you simply call
for the devolution of all planning policy, procedures and appeals in Cornwall to
Cornwall?</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">
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<span style="font-size: 10pt;">‘A Case for Cornwall’ claims that recognition under the Framework Convention for the Protection of
National Minorities gives us ‘parity’ with the Welsh, Irish and Scottish parts of the UK. If this is so then
the ‘ambitious’ thing to do would be to call for a legislative assembly for Cornwall to match our
counterpart nations. </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-weight: 700;">Why does Cornwall Council’s ambition fall well short of real ‘parity’
with the other nations of the UK?</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-weight: 700;">
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<li style="font-family: 'Helvetica'; font-size: 11.000000pt;"><b>If you are ambitious for Cornwall why not support the creation of a legislative Assembly, similar to the Scottish Parliament?</b><br />
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<span style="font-size: 10pt;">You have used the phrase ‘Stand up for Cornwall’ as a tag line for your proposals and encouraged the
idea that people who support ‘A Case for Cornwall’ are ‘Standing up for Cornwall’. </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-weight: 700;">Does this mean
that people who do not support ‘A Case for Cornwall’ do not ‘Stand up for Cornwall’?</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-weight: 700;">
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;">What is the difference between ‘worklessness’ and ‘unemployment’?</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">
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<span style="font-size: 10pt;">‘A Case for Cornwall’ claims that: Cornwall Council has “a strong and proven track record of strong
financial management”. </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-weight: 700;">Do you maintain that Cornwall Council can be trusted with even more of our
money following the recent debacle surrounding the Council’s failed contracts with BT?</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: 700;">8. How will you make sure that the people of Cornwall rather than </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px;"><b>multinational corporations</b></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: 700;"> benefit from Cornwall's natural resources?</span></div>
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<li style="font-family: 'Helvetica'; font-size: 10.000000pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">The theme that runs through ‘A Case for Cornwall’ is that Cornwall Council wants to ‘work with
government’. Recently ‘working with government’ has resulted in £196 million of cuts in public services in
Cornwall. </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-weight: 700;">Why would the people of Cornwall expect Westminster to change its approach
to Cornwall Council in the future?</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;">
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<span style="font-size: 10pt;">‘A Case for Cornwall’ cites Newquay Airport of Cornwall’s successes. In 2011 the LEP’s chairman
claimed that the Aerohub would create 1000 new jobs - but the number is well below this. It seems that
every day a new tranches of public money is given to the LEP which claims that it will create thousands
of new jobs. </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-weight: 700;">The LEP consistently fails to deliver on promises of creating jobs - who is the
LEP accountable to and what procedures are in place for reviewing the performance of
the LEP? </span><br />
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Stephen Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02642285715014538976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-992606983590924542.post-65695974794792629902015-05-17T02:37:00.001-07:002015-05-17T02:38:34.040-07:00Cornwall Council's 'Case for Cornwall' - doesn't stand up!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>A Case for Cornwall - Does it Stand Up? </b></div>
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Published on 30th March 2015, Cornwall Council’ ‘A case for Cornwall’ purports to be:</div>
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<b><i>“… a package of bold measures which support Cornwall Council’s new strategy to create a prosperous Cornwall that is more resilient and resourceful. “</i></b></div>
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However, we think, it is just a cap-in-hand begging bowl held out to central Westminster Government. An obsequious attempt to touch up the powers that be in London for piecemeal devolution to a local government Authority. An Authority perceived by many of the people that it is supposed to serve as a failure. Some would say that more powers to Cornwall Council is a bad mistake claiming that the Authority is already over-centralised, too big and nigh on impossible to hold democratically accountable to the people of Cornwall.</div>
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The Unitary Authority in Cornwall is perceived by many as being a poor vehicle to deliver public services in Cornwall. Surely what is needed is local government which is more accountable to local residents - not less. Unfortunately ‘A Case for Cornwall’ promotes the further and extended dependence on ‘arms length bodies’ and multi-national companies - none of which will be available to be questioned by the Cornish public. The plan seems to be to mitigate the financial burdens placed on Cornwall Council by selling off the Authority’s responsibilities to the highest bidder. We would argue that such action will reinforce the perceived failure of Cornwall Council as decisions affecting people in Bodmin or Bude, Penzance or Penstraze are moved ever further away from Cornish communities.</div>
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The Truro and Falmouth constituency party of Mebyon Kernow - The Party for Cornwall argues that a legislative Cornish Assembly (similar to the Scottish Parliament) is required to bring strategic government and decision making home to Cornwall. We need to reform local government and do away with the single Unitary Authority in favour of four smaller authorities which would be closer to the communities that local government is supposed to serve.</div>
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We believe that ‘A Case for Cornwall’ is far from ‘a package of bold measures to create a prosperous Cornwall’. Rather, it represents an abject lack of ambition for Cornwall but a great deal of ambition for some Cornwall Councillors and Officers.</div>
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Join us in demanding more powers for Cornish communities and less for centralised bureaucracy. Join us in demanding meaningful reform of local government instead of taking it further out of the reach of local residents. Join us in making your feelings known to John Pollard.<br />
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If you would like more information on how we will be truly ‘Standing Up For Cornwall’ then please contact me at <a href="mailto:starichardson@btinternet.com">starichardson@btinternet.com</a>. Join us in the fight to bring ethical government home to Cornwall and closer to the people.</div>
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Cllr Stephen Richardson (on behalf of the Truro and Falmouth constituency party of Mebyon Kernow - The Party for Cornwall)</div>
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Stephen Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02642285715014538976noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-992606983590924542.post-56104791376149555812015-05-09T04:27:00.001-07:002015-05-09T04:27:55.027-07:00A Fresh Start<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QAKGgJJGiNc/VU3utUJEbYI/AAAAAAAAAnc/8kpoRyurFvo/s1600/consultation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="310" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QAKGgJJGiNc/VU3utUJEbYI/AAAAAAAAAnc/8kpoRyurFvo/s320/consultation.jpg" width="320" /></a>Now that the general election is done Mebyon Kernow will be taking a long hard look at itself.<br />
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While the Lib Dems and the Labour Party are clearly falling apart, and support for UKIP will undoubtedly fall off now that the question of the UK's EU membership is about to be settled once and for all, MK has basically stood still.<br />
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It could be argued that the general election is an encouraging result for MK given the nightmare that some of the parties are facing. However, if MK is to develop further and become a significant electoral force, then we have to acknowledge that there is a lot of work to do. We need to expand into the vacuum that is being created by a general drift to the right and the populist, sheeplike determination of Labour and Lib Dems to follow this drift.<br />
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We face many challenges but we also have many strengths.<br />
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We need to build on our strengths and address the challenges.<br />
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Over the Summer I shall be conducting a wide ranging survey of public and MK members' opinions in order to glean objective data and positive suggestions in our quest to be an ever stronger voice for the people of Cornwall.<br />
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If you are an MK member you will be able to attend one of several consultation sessions to be held in key towns right across Cornwall. You can also go to the members' forum on the MK website to join in the discussion.<br />
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If you are not an MK member, but have positive suggestions, why not email me at starichardson@btinternet.com ?<br />
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<br />Stephen Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02642285715014538976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-992606983590924542.post-83220382128184553752015-04-29T03:39:00.004-07:002015-04-29T03:43:04.673-07:00Please vote for Cornwall on May 7th<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Dear Friends,<br />
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<b>If you vote for a Westminster party then you will get a Westminster government! They are all the same.</b><br />
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Please avoid wasting your vote for the next five years on more Westminster tomfoolery and vote for me in the Truro and Falmouth constituency or by an MK candidate in Cornwall.<br />
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<b>Unlike the Westminster parties we believe that commitment to Cornwall should be for life and not just an election campaign.</b><br />
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If you want Cornwall to have a strong voice in Westminster rather than opting to choose another Westminster voice in Cornwall then please vote carefully.<br />
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You will hear that if you want to stop the Tories then you have to vote for the Liberal Democrats or the only alternative is to vote for Labour. Don't be fooled - vote with your heart.<br />
<br />
<b>... and don't vote for the sake of your parents - vote for the sake of your children - join me and Mebyon Kernow in forging a new future for Cornwall.</b><br />
<br />
So remember - if you want:<br />
<ul>
<li>An MP who will work tirelessly for their constituency and for the best interests of Cornwall;</li>
<li>An MP who will fight to ensure that all planning and development policies, decisions and appeals are made in Cornwall by the people of Cornwall;</li>
<li>An MP who will lobby to build more council houses instead of selling them off;</li>
<li>An MP that will fight to redress the imbalance of central government funding funding that is so detrimental to Cornish communities;</li>
<li>An MP who will campaign to use £100 billion to build hospitals, schools and communities instead of risking our security through Trident nuclear weapons;</li>
<li>An MP who cares about the environment and whose party has real and credible green policies;</li>
<li>An MP which believes that we need to be outward and forward looking rather than introspective and insular and who will fight for a reformed EU and an MEP for Cornwall;</li>
<li>An MP who will fight for democratic accountability to the people of Cornwall for public spending in Cornwall through a devolved national assembly;</li>
<li>An MP who will endeavour to create a joined up and properly funded health service in Cornwall which is measured by clinical success rather than the balance sheet</li>
</ul>
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... then you should<b> vote for me - or an MK candidate in your constituency.</b></div>
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<br />Stephen Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02642285715014538976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-992606983590924542.post-5214103697679545502015-04-24T05:39:00.001-07:002015-04-24T06:03:32.032-07:00Why you might consider voting for me!<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-N8gf4ZDk2o4/VTo5a3RQy9I/AAAAAAAAAmQ/VitxbBo5UqM/s1600/2014%2BConf%2B-%2Bedited.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-N8gf4ZDk2o4/VTo5a3RQy9I/AAAAAAAAAmQ/VitxbBo5UqM/s1600/2014%2BConf%2B-%2Bedited.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a>Over the last few weeks I have attended nearly a dozen hustings. Over that time I have got to know<br />
the candidates' political views quite well. In fact I have made a tongue in cheek suggestion that at the last hustings we should all attend as one of the other candidates because we all know what each other will say.<br />
<br />
In Truro and Falmouth we have 9 candidates - that is a lot!<br />
<br />
I would venture a suggestion that we have this many candidates because of a fundamental dissatisfaction with the Westminster elite. Whether its the Tories, the Red Tories, Orange Tories or, now, the Purple Ultra-Tories, it makes no difference they are all the same. The only thing that separates them is the sheet of carbon paper that they use to copy each other's policies.<br />
<br />
There is also a growing recognition of the harm that the austerity ideology is doing to both our social fabric and our economy - and this is reflected in the fact that most of the non-Westminster candidates are standing with an anti-austerity agenda.<br />
<br />
So, in Truro and Falmouth, if you are fed up with the Westminster elite why should you consider voting for me and for Mebyon Kernow?<br />
<br />
To answer this I would say that you should entrust your vote to me if you really want your vote to count and if you want Truro and Falmouth and Cornwall to have a strong voice in Westminster.<br />
<br />
There are reasons for this!<br />
<br />
First of all vote for or tactical vote against any Westminster party is the real wasted vote. If you vote for a Westminster candidate you are voting for the status quo. Whatever colour Tory you vote for you will get a government that is fully subscribed to the ideology of austerity. Instead of Cornwall having a strong voice in Westminster (which is what you will get with an MK candidate), Westminster will have another overpowering voice in Cornwall. A voice which will obey its party political bosses in London.<br />
<br />
I and other MK MPs will sit with the anti-austerity alliance, including the SNP and Plaid Cymru. It seems likely that any government that is finally formed will exist only with the support of this alliance. an MK MP will be in a powerful position to argue the case for his/her constituency and for Cornwall as a whole.<br />
<br />
With MK you have a solid history of campaigning for social justice and devolution for Cornwall. I have a great respect and admiration for several of my opponents in Truro and Falmouth who don't belong to the establishment Westminster parties. If you can't vote for me I would rather that you voted for one of them than a candidate which will take orders from their party boss and carry on as usual.<br />
<br />
However, with the very best anti-austerity intentions, these candidates might be described as 'pop-up' candidates. Just like the shops in the High Street that appear at Christmas time and then disappear in January, where is the history of long term political commitment?<br />
<br />
So if you want:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>An MP who will work tirelessly for their constituency and for the best interests of Cornwall;</li>
<li>An MP who will fight to ensure that all planning and development policies, decisions and appeals are made in Cornwall by the people of Cornwall;</li>
<li>An MP who will lobby to build more council houses instead of selling them off;</li>
<li>An MP that will fight to redress the imbalance of central government funding funding that is so detrimental to Cornish communities;</li>
<li>An MP who will campaign to use £100 billion to build hospitals, schools and communities instead of risking our security through Trident nuclear weapons;</li>
<li>An MP who cares about the environment and whose party has real and credible green policies;</li>
<li>An MP which believes that we need to be outward and forward looking rather than introspective and insular and who will fight for a reformed EU and an MEP for Cornwall;</li>
<li>An MP who will fight for democratic accountability to the people of Cornwall for public spending in Cornwall through a devolved national assembly;</li>
<li>An MP who will endeavour to create a joined up and properly funded health service in Cornwall which is measured by clinical success rather than the balance sheet</li>
</ul>
<div>
... then you should vote for me - or an MK candidate in your constituency.</div>
Stephen Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02642285715014538976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-992606983590924542.post-56983114680550349462015-03-05T01:57:00.002-08:002015-03-05T01:57:33.022-08:00Compare and Contrast - the positive vision of MK or Lib Dem decimation of democratically accountable local government.<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-K1I6dQEOfnM/VPgoaqaZZvI/AAAAAAAAAl0/hxtq42_JCF0/s1600/towards%2Ban%2Bassembly%2Bof%2Bcornwall.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-K1I6dQEOfnM/VPgoaqaZZvI/AAAAAAAAAl0/hxtq42_JCF0/s1600/towards%2Ban%2Bassembly%2Bof%2Bcornwall.png" height="288" width="320" /></a>Mebyon Kernow has today launched its policy document - 'Towards an Assembly of Cornwall'<br />
<br />
In the document we spell out how a national government for Cornwall could bring governance of Cornwall home to Cornwall. Our vision of an Assemply is a strategic, national government with powers similar to the powers of the Scottish Parliament following the Scotland Act 1998. This would give us the tools and leverage to develop the Cornish economy, protect our health service and stop the concreting of Cornwall.<br />
<br />
At the same time we would reform local government and do away with the highly centralised single unitary authority to be replaced by four smaller authorities This would be a strengthening of local government - making it more accountable to the people that elect our councillors - and making it more, well - 'local'.<br />
<br />
Nick Clegg will be using the kudos of St Piran's day to indukge in a spree of electioneering.<br />
<br />
The Lib Dems present themselves as a party that understands and promotes Cornwall and Nick Clegg has clearly chosen St Piran's Day for electoral purposes.<br />
<br />
While he's announcing what the Lib Dems laughingly call devolution, will Nick accept responsibility for the cut in funding to the Cornish laguage? I doubt it.<br />
<br />
Will Nick give an assurance that devolution for Cornwall will be a line in the sand in any future coalition deal? I doubt it.<br />
<br />
Full of promises and committment now - but will the Lib Dems actually act on any of their promises in the future? I doubt it. <br />
<br />
The Lib Dem plans amount to a tinkering with, indeed decimation of, local government. They say that they want to remove layers of bureaucracy whereas, in fact, their plans will reduce the democratic accountability of government in Cornwall even more than so called 'localism' policies already have. More bureaucracy - just transferred away from the people that we elect to appointed civil servants.<br />
<br />
Are the Lib Dems seriously suggesting that extra powers and responsibilities can be given to a local government authority and put in the hands of what are often part-time councillors. What's more we're told that the number of councillors would be reduced. This will not save money it will increase costs as responsibilities are transferred to an ever increasing raft of highly paid council officers.<br />
<br />
If you think that Cornwall council is not fit for purpose now then heaven help us if the Lib Dems get their way.<br />
<br />
<br />Stephen Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02642285715014538976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-992606983590924542.post-55318313346012300162015-03-03T08:49:00.002-08:002015-03-03T08:49:45.072-08:00TTIP - Privatisation of Democracy?The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership TTIP is currently being negotiated between the EU and the USA.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Y-zkNV8CRSA/VPXl91gDdbI/AAAAAAAAAlk/HbF_S5z_D6U/s1600/TTIP%2BHorse.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Y-zkNV8CRSA/VPXl91gDdbI/AAAAAAAAAlk/HbF_S5z_D6U/s1600/TTIP%2BHorse.jpg" height="320" width="311" /></a>Ostensibly the deal will create a free trade area with the EU and USA as members.<br />
<br />
Now free trade is good and to be welcomed as a driver of economic development, however, I believe that there are too many drawbacks with what is currently being negotiated for it to be a good thing overall.<br />
<br />
TTIP is likely to threaten environmental and consumer protection laws in Cornwall and could take vital decisions out of the hands of our elected rpresentatives, giving corporations the opportunity to sue governments if their profits are affected. The Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) will be a new legal tier outside of the EU framework.<br />
<br />
Another problem is that jobs could well be even harder to come by as companies switch from the EU to the USA where employment regulations are set at a lower standard than in Europe.<br />
<br />
Negotiations are being kept under wraps and I am always wary of any public process that lacks transparency.<br />
<br />
All in all the disadvantages and 'dumbing down' of our standards to make creating profit easier and the 'privatisation of democracy' are too high a price to pay for improving the balance sheets of big corporations.Stephen Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02642285715014538976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-992606983590924542.post-63772792346834412722015-03-02T23:11:00.002-08:002015-03-02T23:11:47.671-08:00Remind me again - why are we building 47,500 houses. Bringing decision-making home to Cornwall.<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-di4oRhhnyVU/VPVeiEn2YZI/AAAAAAAAAlU/pIwfOnKTefU/s1600/1013931.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-di4oRhhnyVU/VPVeiEn2YZI/AAAAAAAAAlU/pIwfOnKTefU/s1600/1013931.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a>Mebyon Kernow - The Party for Cornwall has called for all aspects of planning policy and decision making necessary in Cornwall to be devolved to Cornwall.<br />
<br />
Planning policy is currently dictaed through the National Planning Policy Framework from Westminster. There is an inbuilt bias in the policy in favour of development because the Westminster parties see house building as a way to solve economic problems and as a way to appease the corporations and wealthy property developers that back their parties financially.<br />
<br />
Mebyon Kernow believes that houses should be built purely to meet local need and not simply to generate profit for the big building firms.<br />
<br />
Planning applications are dealt with mainly by unelected planning officers who are instructed to follow central government policies and guidelines. In the few instances where our democratically elected representatives are involved with decisions they are often warned about going against the advice of officers due to the costs involved when developers appeal their decisons. All too often the developers win their appeal - the system backs profit-making against community wishes.<br />
<br />
It is time to bring all aspects of planning policy and decision-making home to Cornwall.<br />
<br />
We should have a national assembly which could produce a strategic, community led policy for development in Cornwall - which would then be implemented by a reformed local government. Power over development should be in the hands of our locally elected and accountable representatives - not in the hands of big business backed by central Westminster government.<br />
<br />
And this issue is so vital here in Cornwall that we need this devolution of power even ahead of a national assembly. We need to set our own policy and to to have all the mechanisms and appeals based here in Cornwall and overseen in a truly democratic way.<br />
<br />
If you want to see an end to the concreting over of Cornwall, the only hope is to vote for Mebyon Kernow and send that message up the line to London.Stephen Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02642285715014538976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-992606983590924542.post-8835175138237972022015-03-01T01:26:00.000-08:002015-03-01T01:26:24.591-08:00Say Yes to Free Votes in Parliament<br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VnOlr9TVZbI/VPLabD2lpTI/AAAAAAAAAlA/wUIyohFkqqc/s1600/career%2Bpoliticians.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VnOlr9TVZbI/VPLabD2lpTI/AAAAAAAAAlA/wUIyohFkqqc/s1600/career%2Bpoliticians.jpg" /></a>Rob Simmons, good friend, fellow member of MK and MK PPC for St Ives <a href="http://robscornishblog.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/the-party-whip-system-is-undemocratic-i.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+blogspot/IRdvc+%28Rob%27s+blog%29&utm_content=FaceBook" target="_blank">has recently blogged about his pledge to the voters of the St Ives constituency.</a><br />
<br />
The Free Vote Voluntary Recall Alliance has asked that politicians abadon the practice of putting their party before the people they are supposed to represent.<br />
<br />
For me one of the worst aspects of Westminster party politicians is that they are generally career minded above all else. Candidates for Labour, the Tories, UKIP and Lib Dems know that if they are elected they are on the first steps of a highly lucrative career path. As well as a very big salary they can claim expenses and, as we have seen recently, can even get other jobs as well as being an MP. If they do a really good job, and vote the way that their party bosses in London tell them, they might look forward to remaining the candidate for their party in the next election to start the process all over again. In the meantime the very loyal party politicos will be rewarded with ministry jobs to supplement their income. After their parliamentary career is done they will walk into highly pais directorships or consultancies - <b>all they have to do is keep their noses clean, not criticise the party and vote as they're told.</b><br />
<br />
As a member of Mebyon Kernow I believe in policies that are designed to put Cornwall first, to make a difference to the lives of people in the Duchy. I am happy to say that I fully support MK's policies and I am standing for election on that basis. If I am elected it will be because people have voted for me knowing what I stand for. But that doesn't mean that I would automatically vote as MK might want me to at Westminster. Each issue, each vote in the Commons is a separate matter and deserves full consideration as to how it would affect constituents in Truro and Falmouth. While I would work to promote MK, because I believe in their ethos, my position as an MP would be outside of that remit and my work as an MP would be to promote the interests of constituents and not the party.<br />
<br />
So, like Rob this is my promise to the voters of the Truro & Falmouth Parliamentary constituency:<br />
<br />
<b><i>I , Stephen Richardson, the Mebyon Kernow- the Party for Cornwall candidate
standing for election as your Member of Parliament , do herby promise
and affirm, that if I am elected to be your Member of the Westminster
Parliament in the General Election on 7th May 2015. I will adopt and
act in accordance with the terms of the Free Vote Voluntary Recall
Alliance Pledge as published at <a href="http://www.fvvra.org/">www.fvvra.org</a> and I will maintain
this, my personal pledge throughout my term as your Member of
Parliament”.</i></b>Stephen Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02642285715014538976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-992606983590924542.post-2170778728757695672015-02-07T04:38:00.000-08:002015-02-07T04:38:23.567-08:00Tax Dodging Bill<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rE5QFXtgPZI/VNYFvw56LKI/AAAAAAAAAkY/HTZrS93MGn4/s1600/Make%2BTax%2BFair.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rE5QFXtgPZI/VNYFvw56LKI/AAAAAAAAAkY/HTZrS93MGn4/s1600/Make%2BTax%2BFair.png" height="138" width="320" /></a></div>
My friend, colleague and fellow MK PPC - Rob Simmons -<a href="http://robscornishblog.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/my-support-for-tax-dodging-bill.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitterhttp://robscornishblog.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/my-support-for-tax-dodging-bill.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter" target="_blank"> has offered his support to the campaign </a><br />
<a href="http://robscornishblog.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/my-support-for-tax-dodging-bill.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitterhttp://robscornishblog.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/my-support-for-tax-dodging-bill.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter" target="_blank">for a Tax Dodging Bill.</a><br />
<br />
I would like to follow his lead and add my voice to the call for fairer tax and greater social justice.<br />
<br />
You can read all about this excellent campaign and call on your candidates in the forthcoming election to offer their support <a href="http://taxdodgingbill.org.uk/" target="_blank">here</a>. <br />
<br />
Below is the email of support that I have sent to the campaign organisers.<br />
<br />
<div>
Dear Tax Dodging Bill Campaign,</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
In my capacity as the Mebyon Kernow - The Party for Cornwall prospective
parlaimentary candidate for Truro and Falmouth, I would like to offer my
unequivocal and wholehearted support for your campaign for a Tax Dodging Bill in
the next Parliament.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Mebyon Kernow is a political party based in Cornwall. We are often called
'Cornish Nationalists' - which we are proud to recognise. However, Mebyon Kernow
is not an insular party - as people outside of Cornwall might imagine - it is a
party which believes in local democratic accountability and national, European
and global co-operation.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Members of Mebyon Kernow, like myself, are committed to bringing about
greater social justice everywhere and our policies already endorse the kind of
action that you are campaigning for.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
For me it is an absolute 'no-brainer' to support your campaign, which I do
unreservedly. Personally I can see no reason why any right minded person who
genuinely wants to achieve greater social justice would have any qualms in
offering such support.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
I wish you well with your campaign and would like to offer any material and
tangible support that you think would help with your campaign.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Chons da ha gans oll a'n gwella, (Good luck and with all the best)</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Stephen Richardson - MK PPC for Truro and Falmouth</div>
Stephen Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02642285715014538976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-992606983590924542.post-23745435172159076072015-01-29T09:20:00.000-08:002015-01-29T09:20:25.887-08:00UKIP at it again!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-T2kIankJcPo/VMoliZkbClI/AAAAAAAAAkI/Q_BHSyl9S5E/s1600/UKIP-KEYBOARD.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-T2kIankJcPo/VMoliZkbClI/AAAAAAAAAkI/Q_BHSyl9S5E/s1600/UKIP-KEYBOARD.jpg" height="225" width="320" /></a></div>
Last night UKIP held a public meeting in Illogan starting at 7:00pm.<br />
<br />
According to @UKIPCRH there were 'many' people there - though the definition of 'many' according to @UKIPCRH seems to be 7 ???? (This might give context to UKIP claims about the problems we face because of 'many' immigrants to the UK)<br />
<br />
I attended the start of the meeting but was unable to stay for the entire thing as I had a different engagement at 7:30pm.<br />
<br />
The UKIP PPC for Camborne, Redruth and Hayle, Robert Smith, began speaking at around 7:05pm. I left around 7:20pm so I caught around 12 - 15 mins of Mr Smith's speech.<br />
<br />
A good two thirds of what I heard was rebuttal of the recnt bad press that UKIP have received as the media begin to examine their (lack of) policies in detail.<br />
<br />
In particular Mr Smith was keen to point out the UKIP were all in favour of the NHS and had no plans to privatise it.<br />
<br />
The problem with this claim is that David cameron 'had no plans' to raise VAT - yet that was what happened within weeks of him becoming Prime Minister.<br />
<br />
Mr Smith pointed to what Nigel farage had said recently about the NHS. Conclusive proof that UKIP are solidly behinf the NHS! Thing is Mr Farage keeps changing his mind on the NHS - torn between his natural tendency towards privatisation and his knowledge that this tendency won't do UKIP any favours in the polls. At the same time the UKIP message on the NHS is a shambles with all sorts of spokespeople saying all sorts of different things.<br />
<br />
Then the speech turned to immigration.<br />
<br />
A background was sketched before us. We had recently had a census - the purpose of which is to aid the prediction of population trends. The Labour Party had got the interpretation of the data hopelessly wrong and immigration was massively higher than predicted. UKIP isn't against immigration at all - we should have a points system like many other countries (none of which are in the EU and enjoying the economic benefit that it brings mind you). UKIP is simply about restricting immigration for economic migrants.<br />
<br />
So, it would seem that wealthy immigrants or perhaps immigrants with skills that would command a good salary would be welcome while poorer ones should not be allowed. OK that kind of makes sense if you're a right wing pub politician.<br />
<br />
But then came the killer blow for me and the point where I got up, thanked the speaker and left for my other engagement.<br />
<br />
"Of course, this is why we have to build 47,000 houses in Cornwall"<br />
<br />
The link between immigration, following the build up and scene setting and you could see the finished painting as far as housing goes.<br />
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In Cornwall we are having to build 47,000 houses because we will need to accommodate economic migrants from Eastern Europe.<br />
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So wrong on so many levels!<br />
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What would be the point of building houses for the immigrants that UKIP want us to stop? They come from countries where the economy is more like ours in Cornwall. If our people in Cornwall can't afford the ridiculous number of houses that will be built here then I'm certain that the mythical 'many' economic migrants from Eastern Europe won't be able to!!!<br />
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What would be more likely is, if we accepted the UKIP spin on immigration, and welcomed the wealthy immigrants with open arms, then, of course they would be able to afford our houses and force prices even further out of reach than they are already.<br />
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The truth is that we are building houses in Cornwall - not to address local need in any way, but to accomodate people moving to the Duchy from wealthier parts of the UK or wealthier people from outside the UK.<br />
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How much longer will we allow UKIP to scapegoat the poor and disadvantaged for the excesses of the bankers and 'city' finance moguls and to lay a blaket of blame for every ill in society on Europe and immigration.<br />
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<br />Stephen Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02642285715014538976noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-992606983590924542.post-72920544494516375162015-01-28T02:46:00.001-08:002015-01-28T02:46:32.591-08:00MK PPCs in the spotlight<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The Mebyon Kernow Spring Conference will be held at The Shire House Suite in Bodmin on Saturday 21st March 2015.<br />
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The conference will be all about drilling down into the new MK manifesto.<br />
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As part of this the afternoon will see a 'Question Time' style debate featuring four of the party PPCs - Cllr Andrew Long, Cllr Dr Loveday Jenkin, Cllr Rob Simmons and me!<br />
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Members of the party and the public in general are invited to submit questions to be put to the PPCs. If you have a question then please email it to membership@mebyonkernow.org - or leave a comment here.<br />
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The conference is open to the public so even if you're not a member why not let us know that you will be attending and, if selected, you can ask the question for yourself.<br />
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Please note - no 'trolling' will be allowed! This is a genuine opportunity to ask MK about their policies and outlook but it won't be a forum for trolls.<br />
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<br />Stephen Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02642285715014538976noreply@blogger.com0