Cornwall an independent country?

Mebyon Kernow is on the campaign trail!

We intend to campaign long and hard to make the case for a law-making Cornish Assembly - devolution for Cornwall.

Devolution for Cornwall is Mebyon Kernow's flagship policy. It is the policy which interconnects with every single one of our social justice principles. It is the mechanism through which we will deliver a better social programme than any of the Westminster parties could make a false promise to attempt.

With a law-making Cornish Assembly in the news I wanted to do a brief series of blog entries looking at some of the myths that the 'nay-sayers' would have us believe.

The first issue that I want to address is:

      "Cornwall wouldn't be able to survive as an independent country"

Of course this is a completely misleading and nonsensical argument against the Mebyon Kernow proposal for a law-making Cornish assembly.

The statement is utterly irrelevant to the argument in favour of a Cornish Assembly and is typical of the scaremongering tactics that are used by unionist politicians.

It is irrelevant because I can't think of a single serious and well established organisation that is campaigning for Cornish independence from the UK. Mebyon Kernow's campaign is for devolution of power - not to become a stand alone nation state.

Our ethos is that decisions are best made at the lowest level possible - a principle known as subsidiarity.

We believe that there is a democratic mandate for genuine law making powers to be devolved to the people of Cornwall. Fifty thousand people have signed declarations that they believe that a Cornish assembly is required to set the right democratic priorities for Cornwall - so we are not alone!

Not only do we believe that there is a democratic mandate but we also believe that an Assembly is actually the best way to begin to tackle the distinct social and economic problems that we face here in Cornwall. How can a remote government in Westminster understand the nuances of Cornish culture and blend of economic factors that make up our society.

Let's be clear - Mebyon Kernow is not asking for SS Kernow to be cast adrift from the fleet - we simply want to have a Cornish captain with the power to run his/her ship to the best of their ability.

Cornwall doesn't need to be able to survive as an independent country - but couldn't it do a whole lot better for its people if it were able to look to itself to solve problems?

The Westminster unionist political parties (which have UKIP at the forefront) want to maintain the status quo because it suits them all. They all receive funding from big organisations and corporations who all insist on a political pay back at some stage. The local representatives of the London parties will be hoping to climb the political career ladder and, just like the parties will need to answer to their corporate financiers, so their members will have to toe the party line or face the consequences. They will continue to scaremonger, belittle and criticise and tell us why a Cornish Assembly would be the beginning of the end.

We will encourage hope for a brighter future and set out a path to reach it.

We don't have any political masters in London to answer to - we believe in the democratic right of the people of Cornwall to be able to run their own affairs.