Thank heavens Cornwall has Alex Folkes

Cllr Alex Folkes, Cornwall Council Lib Dem group Deputy Leader, has single handedly saved the day yet again!

He tells us, through his blog, that:

"I wrote that Cornwall was set to be under-represented on the the new Police Boards which will monitor the work of elected police commissioners.

In a nutshell, Cornwall was set to get just one of twelve local authority representatives with each of the Devon councils and the Council of the Isles of Scilly also getting a single rep. I brought this up with Lib Dem Local Government Minister Andrew Stunell at the LGA conference and he promised to look into it.

Good news that the Government has relented and there will now be up to 20 councillors on the new boards which will allow a more balanced representation, proportionate to population."

Well blow me down Alex - many thanks for that. I don't suppose anything would have ever been done about such a moronic and clearly unworkable proposal in the Westminster corridors of power without your input.

So let's see what the situation is now.

Oh dear, it's not actually much better really is it? For 'ballanced representation' read 'a minority interest' with not much more chance of getting anything in Cornwall's favour than before really. Cornish councillors will still be outvoted.

Perhaps what we really needed you to ask for, Alex, was an end to this one-way-ticket Devonwall set up. A set up where Cornish police are moved to Plymouth on Bank Holidays so that 'resources can be placed where they are needed'.

But then this is the Lib Dems after all. A party that has MPs at the 'heart of government'. MPs that all showboat for the press about how important Cornwall's historic border is - and then promptly vote in favour of trashing it as soon as the cameras have gone.