Tag: Mebyon Kernow

The press release issued by Mebyon Kernow on 5 November 2022.

Saturday 5th November marks twenty years since the Cornish language was recognised by the UK Government through Part II of the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages.

Speaking to a meeting of MK’s National Executive at the time of the anniversary, language spokesperson Cllr Loveday Jenkin hit out at the UK Government for not doing enough to support Cornish.

Cllr Jenkin said: “It is right that we celebrate the fantastic work done by so many people to promote the language. But over the last two decades, Cornish has not achieved language parity with the other Celtic languages of the UK and as we mark the 20th anniversary of recognition, we must challenge the UK Government to properly meet its obligations to the language.”

Specific issues raised by Cllr Jenkin included the following:

Cornish was only recognised under Part II of the Charter, while Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Welsh are recognised under Part III, which has a more comprehensive and far-reaching set of obligations.

The BBC Charter defines “regional and minority languages” as “Welsh, Scottish-Gaelic, Irish and Ulster Scots,” actively excluding Cornish from broadcasting support.

Cornish will soon be the only Celtic language in the United Kingdom without any safeguards embedded in domestic law. The first Welsh Language Act was passed in 1967 and a second one in 1993, while further legislation has been passed by the Welsh Parliament. The Scottish Gaelic Act was passed by the Scottish Parliament in 2005. The Identity and Language (Northern Ireland) Bill meanwhile recently passed its final hurdles in the House of Commons.

The Identity and Language (Northern Ireland) Bill comes with the investment of £4 million in an Irish Language Investment Fund, while the UK Government ending formal funding of the Cornish language in 2016.

Cllr Jenkin said: “We need greater recognition for Cornish through Part III of the European Charter and a Cornish Language Act, along with greater respect from public bodies such as the BBC and the reintroduction of funding from Westminster.”

She concluded by saying: “I would welcome responsibility for the Cornish language being devolved to Cornwall, but for that we need a legislative Cornish Parliament with full legislative and fiscal powers.”

The press release issued by Mebyon Kernow on 28 October 2022.

Article from MK leader Cllr Dick Cole, which was first published in this week’s Cornish Guardian.

Speaking at a meeting of Mebyon Kernow’s National Executive in July, Deputy Leader Cllr Loveday Jenkin described recent political “goings-on” as “beyond satire.” She was commenting on the turmoil around the end of Boris Johnson’s premiership, following the resignations of over 60 ministers, parliamentary private secretaries and trade envoys. She was also rightly critical of a Conservative Party at war with itself in a truly dysfunctional Westminster political system.

It is difficult to comprehend how the chaos of the last few days has been even more preposterous and, unbelievably, even further past parody!

Obviously, the ill-conceived gamble that was the mini-budget back-fired and did massive and ongoing damage to the UK economy, along with the prospects of millions of households. But then, we had the new Prime Minister sacking the new Chancellor for following her instructions. A few days later, there was the bust-up and sacking of the new Home Secretary, followed by a “confidence vote” in the House of Commons that led to the unedifying spectacle of Tory MPs jostling and rowing in the division lobbies.

It was so bad that the resignation of Liz Truss, after only 45 days in post, did not come as a surprise.

Even the truncated leadership contest to elect Rishi Sunak as the third Prime Minister of 2022 descended into farce, when Boris Johnson jetted home from his Caribbean holiday to launch, and then back out of, a campaign to reclaim the office of PM, from which he had just been ejected by colleagues because of Partygate and related scandals.

It was absurd to see some of the MPs who quit their government roles, only three months ago to force Johnson out, were now clamouring to bring him back. One such MP had resigned because of how the “cumulative effect” of Johnson’s “errors of judgement and domestic actions” had “squandered the goodwill” of the Conservative Party.

Cue yet more “blue-on-blue” bickering and infighting, with a number of MPs stating that they would not continue to serve in the Conservative cause if Johnson returned as PM. Some felt he would “be gone by Christmas” if reinstalled, because of the pending “Privileges Committee” which is tasked to investigate claims that he mislead Parliament, while one prominent MP described their parliamentary party as “completely riven” and “ungovernable.”

As someone who is not a Conservative, it would be easy to fall into the trap of enjoying the shambolic disarray of the Tories, but we must never forget that their failings are having a devastating impact on the lives of the people of the United Kingdom.

The press release issued by Mebyon Kernow on 20 October 2022.

In July, MK Deputy Leader Cllr Loveday Jenkin described the chaos at Westminster as “beyond satire.” Commenting on the period around the resignation of Boris Johnson, she hit out at the truly dysfunctional nature of the Westminster political system, noting that the Conservative Party was at war with itself while it was not dealing with the cost of living crisis.

But the shambolic mega-chaos of the last few weeks has been simply unbelievable – and even further beyond parody! The mini-budget did massive damage to the UK economy and the prospects of millions of households, we have had the unedifying spectacle of Tory infighting along with the resignation of a second Prime Minister in little more than three months.

To repeat what Cllr Jenkin said in July. The over-centralised Westminster system is not working, and the ongoing political games in London will do nothing to improve the lives of people in Cornwall.

Many people are rightly calling for a General Election, but it is correct that MK also makes it clear that the UK needs significant political reform, which should include meaningful devolution to give the people of Cornwall more control over their own destiny.

The press release issued by Mebyon Kernow on 13 October 2022.

This month marks the 25th anniversary of Dick Cole’s election as the leader of Mebyon Kernow – the Party for Cornwall. He was voted into the role at MK’s 1997 Annual Conference, held on 4th October in Fraddon Village Hall.

It is also nearly 30 years since Dick first became an officer for MK, as he was elected as MK’s Press and Campaigns Officer on 20th November 1992.

Speaking on behalf of MK’s ruling National Executive, Cllr Loveday Jenkin said:

“Dick is fantastic champion for Cornwall. Throughout his adult life, he has worked so hard for a democratic future for Cornwall, devolution through a National Assembly or Cornish Parliament, progressive policies to build a fairer and more socially just nation, greater protections for Cornish identity and culture, and so much more.

“His drive and dedication, as MK’s principal spokesperson and an active elected councillor, is remarkable, and it is an extraordinary achievement that he has had the commitment and energy to serve as the leader of Mebyon Kernow for a quarter of a century.”

Further information:

It is believed that Dick Cole is the second longest-serving leader of a political party in the United Kingdom. Only Arthur Scargill of the Socialist Labour Party, founded in 1996, has served longer.

Educated at Indian Queens Primary School and Newquay Treviglas School, Dick left school in 1983 and worked for five years as a farm worker / gardener. He joined MK in 1988, at the age of 21, just before he went to study archaeology and history at St David’s University College, Lampeter.

He became MK’s Press and Campaigns Officer in 1992, initially sharing the role with long-standing MK councillor Colin Lawry. Five years later in 1997, Dick became the tenth leader of the Party.

He has contested a total of 15 elections as an official MK candidate. These include ten council elections and four Westminster contests. He also topped the MK list in the 2009 elections to the European Parliament, when MK secured over 15,000 votes.

He was elected to serve his home parish of St Enoder on Restormel Borough Council in 1999, and served on the authority until it was abolished in 2009. During this time, he balanced his civic duties with his work with the Cornwall Archaeological Unit (Cornwall County Council).

When the unitary authority was created in 2009, Dick stood down from his employment, which would have prevented him serving on the new council. Last year, following the reduction in the number of councillors on Cornwall Council, he was elected to serve the larger St Dennis and St Enoder division. Dick presently leads the six-strong Mebyon Kernow / Green Group on the Council. In addition to his council duties, he works part-time for the Cornwall Heritage Trust.

During the last 25 years, he has been involved in a wide range of campaigns. These have included more powers to Cornwall through a National Assembly or Parliament, opposition to the centralisation of local government into a single unitary authority, Cornish control over housing and planning, fair funding for Cornwall’s public services, etc.

A life-long advocate for greater self-government for Cornwall, Dick wrote the Declaration for a Cornish Assembly, which was launched by MK in 2000, signed by over 50,000 people and presented to 10 Downing Street in December 2001. He is presently leading the work on a revised self-government policy document for MK. Dick was also the founding vice-chairman of the cross-party Cornish Constitutional Convention, and one of the spokespeople for the Keep Cornwall Whole campaign group which campaigned against the imposition of a “Devonwall” parliamentary constituency.

He also chairs the working group on the unitary authority tasked to ensure that the national minority status of the Cornish is respected by central government and all public bodies.

As a councillor, Dick has raised funds for a range of projects including new community buildings, new play equipment and environmental improvements in his local area. He has also played a leading role in a range of prominent planning battles and chairs the China Clay Area Community Network.

In addition, he has been a member of St Enoder Parish Council since 1999 and he is a trustee of two local charities. Dick is also the chairman of both the St Piran Trust and the ClayTAWC social enterprise at St Dennis.

In 2017, he was named third on Cornwall Live’s “Cornish List” of the top 50 people who “lead the way in campaigning on Cornish issues” and “flying the black and white flag for Cornwall.”

In 2019, Dick was honoured with a bardship of Gorsedh Kernow, in recognition of his work to protect the cultural and geographical integrity of Cornwall. His bardic name is Gwythyas an Tir (Guardian of the Land).

This year, the university in Lampeter, where Dick studied – now known as University of Wales: Trinity St Davids) – has marked its 200th anniversary. As part of the bicentenary celebrations, the university produced biographies of 200 notable graduates; one of the 200 was Dick Cole.

The press release issued by Mebyon Kernow on 28 September 2022.

The International Inequalities Institute (at the London School of Economics and Political Science) published a report in December 2020 about the impact of tax cuts for the rich. Looking at data over the last five decades, they concluded that “major reforms reducing taxes on the rich lead to higher income inequality” – hardly surprising – and that “such reforms do not have any significant effect on economic growth and unemployment.”

But last week’s “mini budget” for “growth” shows that the new Prime Minister, Liz Truss, and Chancellor of the Exchequer, Kwasi Kwarteng, continue to ignore such evidence, and it is shameful that they have chosen to favour the wealthy during a cost of living crisis.

It is frankly ridiculous that the UK Government has decided to increase government borrowing to make tax cuts which will disproportionately benefit the rich. At this time, millions and millions of people are struggling to make ends meet, while an increasing number of households are relying upon foodbanks and charities for basic support. What message is the Government sending to these people when its priorities include abolishing the top 45p rate of income tax for high earners and removing the cap on bankers’ bonuses?

The Institute of Fiscal Studies has confirmed that the richest 10% of households will get the most from the changes in tax policy. They will, on average gain £700 a year, whereas previous proposals from Rishi Sunak would have cost them £3,500. The Government itself estimates that 629,000 people (earning more than £150,000) will gain £10,000 a year, while the Resolution Foundation says that individuals earning £1million will get an annual tax cut of £55,000.

The “mini-budget” has been widely condemned and rightly so. The leader of the SNP, Nicola Sturgeon, has suggested that “the super wealthy will be laughing all the way to the actual bank,” even though they might be appalled by the “moral bankruptcy” of the ruling party. Plaid Cymru has said the changes are “not only morally questionable but economic madness.” Even the right-wing commentator Julia Hartley-Brewer has challenged the Tories to explain why they are cutting taxes for the rich, when they are “the only people who don’t need the help.” I would like to associate myself with such comments.

And it is telling that even some Conservative MPs are less than happy. One has been reported as saying that there is a “70-80% chance” that the “mini-budget” will be a disaster, while another has declared “this whole thing boils down to infectious childlike optimism in Downing Street … it would almost be endearing if it wasn’t so completely and utterly [swearword] mad.”