Cornish Nationalism - Political Parties and Pressure Groups

Political Parties and Pressure Groups

• Mebyon Kernow is the key political party advocating greater Cornish home rule. Since 2004 Mebyon Kernow has been a member of the Europe-wide political group, the European Free Alliance (alongside the Scottish National Party and Plaid Cymru - Party of Wales), which has five Members of the European Parliament (two from the SNP, one from Plaid Cymru, one from the Republican Left of Catalonia and one Latvian MEP), and is part of the Greens/EFA group. Mebyon Kernow contested its first European Parliamentary elections in 2009, where they entered candidates for the UK southwest region which comprises Devon, Somerset, Dorset, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and Bristol, as well as Cornwall, although they failed to win any seats. In Cornwall however they gained more votes than Labour.

• Cornish Constitutional Convention is a cross-party advisory group that has been instrumental in moulding opinion in both Cornwall and London towards a new accommodation for Cornwall within the United Kingdom. It was formed in November 2000 with the objective of establishing a devolved Assembly for Cornwall (Senedh Kernow). It states that "The aim of the Convention is to establish a form of modern governance which strengthens Cornwall, her role in the affairs of the country, and positively addresses the problems that have arisen from more than a century of growing isolation and loss of confidence." Its principal lobbying document is DEVOLUTION for ONE and ALL: Governance for Cornwall in the 21st Century

• The Celtic League and Celtic Congress have a Cornish branch and recognise Cornwall as a Celtic Nation alongside Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, Wales and Brittany. The league is a political pressure group that campaigns for independence and Celtic cooperation.

• The Revived Cornish Stannary Parliament acts as a pressure group on Cornish constitutional and cultural issues. The websites of the CSP provides an overview of their main points and current campaigns. The CSP has one of its members in the Federal Union of European Nationalities (FUEN).

• The Cornish Nationalist Party was formed in 1975 by Dr James Whetter and is currently not registered to contest elections.

• Cornish Solidarity are a non-partisan political pressure group that calls for the recognition of the ethnic Cornish as a national minority.

• John Angarrack of Cornwall 2000, the Human Rights organisation, has written three books to date, Breaking the Chains, Our Future is History and Scat t’Larrups? released on May 15, 2008. They detail many of the core issues of the Cornish national movement as well as a re-examination of Cornish history and the Cornish constitution. The "Cornish Fighting Fund" was launched by Cornwall 2000 in August 2008. However the fund failed to meet the required target of £100,000 by the end of December 2008, having received just over £33,000 in pledges, and the plan is now abandoned. The instigator of the campaign, John Angarrack, on launching the fund stated; "If by that date (Dec 08), the strategy outlined here has not gathered the required level of support, we shall assume that the Cornish community does not cherish its identity nor care that it survives."

• Tyr Gwyr Gweryn (Cornish for land, truth, people) was originally a focus group formed out of members of 'Cowethas Flamank', a Cornish affairs group, and participants in Kescusulyans Kernow (Conference of Cornwall) having a special interest in the constitution of Cornwall. TGG has recently posted to its website, the transcript of the dispute between the Crown & Duchy of Cornwall (1855–1857) over ownership the Cornish Foreshore. This has been done in order to place the previously hidden legal argument and evidence, submitted for arbitration, into the public domain.

• The Cornish branch of the Green Party of England and Wales also campaigns on a manifesto of devolution to Cornwall and Cornish minority issues. In the 2005 general election the Green party struck a partnership deal with Mebyon Kernow .

• An Gof was a militant organisation, which was active in the early 1980s. A message was sent in 2007 claiming that it had reformed and was responsible for graffiti in various places around Cornwall and attacks on St. George's flags. Later in 2007, it claimed to have merged with another group to form the Cornish National Liberation Army. A message was sent claiming to be from this organisation, threatening celebrity chefs Rick Stein and Jamie Oliver, blaming them for the increase in house prices caused by the trend towards English people owning second homes in Cornwall. It is far from clear whether this is a real organisation.