Support
Cornwall County Council's Feb 2003 MORI poll showed 55% in favour of a referendum on an elected, fully devolved regional assembly for Cornwall and 13% against. (Previous result: 46% in favour in 2002) However the same MORI poll indicated an equal number of Cornish respondents were in favour of a South West Regional Assembly, (70% in favour of a Cornish assembly, 72% in favour of a S.West Regional assembly) . The campaign for a Cornish Assembly has the support of all three Cornish Lib Dem MPs, Mebyon Kernow, and Cornwall Council.
Lord Whitty, as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions, in the House of Lords, recognised that Cornwall has a "special case" for devolution. and on a visit to Cornwall Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott said "Cornwall has the strongest regional identity in the UK."
In October 2007 Lib Dem MP Andrew George stated in a press release, "Just because the Government has approached the whole Regional Devolution agenda in entirely the wrong way, does not mean to say that the project itself should be ditched. If Scotland is benefiting from devolution then Cornwall should learn from this and increase the intensity of its own campaign for devolution to a Cornish Assembly."
On Tuesday 17 July 2007, Local Government Minister John Healey MP announced Government plans to abolish regional assemblies. Functions of regional assemblies are planned to pass to Regional Development Agencies in 2010. The South West Regional Assembly is due to be replaced by the South West Regional Development Agency in 2010.
On 19 July 2007 MP Dan Rogerson welcomed the government announcement that unelected Regional Assemblies are to be scrapped and he asked the government to look again at the case for a locally accountable Cornish Assembly and Cornish Development agency, "in light of the important convergence funding from the EU". Cornish MP Andrew George said in July 2007 I’m optimistic that the Minister's announcement will give us the future prospects to build a strong consensus, demonstrate Cornwall's distinctiveness from the Government zone for the South West and then draw up plans so that we can decide matters for ourselves locally rather than being told by unelected quangos in Bristol and elsewhere." Government minister John Healey conceded that "Cornwall still faces some significant economic challenges" and said he would consider the need for a Cornish Development Agency alongside his decision on local government restructuring.
In December 2007 Cornwall Council Leader David Whalley stated "There is something inevitable about the journey to a Cornish Assembly. We are also moving forward in creating a Cornish Development Agency - we are confident that strategic planning powers will come back to us after the SW regional assembly goes.". In 2008 Cornish Liberal Democrat councillors agreed plans to create a Unitary authority for the region, abolishing the six district councils. This meant that where there was once one democratically elected member for every 3,000 residents, there is now be one councillor for every 7,000 people. The unitary authority "One Cornwall" Council does however not have the same powers as the proposed Cornish Assembly. Westminster has ruled out any extra powers for Cornwall and the unelected quango of the South West Regional Development Agency will remain in place. This means that Cornish Objective One money will still be managed from outside of Cornwall. There have in fact been suggestions that powers could be taken from the new Cornish unitary authority as it may struggle to cope with the extra workload inherited from the district councils. A premise for a single governing body for Cornwall was that the new Cornwall Council would have greater powers, being granted more responsibilities from Westminster.
Read more about this topic: Cornish Nationalism
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