I am a former resident of Cornwall, now living in XXX. I have some concerns about the way Cornwall is handled at a governmental level; and I thought that you, as Shadow Minister for Cornwall, might be the person to guide me in the right direction. Could you advise me to whom I should address each of the following concerns?
i) The continued use of the term County of Cornwall instead of Duchy of Cornwall at both Westminster and Council levels, completely disregarding the legally founded recommendations of The Kilbrandon Report of 1971.
ii) The rejection of a Cornish tick box under the general British category in the planned 2011 census form, thus forcing Cornish people to reject either their Britishness or their Cornishness.
iii) The continued silence on the subject of any form of devolvement for Cornwall, despite all five of Cornwall's Members of Parliament being in favour of a devolved regional Cornish Assembly, and 500,546 signatories petitioning a request for such a development.
iv) The more recent move by the Department for Transport to standardise all English bus passes for people over sixty, complete with St George's Cross and English Rose symbolism, and insensitively including Cornwall in the scheme, with the words "Cornwall COUNTYWIDE" only adding insult to injury.
If you could put me in the right direction in order to best address these concerns, I would be extremely grateful.
I have been browsing your official website, and am finding it difficult to locate any reference to your activities as Shadow Minister for Cornwall. I'm pretty certain I must be looking in the wrong place. Could you set me straight?
Thank you.
Yours sincerely,
XXX XXX
P.S. I will be publishing a copy of this email on the popular Cornwall24 website. XX
So walk the path to freedom true
And be you not distracted by
Oppressors from the East by whom
Your treasures are extracted dry
Thank you for your email. My apologies for not responding earlier. My website is a constituency website and I am not permitted to post non-constituency material there. However do feel free to go to www.cornwallconservatives.com
Administratively Cornwall has been treated as a County and you are right that this fails to recognise that Cornwall and the Cornish sense of identity are unique. Both you and I may be émigrés, but we both still feel a sense of Cornish identity.
My main concern is that all recent reorganisations have dragged decision making east of the Tamar. The Regional Assemblies are a good example of this and it's why my Party intends to scrap them.
It is also why the Conservatives intend to end the regional planning diktat and return to the Cornish people - and their representatives - the power to decide what is built in their communities and where it is built. We are also looking at what other powers can be returned, for example in the field of local economic development. In that sense we are more considered with handing back specific powers than the wider debate about an Assembly versus the new unitary council.
The plans for that unitary have been poorly prepared and pushed through without a popular mandate, by the Labour and LibDem parties. However it is now going to happen and it's important that we try and make the best of the situation.
Yours sincerely
Mark Prisk MP
(Hertford & Stortford)
Shadow Minister, Enterprise , Deregulation & Competition and Shadow Minister for Cornwall
So walk the path to freedom true
And be you not distracted by
Oppressors from the East by whom
Your treasures are extracted dry
Thank you very much for your reply. I think some Cornish people may in fact be looking forward to the new unitary council, providing it emphasises the duchy status of Cornwall . I agree that the economic and democratic powers of local communities are more important than any cultural demands of the larger unit. Nevertheless, I wish to pursue the more cultural issues with the appropriate people. Are you able to advise me as to how I might achieve this, particularly with regard to each of the four points raised in my first email to yourself?
Would you also permit me to publish your latest email to me on the Cornwall24 site?
So walk the path to freedom true
And be you not distracted by
Oppressors from the East by whom
Your treasures are extracted dry
It might be worth pointing out to Mr Prisk, and the arrogant ones at the BBC (who, on receiving complaint about their media continually referring to Cornwall as "county" and not Duchy, responded with words omn the lines of "Cornwall is an English county, so lump it") that the true title of the Kilbrandon Report was: The Royal Commission on the Constitution". So, the BBC feels that it is powerful enough to ignore the findings of a Royal Commission? Dangerous.
Thanks for the information. The BBC is too big. And, like the government regions, the broadcasting regions have very little relevance to those not living within a limited radius of the transmission site. If that makes any sense!
So walk the path to freedom true
And be you not distracted by
Oppressors from the East by whom
Your treasures are extracted dry
With all Mark Prisk support for Cornish localism its a wonder he and Direct Democracy don't have more to do with each other: http://www.dire...cracy.co.uk/
You'd have thought that considering Cornwall various campaigns to keep things local over the years DD would have shown more of an interest in us.
So we've been ignored forever and a day and now the Tories are going to give it back. Pure bullshit ! These people will say ANYTHING to get your vote .
Red yellow or blue. It's just a shuffling around of the shite. They are all Corporate Puppets to a man.
As Hunlef says on another thread :
edited by: GrahamHart, Jul 16, 2008 - 08:34 PM
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Have you emailed everyone in your address book to ask them to make a pledge to the CFF ?
I agree with the goal, not the attitude. There is a great deal more awareness now, and the people who are going to be the most instrumental in bringing about a positive change are those working politely and steadily with the appropriate people.
So walk the path to freedom true
And be you not distracted by
Oppressors from the East by whom
Your treasures are extracted dry
The Tory's idea of scrapping 'regional assemblies' takes the decision making directly back to Westminster, which in my mind is worse. Of all 3 main parties the Tories are the most centralist and anti-devolution. Cornwall suffered pretty badly under the Tories in the past.
When the oppressors show a bit of willing, attitudes will soften, and I agree on manners during debate, but not on general overhaul bullshit that these people pump out.
Red Yellow or Blue, different Puppets - Same Puppeteer.
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Have you emailed everyone in your address book to ask them to make a pledge to the CFF ?
The tories are going to scrap the regional assemblies? Haven't the government already announced they are to be scrapped? (With their powers being given to the RDAs, Frying pan and fire springs to mind!)
As the 'Shadow Minister for Cornwall' what have Mr Prisk and the Tories actually done or called for? At the moment this title looks like the kind of meaningless honours and medals that third world dictators award themselves.
If they really want to oust the Lib dems (no bad thing) then they need to try a bit harder.
Former Conservative MP for Falmouth and Camborne David Mudd
edited by: Fulub-le-Breton, Jul 21, 2008 - 10:38 AM
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