We Cornish want to control own affairs

IN a recent Saturday column Clare Ainsworth said she was disappointed by the government’s levelling up White Paper. Did she or

anybody else actually really believe that Boris Johnson would deliver on his rhetoric, particularly for the Westcountry?

However, there is one consolation for the people of Cornwall from the White Paper. That is there is no immediate prospect of Cornwall being subsumed into some hideous Great Southwest Region administration with a ridiculous South West Mayor.

Proponents of such a region, such as English Tory MPs like Gary Streeter, together with their supporters in the media, have got to accept that a majority of Cornish people wish to keep Cornwall a distinct and separate entity.

It has its own unique history, language and culture. A history that goes back thousands of years which is of great cultural importance, for example tin traded from Cornwall enabled the Bronze Age to take place in Europe.

The feelings of the people of Cornwall were recently demonstrated when they argued against the imposition of a crossborder parliamentary constituency, half in Devon, half in Cornwall, and they got it stopped.

From an economic perspective, being thrust into some regional administrative, bureaucratic superstructure would see Cornwall even more sidelined and pushed to the bottom of the heap.

We have seen it all before, with the previous South West Region framework which was thankfully abolished in 2010. Then investment went to the big cities, e.g. Bristol and Exeter, and to areas along the M4 corridor such as Swindon. Cornwall was completely ignored.

It would be similarly completely ignored again in some new-fangled Great Southwest Region. It is not in the economic interest of the people of Cornwall to be forced into such a regional governmental structure and a majority do not want it.

The Cornish want to retain control of their own affairs.

Sam Lannergh St Austell, Cornwall