Western Morning News (Saturday)
Cornwall’s devolution deal is branded as being ‘weak’
CORNWALL Council has signed a new devolution deal with the Government which would guarantee £360 million of funding and new powers over the next 30 years.
Cornwall MP Steve Double said that the publication of the Cornwall deal was the “start of a new era”.
But some critics have branded the content of the deal ‘weak’.
At Spaceport Cornwall Levelling Up Minister Dehanna Davison signed the document alongside Cornwall Council’s Conservative leader Linda Taylor with both describing it as an “historic” day. The deal is subject to public consultation, full agreement from Cornwall Council and parliamentary approval.
Under the deal Cornwall Council would be given responsibility for the adult education budget as well as getting additional powers over planning, housing and transport. The deal includes an additional £8.7m for housing and funding for the Cornish culture and language.
But the proposed deal has been overshadowed by the requirement for Cornwall Council to change its governance arrangements to secure the deal, which will mean Cornwall having a directlyelected mayor for the first time. There has been a vigorous debate about whether there should be a public referendum on whether Cornwall wants to have a mayor elected by the people – instead of a council leader chosen by councillors.
Explaining the need for a mayor, Ms Davison said: “We set out in the Levelling Up white paper a framework for devolution and different levels that people could opt into, and we always said that in order to access the biggest groups of powers and funding we would like to have directly accountable leadership so we in central government can go spend the money on what they are doing and that is why we really believe in the mayoral model.”
St Austell and Newquay MP Steve Double attended the event at Cornwall Airport Newquay and said he believed the introduction of a Mayor for Cornwall was actually more important than extra funding.
“It is far more than that (funding), clearly the money is welcome but we need to see this as the start of the journey. It is not the finished picture. It gives us the opportunity to reset our relationship with government to have a new era, to have a seat at the top table along with the other mayors across the country. And then that gives us a basis for future negotiations to attract more investment, more powers, devolve more powers to Cornwall.”
The headline figure on the deal is the £360m over 30 years which provides £12m a year for Cornwall. Ms Davison also said it was not just about the funding: “It is absolutely not, this is the start and the start of a long-term agreement between Government and Cornwall to make sure we are focusing on what is right for Cornwall.”
Cornwall Council is set to launch its consultation on the deal next week and the minister said that people should get involved. “This is an opportunity for local people to feed in and give their views but I would certainly hope that
‘We need to see this as the start of the journey. It is not the finished picture’ STEVE DOUBLE, MP
now that they can see the detail of what is in the deal that they would see it as an optimistic thing.”
However, Labour group leader Jayne Kirkham said: “On the face of it, the deal looks mainly to be worth £12m per year, which is a tiny percentage of Cornwall Council’s budget – about 1%. It cannot possibly deal with all the issues that Cornwall faces.”
She added: “The whole deal is conditional upon Cornwall accepting a mayor and there do not seem to be any significant powers passported down from Westminster as part of this deal.”
Mebyon Kernow leader Dick Cole called on people to take part in the consultation and call for “real devolution” for Cornwall.
And Colin Martin, acting leader of the Liberal Democrat group, said: “The content of the deal looks extremely weak. It touches on many areas of concern to residents in Cornwall, but the new powers and funding on offer fall far short of what is needed to tackle the enormous challenges we face.”