Cornwall needs autonomy to tackle same wealth extraction problems as Wales, AUOB Kernow says

Wales and Cornwall have issues in common that need to be tackled, according to the organiser of AUOB Kernow – the equivalent of Wales’ pro-independence All Under One Banner.

AUOB Kernow, the Cornish language name of Cornwall, has recently been established and will shortly announce the details of its first march in September.

Garry Tregidga from the group said that Cornwall needed greater autonomy to allow them to combat many of the problems facing Cornwall, which were similar to those in Wales.

“There’s a feeling that we are all suffering from the same level of centralisation,” he told the Scottish National.

Despite a booming tourism industry the people of Cornwall had been left with “poorly paid jobs and limited opportunities” while the wealth was funneled out, Garry Tregidga, who is an assistant director of the Institute of Cornish Studies at the University of Exeter, said.

Like Wales, Cornwall didn’t realy benefit from the vast wealth it created during the industrial revolution and with lithium deposits found in the region that could happen again, he said.

“Conservative MPs are not representing the area,” he said. “They are representing London and the Conservative Party. I think people are therefore frustrated.

“So if representation in Westminster is not addressing their concerns, then the answer is or should be greater autonomy, whether that’s through independence or, more probably, devolution as a first step.

“Certainly I think that’s the way that people in Cornwall are thinking.”