First ever AUOB Kernow march for Cornish self-determination to take place on the weekend
The first-ever AUOB Kernow march for Cornish self-determination will take place this weekend.
It follows in the footsteps of AUOB Scotland and AUOB Wales who have scheduled marches for independence in Scotland and Wales.
AUOB Kernow’s first public event ‘March for Kernow’ will be held this Saturday, 9th October at the mid-Cornwall town of St Austell.
The organisers said that they had “formed to act as a catalyst to promote greater discussion over the future of Cornwall at all levels”.
“Our historic right to self-determination is crucial in order to revitalise democracy and thereby enable ordinary people to address major cultural, social and economic issues that we are faced with on an everyday basis,” they said.
“It is a mechanism by which Kernow can ‘catch up’ with our Celtic cousins through a sustainable programme of marches and rallies to build community support for self-determination.
“As in Wales, there is a need for leading political figures to initiate a civic conversation over our constitutional future. How far is the status quo sustainable? Should we be considering devolution or even other forms of greater autonomy?”
The organisers added that for Scotland and Wales, the mass demonstrations had helped them achieve independence.
“AUOB believes that every Celtic people have the right to self-determination,” they said.
Tourism
Garry Tregidga from the group had previously 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 said when AUOB Kernow was formed in May.
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.”
‘Harsh reality’
It is not just AUOB Kernow who believe Cornwall needs more political autonomy to tackle its problems. In June, Cornwall Council Leader, Linda Taylor, has said that she will seek further devolved powers for Cornwall in order to help tackle their second homes crisis.
The Conservative council leader said that the council recently submitted an expression of interest in discussing a county deal with the government.
Since 2015, the unitary council has had some devolved powers over transport, skills and funding distribution. They now want more control over planning and taxation to help it manage the impact of tourism.
That would include the ability to require planning application from anyone wanting to change accommodation from residential to holiday use, and to increase council tax on second homes. They also want to close a loophole where holiday homes are able to register as businesses.
She told the LGC that visitors to the county “go to our coastal hotspots and think everybody’s living an idyllic life. But the harsh realities are, not everybody is.
“One of my commitments is, I want to follow through on what the prime minister says,” she added. “I want to level things up in Cornwall so that everybody has an opportunity.”
“I am definitely demonstrating strong leadership by virtue of the fact that the people of Cornwall put their trust in with the Conservatives”.
“I’m making a strong case that I don’t think we need to have a directly elected mayor,” she added.
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Pob lwc Kernow!!
Cytunaf yn llwyr !
I just can not equate the march for devolution, with the continued election of Tory MPs. I wish them well, but no way are Tory MPs going to support the idea of self determination for Cornwall, but they keep voting for them. What am I missing here, I say this in all sincerity. At this moment in time all 6 Cornish MPs are Tory.
Also, it was only last week that the Tory UK Gov refused to allow a rep from Cornwall to attend a meeting on minority languages. But they vote Tory.?
At the last uk general election candidates from unionist parties won 36 of Wales’ 40 seats – what does that say about us?
It says that we live in a country dominated by the British media, Leigh, and that Plaid Cymru are as yet unable to replace Welsh Labour as the political embodiment of Wales. But at least its four MPs are of a decent calibre. Cornwall is traditionally Lib Dem country, but currently it’s voting Tory. However, people should acknowledge that an assertion of the region’s difference from England has only fairly recently come to the fore, and it has been content to allow itself to be administered as “just another English county” in A.L. Rouse’s words. That too, is now changing,… Read more »
Sarkozy is to have a leg-chip for spending too much money on his presidential bid. Media has huge influence on people’s minds.
You keep going on about this British media, but that itself is part of global construct.
This site is a prime example of parochial media. Users are provoked and triggered by articles so that they go to a comments page via the adverts.
What does it generate? The same five or six people making comments – many of which are so deranged and ill informed I wonder what is troubling them.
Good job we’ve got you here (under your variety of aliases) to steer us towards the true path, then.
Damn right, Black Rose.
Damn wrong, BritNat Troll.
Leigh, I get what you are saying, but Labour in our country have played a far cleverer game than in, say, Scotland. Labour for Indy standing in Wales, Labour spouting about a federal UK, more devolved powers and lots of promises, none of this done in either England or Scotland, thus keeping hold of voters who may have voted for another party. We all know what Labour MPs are like in reality, compared to what Mark Drakeford and the Senedd say about devolution, the Westminster Labour arty are on a par with the Tories when it comes to devolution.
That you want to remain part of the Union and Nationalism is for students and older bigoted wackos?