Cornwall’s Mebyon Kernow Launches New Push for Devolved Parliament

While Scotland gears up for its own referendum on independence from the United Kingdom later this year, a Celtic nationalist party in the comparatively tiny Duchy of Cornwall is pushing for a devolved parliament of its own.  (See a recent article from this blog for much more detail on Cornish nationalism.)

Mebyon Kernow (“Party for Cornwall”) marked St. Piran’s Day (the Cornish national holiday, named for the patron saint of tin miners) on March 5th by unveiling a document titled “Towards a National Assembly of Cornwall.”  In it, the party argues that a Cornish legislature should eventually take control of must government functions in Cornwall, including all aspects of health and education.

Rob Simmons, a member of the Cornish Council, stated, “I don’t believe there has been a more unifying political issue in modern times.  Even campaigns against the hated Devonwall constituency and the ‘Pasty Tax’ didn’t have this kind of reach and influence in Cornwall.”  (“Devonwall” refers to a Conservative Party proposal in the 1970s to merge Cornwall, England’s southwesternmost county, with its neighbor to the east, Devonshire, a.k.a. Devon.)

A few days later, the U.K.’s nationwide Liberal Democratic Party, which is a junior partner in Prime Minister David Cameron’s ruling coalition, formally endorsed the idea of Cornish devolution at their spring assembly in York.

Don’t tax ’em!

[For those who are wondering, yes, this blog is tied in with my new book, a sort of encyclopedic atlas just published by Litwin Books under the title Let’s Split! A Complete Guide to Separatist Movements and Aspirant Nations, from Abkhazia to Zanzibar.  The book, which contains 46 maps and 554 flags (or, more accurately, 554 flag images), is available for order now on Amazon.  Meanwhile, please “like” the book (even if you haven’t read it yet) on Facebook.]