Philip Hosking has written to me asking for my position on Cornish nationalism. As this is not a subject I have touched on before on the Green Ribbon, I thought I would share his letter and my reply:
I am a Penryn born Cornishman from the United Kingdom
and a growing Cornish and Breton speaker. I have been raised by a
family and community that has endowed me with what can be best
described as a Cornish national identity, another way to look at it
would be of Cornish ethnicity.
The Cornish are a Celtic ethnic group and nation of the southwest of Great Britain. We have our own lesser used Celtic language (Cornish), sports, festivals, cuisine, music, dance, history and identity. Cornwall
also has a distinct constitutional history as a Duchy with an
autonomous stannary parliament. This Celtic Cornish identity was
recognised and described in the April 2006 edition of National
Geographic.The results from the 2001 UK
population census show over thirty seven thousand people hold a Cornish
identity instead of English or British. On this census, to claim to be
Cornish, you had to deny being British, by crossing out the British
option and then write Cornish in the others box. Additionally the
decision to collect information on Cornish identity was extremely badly
publicised.How
many more would have described themselves as Cornish if they did not
have to deny being British or if there had been a Cornish tick box? How
many people knew that it was an option? How many ticked British but
feel themselves to be Cornish British?Cornwall Council’s Feb 2003 MORI Poll showed 55% in favour of a democratically-elected, fully-devolved regional assembly for Cornwall, (this was an increase from 46% in favour in a 2002 poll). Many English and other nationalities who have settled in Cornwall wish to see an assembly as some of these people identify closely with Cornwall and actually feel ‘Cornish’. London, Wales and Scotland have devolved assemblies and are still part of the United Kingdom as well as the Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey
– why not Cornwall ? The Cornish Assembly petition was signed by 50,000
people, which is the largest expression of popular support for devolved
power in the whole of the United Kingdom and possibly Europe.In July 2000 Mebyon Kernow
launched the Declaration for a Cornish Assembly campaign which some
three months later led to the creation of The Cornish Constitutional
Convention with the objective of establishing a devolved Assembly for Cornwall.
In less than two years, it had won the support of over 50,000 people,
which equates to more than 10% of the Cornish electorate. A delegation
led by the West Cornwall Liberal Democrat MP Andrew George
and representatives of the Cornish Constitutional Convention (Bert
Biscoe, Richard Ford, Dick Cole, David Fieldsend and Andrew Climo
Thompson) presented 50,000 declarations to 10 Downing Street on Wednesday 12th December 2001 calling for a Cornish Assembly. This was an
opportunity to give the people of Cornwall the chance to demand greater control over their own future.A
recommendation by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
(PACE) on the ‘concept of nation’ has been backed by the European
Parliament regional and minority language Intergroup.The
PACE recommendation stated that, “Everyone should be free to define
themselves as a member of a cultural “nation”, irrespective of their
citizenship”. In response, the Intergroup commented that ‘Council of
Europe member states should avoid defining themselves in exclusively
ethnic terms, and should do their utmost to help their minorities, a
source of enrichment, to flourish’. Today, both the French and the
British Governments still deny people from some of the Celtic countries
to legally describe themselves in terms of their Celtic national
identities in all areas of life. Intergroup leader Mr Csaba Tabajdi,
Member of the European Parliament, said that, this recommendation is of
utter importance, representing a paradigm change in the protection of
minorities in Europe. It contains a new, elaborate concept of nation.The
recommendation states that: The term “nation” is deeply rooted in
peoples, culture and history and incorporates fundamental elements of
their identity. “It is also closely linked to political ideologies,
which have exploited it and adulterated its original meaning.
Furthermore, in view of the diversity of languages spoken in European
countries, a concept such as nation is quite simply not translatable in
many countries where, at best, only rough translations are to be found
in certain national languages.The UK
government has so far failed to recognise the Cornish people under the
Council of Europe’s framework convention for the protection of national
minorities.The UK government has failed to give the people of Cornwall the democratic referendum on greater autonomy and a devolved assembly that they have shown a demand for.Deputy
Prime Minister John Prescott and local government minister Ruth Kelly
have been less than forthcoming to Mebyon Kernow under the Freedom of
Information Act.In
2005 Mebyon Kernow the party for Cornwall wrote to the then Office of
the Deputy Prime Minister requesting copies of government documents
prepared in the wake of the 50,000 signature “Cornish Declaration”
which was passed to the Prime Minister on 12 December 2001.Cllr Phil Rendle, MK’s Deputy Leader (Campaigns) explained:
“We
have long wondered what Tony Blair’s government made of this
magnificent expression of Cornish support for devolution. In 2005 we
decided to use the Freedom of Information Act to find out. The result
was disgraceful.”Even
though, the ODPM is obliged under the Act to respond to requests
promptly and in any event no later than 20 days, Mebyon Kernow’s
original request remains unacknowledged and unanswered. Last
year, as part of their celebration of the fifth anniversary of the
Declaration, MK resumed its demand – this time to Ruth Kelly’s new
Department for Communities and Local Government. So
far, two letters have been received – although no information has yet
been released and no explanation or apology given for failing to
respond to the 2005 request.“Crucially”
says Cllr Rendle, “the DCLG have admitted that ‘The Department holds
the information you are seeking’ – but getting it into the public
domain is proving difficult to say the least!”The
two letters are peppered with phrases such as “qualified exemptions”,
“public interest tests” and the most tortuous reasons are given not to
yield this information without delay:“Your
request, however, raises complex public interest considerations which
must be analysed before we can come to a decision on releasing the
information… consideration must be given as to whether or not the
public interest in withholding the information requested outweighs the
public interest in disclosing it…[the] balance needs to be struck
between disclosing sufficient information to allow informed debate and
protecting the space within which ministers are advised and formulate
policy.”The second letter from Ruth Kelly’s department pontificates:
“The
application of the public interest balance in relation to this
exemption is particularly complex. The public interest both in
disclosure of some information and in the withholding of other
information lies in what might broadly described as good government”!Phil Rendle asks:
“We
are just trying to find out what Government made of Cornwall’s
50,000-signature petition. Why all this prevarication? Why all this
legalistic mumbo-jumbo? If government “holds the information [we] are
seeking” why not release it to the people of Cornwall. We have received
two stalling letters, but we will continue to press until all the
information is released.”1) I would like to know your position on national and linguistic minorities and in particular the Cornish question in the United Kingdom.2) I would also like to know your thoughts on a devolved Cornish assembly.I look forward to your response.Lowena dhysPhil Hosking
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