Lest We Forget

Forgotten Cornwall - from The Cornish Democrat blogsite.

Yet again Cornwall, the fourth nation of Great Britain, has been forgotten! No great surprise as it's been happening for quite some time now.

This time however the two-faced nature of the 'oversight' really needs to be highlighted.

The Liberal Democrat MP's in Kernow, notably Dan Rogerson and Andrew George, go to some lengths to promote Cornish issues. Questions of Duchy constitution, Cornish tick box on the UK census and the Government of Cornwall Bill have all been recent Lib Dem developments.

What is surprising then is the almost total lack of awareness of the Cornish question in Lib Dem circles outside Kernow. If you mention Rogerson's Bill to one of his fellow party members from another part of the UK, more often than not, you'll simply receive a puzzled look.

"Cornwall wants devolution!?"

One would have thought that the recent Lib Dem party conference would have been the perfect opportunity to put Cornwall's case to the rest of the party. Sadly however, as has been pointed out on this Cornwall 24 thread, just about every aspect of devolution was mentioned, along with copious reference to Scotland, Wales, England and the Six Counties, except that is Cornish devolution.

It seems all the work our Cornish MPs have done, culminating in the Government of Cornwall Bill, didn't even merit one word. Did our MPs even propose that Cornwall's aspirations feature?

Surely our Cornish Lib Dems are not so cynical as to simply throw up a bit of nationalist window dressing in order to save their seats at the next election? Perhaps the Tories are already following their lead. At least we can say that Labour are consistent in ignoring all Cornish specificity. Honesty in their disregard for Cornish question.

Perhaps it'd be wise to write to your MP and ask why Cornwall was forgotten once again.