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The Cornish are a Celtic ethnic
identity and historic nation of the southwest of Great Britain. We have
our own lesser used Celtic language, sports, festivals, cuisine, music,
dance, history all rapped up in a perception of ourselves as being other
than English.
The PLASC ethnic data from the
2007 Cornish schools survey showed that 27% of children consider
themselves to be Cornish rather than British or English. The results from the 2001 UK population
census show over 37,000 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 “other” box. This does not
represent a mere clerical error or poorly thought through wording. This
represents a denial of the right of the Cornish to describe themselves in
terms of their identity. It might seem trite to complain about something
that happened six years ago, but the 2001 census will remain relevant
until the next one (in 2011). How many more people 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 writing
'Cornish' in the “other” box was an option? (This was
extremely poorly publicised). How many ticked British but feel themselves
to be Cornish British?
Over the last few years various
Cornish groups and individuals have been campaigning for the Cornish to
be recognised for protection under the Council of Europe’s
framework convention for the protection of national minorities (FCPNM).
Such recognition would be a powerful tool to ensure correct treatment and
protection of the Cornish national minority and its culture. The
Commission for Racial Equality in its shadow report on the FCPNM produced
on the 30th of March this year advised the government that the treaty
could be extended to protect Cornish culture and also raised concerns
about the lack of legal equality for minorities in the UK. Recently the Council of Europe has also
suggested that the FCPNM could be extended to include the Cornish.
Over the last 3 centuries Cornwall
has gone from being on the leading edge of the industrial revolution to
being one of the poorest regions of Europe receiving objective one
funding from the EU as a result. In the October
2001 Business Age Magazine Kevin Cahill, an author and investigative
journalist for the Sunday Times, wrote about the economy of Cornwall. In
the Killing of Cornwall, he notes that the London Treasury extracts £1.95
billion in taxes out of Cornwall's GDP of £3.6 billion. The Treasury
returns less than £1.65 billion, so there is a net loss to Cornwall of
300 million pounds, where the total earnings figure is 24% below the
national average, is this some form of negative Barnet Formula? Low
wages, unskilled Mac Jobs, poverty, social problems, and rocketing
housing prices are the often hidden face of the optimistically named
“English” Rivera. Coupled with this we have seen the
centralisation of services, institutions and government (followed by the
skilled jobs they entail) out of the Duchy much to the benefit of various
undemocratic and faceless ‘South West of England’ quangos.
Cornwall Council's Feb 2003 MORI Poll
showed 55% in favor of a democratically-elected, fully-devolved regional
assembly for Cornwall, (this was an increase from 46% in favor in a 2002
poll). In 2000 The Cornish Constitutional Convention launched a campaign
that resulted in a petition signed by 50,000 people calling for a fully
devolved Cornish assembly. The campaign generated support from across the
political spectrum in Cornwall and to date has been the largest
expression of popular support for devolution in the whole of the United
Kingdom.
This officially sanctioned silence on
the existence of a Cornish identity must stop. Why will the government
not ask the Office of National Statistics to include a Cornish tick box
on the 2011 census? The 'Life in the United Kingdom' handbook, required
reading for all who wish to immigrate to the UK, quotes
the census heavily when describing the regions and ethnic diversity of
the UK. Why are the Cornish not mentioned once?
Why has UK government so far blocked
all attempts at ensuring the Cornish are recognised under the FCPNM and
ignored the advice of the Commission for Racial Equality and Council of
Europe?
Why has the government failed to give
the people of Cornwall the democratic referendum on greater autonomy and
a devolved assembly that they have shown a demand for?
In fact whenever Cornish campaigners
have asked about the above decisions, even using the Freedom of
information act, the government has dragged its feet, ignored requests
and even refused to release information, why?!
Write to your MP, councillor and any other interested
party and ask them the Cornish question.
Contact your local newspaper
Contact your Councillor
Hear from your MP
Make your politicians work for
Cornwall
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