Kernow Matters launches Cornish language funding campaign

Media Release from Kernow Matters To Us:

The Westminster Government announced yesterday that despite a petition which included thousands of signatures, it no longer intended to financially support the indigenous Cornish language. 

It is now in clear breach of its legal obligations agreed and signed off in 2002.

As a recognised indigenous national minority, one might expect the Cornish to get at least a Trident's tailfin worth of support from the UK government, but no such support has been forthcoming since they ended their token funding more than a year ago.

The Cornish have asked nicely and been rebuffed. 

Since the UK government wishes to ignore its own international treaties just to spite the Cornish, we will be compelled to ask elsewhere. 

Therefore, we at Kernow Matters will be sending a letter written in accordance with correct diplomatic protocol to foreign governments around the world with the joint support of Cornish language groups Agan Tavas and Cussel an Tavas Kernowek. 

This letter is an appeal to foreign governments to help our language since we have been abandoned by our own.

We shall be making it clear to other governments around the world that maximum publicity will be given to those who come to our aid, even if this might embarrass H.M. Government.

It is interesting to note this week that another organisation in Cornwall has turned to His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum of Dubai in a bid for funding for its community and village hall.

In failing to return a small sum of our tax money to us each year, the Westminster Government can no longer depend on our loyalty. They have diminished our tax returns to our own Cornwall Council devolved government which is struggling financially.

The Westminster Government's response to the petition reminding them of their agreed obligations is as follows:

"The Government has provided Cornwall Council with substantial spending power to allocate resources to their local priorities, including the Cornish language.

The Government has always been clear that its funding of some £650,000 since 2010 to support the development of the Cornish language was time-limited, and that the Council should seek alternative sources in order to place it on a more sustainable basis. Cornwall Council has a core spending power of £1.7 billion over four years from which they can allocate the necessary resources to local priorities, including the development the Cornish language, if they wish."

Link to petition: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/128474?reveal_response=yes#response-threshold