Cornish MP and representative at Council of Europe, Steve Double MP takes his Cornish Citizenship Test!

You have a right in law to declare Cornish as your National Identity!

On 4th June, 2018, Steve Double MP for St Austell & Newquay said in a letter written to the Grand Bard of Gorseth Kernow, Dr. Merv Davey:

“The Cornish identity and language are indeed distinct from other identities and languages in the UK, and I am glad that the Council of Europe paved the way towards proper recognition of Cornish cultural identity and linguistic distinctiveness.

As Cornish representative in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, I will be looking to build on the work that has already been done by the Council of Europe in granting minority status to the Cornish people”.

Mr Double has been appointed by the Prime Minister as Cornwall’s representative to the Council of Europe.

The Council of Europe arises from an idea raised by Winston Churchill in 1943.

He returned to the idea during a well-known speech at the University of Zurich on 19 September 1946, throwing the full weight of his considerable post-war prestige behind it.

The Council of Europe is an international organisation whose aim is to uphold human rights, democracy and the rule of law in Europe.

Founded in 1949, it has 47 member states, covers approximately 820 million people and operates with an annual budget of approximately half a billion euros.

Cornish people were granted minority status by the Government in April 2014 giving them the same status as other Celtic communities like the Scots, Welsh and Irish.

The Cornish people are now represented in the Council of Europe which administers the European Court of Human Rights.

Some may choose to identify as English and that is their right of course. But, we now have the right to identify as Cornish and have the protections and rights conferred by official recognition and inclusion of the Cornish National Minority into the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities.

Here we must also mention that many English people support the Cornish cause and large numbers support the language and culture and we welcome this with open arms and always will! We are an inclusive people and are proud of that fact.

We wish Mr Double well in this ground breaking appointment.

The Cornish Embassy bus was at the three day Royal Cornwall Show and was extremely popular with dozens of people visiting including Steve Double MP, Scott Mann MP and Andrew George.

Since the rather silly and provocative BBC / 'YouGov' press coverage recently and the ill thought out press release made by the 'Campaign for an English Parliament' which was covered in some of the local mainstream media, our social media presence has been flooded with those wishing to proclaim that they are Cornish.  A posting about this matter on one of our Facebook sites 'The Cornish are a Nation' received nearly 13,000 visits in eight hours with hundreds of people posting that they were Cornish and not English! 

We witnessed similar activity on our other sites and it took three 'Kernow Matters' steering group members to clear the back log of emails built up on our main email address! Every email received a reply, something we are proud of!

Many people expressed their complete disatisfaction with the BBC and other media in Cornwall and surprising numbers informed that they did not pay the BBC licence fee nor watch television as the BBC was 'irrelevant'.

Others pointed out that just because they did not vote for Mebyon Kernow did not mean they were not Cornish. Whatever their political allegiances, be they Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrat, Mebyon Kernow, Green or of no allegiance at all, huge numbers confirmed they were Cornish first and foremost.

Interestingly, several informed that they may well support the England football team but that should there ever be an International Cornish football team, allegiances would change instantly! Many others said that their sporting choice would always be Wales, Scotland or Ireland or indeed, the smallest country competing in international sporting events, recognising that many countries such as Iceland, Andorra, Malta and so on were smaller in terms of population than Cornwall. 

It has also become clear that there is a firm feeling that more political power is needed at local level, federalism, self governance (as in the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man etc) devolution (as in Scotland, Wales, London) or autonomy but not full independence. 'Kernow Matters' has been circulating news of the various devolution packages coming Cornwall's way but there is a distinct call for local management of Cornish heritage and public services.

Rather mysteriously, and despite several requests made, we have yet to hear from one person in Cornwall who was consulted by 'YouGov' regarding their national identity. A communication placed on our members' site revealed several were in receipt of 'YouGov' surveys (they pay, albeit after an enormous number of surveys have been completed!) but not one had received the poll in question.

Finally, we were pleased to receive several messages of support from Yorkshire where many appear to be calling for devolution or home rule.

The government formally recognises the distinct identity of Cornish people:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/cornish-granted-minority-status-within-the-uk

The Framework Convention:

https://rm.coe.int/16800c10cf

Photographs: Steve Double MP (St Austell & Newquay) taking his Cornish Citizenship Test on board the Cornish Embassy Bus with Cornish patriot and Man Engine initiator, Will Coleman; Scott Mann MP (North Cornwall) taking his Cornish Citizenship Test; Andrew George, former MP for St Ives & West Cornwall and now public services campaigner having his photograph taken on the Cornish Embassy Bus; the Cornish Embassy Bus;

Kernow bys vyken!

John, Teresa, Craig, Tony, Matt, Mike, Clive, Ronan, Alex & Mark

Elected Members of the KMTU Steering Group