Newspaper Column – The Voice – 29/10/25

 

• I remain determined to prevent Government Ministers from bribing or bullying Cornwall into a ‘Combined Mayoral Authority’ across a wide south west of England region. That’s the challenge we face. 

 

Cornwall’s 6 MPs and Cornwall Council have collectively made our position clear to the government. We too want devolution. But on our terms. The only ‘region’ for Cornwall is Cornwall. If we stand together, I’m confident we can do this. 

 

Devolution is about letting go of power, not controlling from the centre. Many local authorities in England are falling into line. But Cornwall has more at stake and more to lose. That’s why we’re standing our ground. Insisting that Cornwall, not London, should decide how it’s governed and to negotiate its direct relationship with central government, not through a Mayor based in Exeter, Taunton, or Bristol. 

 

Regrettably, the Government’s agenda appears to be based on (ephemeral) rewards/bribes at the expense of addressing actual need (which ought surely to be any government’s first priority). That should neither be condoned nor permitted to continue. 

 

So, Cornwall’s case is to also take on this wider ethical purpose – ie to stop government using its financial muscle to ‘bribe’ or ‘bully’ territories into accepting governance structures designed for the convenience of central government and contrary to the interests of the locality. The last Government used public funds to attempt to protect its most vulnerable marginal constituencies. This Government is saying that if Cornwall doesn’t cooperate with its Combined Mayoral agenda, it will miss out on vital funding. But a good government should use its resources to support those areas, like Cornwall, most in need, irrespective of whether it accepts top-down structures of governance. 

 

So, we have a moral case to make, as well as, of course, making sure we protect the integrity and do our best for Cornwall. 

 

• Meanwhile, the “Great South West” (GSW) – a group you won’t have heard of, because they’re a largely self-appointed clique, set up with the intention of synthetically manufacturing a ‘region’ – has asked me to add my name to another letter to Ministers, seeking an “urgent commitment from Government to back…the Great South West Partnership…for a bold and ambitious agenda for growth across the region”.  

 

I’m deeply troubled by this. It’s a marketing initiative. So, it’s of course impressively slick and professional. But it remains an unhelpful distraction from the work we need to get on with in Cornwall, not least that it may only confuse government ministers and officials, as well as potentially granting false hope to those who still hanker after tidy, obedient government zones designed for administrative convenience and to submerge communities of interest and territories which do exist, like Cornwall. The GSW seems to me a zombie marketing vehicle desperately looking for a purpose beyond the point where it’s been shown (as it now is) to be irrelevant. 

  

I’d prefer Cornwall’s excellent Growth Partnership to get on with its own approach to government.