Mebyon Kernow (Cornish’s own political party!)
Mebyon Kernow is the official political party for Cornwall. It says it wants its own devolved parliament (just like other Celtic nations such as Scotland) so it could use its local power to campaign for local people:
- Affordable housing (Cornwall is full of empty second homes, so the party would like many cities abroad, put limits on airbnb residences, to stop soaring house prices for local people).
- Saving local shops and pubs – Cornwall is quite a long way from supermarket central distribution houses. So the party would promote local food and beer, to keep money within communities.
- Climate change measures – Cornwall often suffers from freak weather, often due to climate change policies set at Westminster.
Recently, Reform UK won a lot of council seats in Cornwall. But within a short time, many had resigned, they said they were being told by the national office to focus less on local issues. And more on the main policies of scrapping net zero and stopping immigration.
Yorkshire Also Has Its Own Political Party
Yorkshire Party is similar, saying it wants more say (with a population of over 6 million, this is more than some small countries, yet most decisions come from Westminster).
It’s well-known that the north does not receive the same investment in public transport (not HS2 but real buses and trains) as other areas of the UK.
It also wants power to ban fracking (retrieving shale gas from the earth, which makes tap water go on fire, and has links to cancer). Again this is supported by many southern ‘not in my backyard’ MPs.
Famously Liz Truss (while Prime Minister) refused to rule out fracking in Lancashire, while she had no fracking near her own southern home. When she left power, Rishi Sunak reversed her policy.
