As with many national UK-wide organisations we have set up branches in Scotland and Wales in order for us to better campaign within the devolved political and media communities there. We are not campaigning for a Scottish or Welsh republic separate to the UK, we are simply responding to a strategic need to have branches that can specifically target politicians and media in Cardiff and Edinburgh. Those groups are there to assist us in campaigning around the UK for the abolition of the monarchy – they are there to campaign in Wales and Scotland, not for Wales and Scotland.
England has no devolved political and media set-up, on the whole that which serves England is the same as that which serves the UK, whether that’s the parliament, government or the BBC and national press. To many people that’s an unfortunate feature of our constitution but it is nevertheless a fact. We do encourage (and will do so much more in the coming months) local activity within England (and elsewhere) but in broad terms this is a national issue and it is best dealt with by everyone supporting a national campaign – there would certainly be no strategic advantage in establishing a separate Republic England. The Scotland and Wales groups are an exception aimed at targeting devolved media and politics.
I agree that Cornwall is in a different position because of its relationship with the Duchy and we’ve often considered some pro-active work there. As with Wales and Scotland that does rely on local supporters coming forward and helping us campaign in the area (and of course as the Duchy spreads far beyond the borders of Cornwall a corresponding campaign would do likewise). With all these sub-sections of our national campaign it does depend on how we can prioritise our limited resources.
I’d be happy to discuss with anyone interested the possibility of setting something up in Cornwall and perhaps staging an event there in due course. As with our position in Scotland and Wales we would of course take no view on Cornish nationalism but would simply campaign on the issues uniquely relevant to the area of the Duchy.