Mebyon Kernow believes that the historic nation of Cornwall, with its own distinct identity, language and heritage, has the same right to self-determination as other constituent parts of the UK, such as Scotland and Wales.

We believe that the people of Cornwall should have more say in how their lives are run and that locally elected politicians should be taking the key decisions about Cornwall’s future – not unelected civil servants or disinterested ministers in London.
But Cornwall is alone amongst the Celtic nations in having no form of effective self-government. Government bodies, quangos and agencies which develop key strategies and policies are located outside of Cornwall and inevitably fail to recognise the strengths of Cornwall or understand the special needs of its communities.  
There is certainly a desperate need to address the unequal constitutional relationships between the various nations and regions of the UK, as well as the centralising influence of London and the South East of England.
Mebyon Kernow believes that there needs to be a mature, respectful and wide-ranging debate about the future of the whole of the United Kingdom and how it is governed – with the future constitutional status of Cornwall at the very heart of this debate.
Mebyon Kernow continues to be the only political party campaigning for the recognition of Cornwall as a distinct national community for all forms of governance, administration and service provision.
MK is committed to building a new democratic settlement, with the meaningful devolution of significant powers to a National Assembly of Cornwall, within the framework of the United Kingdom.
It is the view of MK that Cornwall merits stand-alone legislation, like the other Celtic parts of the UK. It should not be dealt with as a so-called “English region” or, as is often the case, a mere portion of such an “English region.”


Mebyon Kernow – the Party for Cornwall is campaigning for:

• The introduction of bespoke legislation to create a National Assembly of Cornwall with powers at least equal to those of the Scottish Parliament, as set up in the Scotland Act 1998, which would set the funding and policy framework for the majority of the public sector within Cornwall. This would include responsibility for Health, Education, Training, Local Government, Housing, Economic Development and Transport, Energy, Law and Home Affairs, Environment, Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing, Sport and the Arts.
• An end to the power and influence of unelected and unaccountable bodies such as the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership.
• The strengthening of local government and an end to the dictatorial top-down control of Whitehall.
• The creation of public services for Cornwall which would include, for example, a Cornish Constabulary and Cornish emergency services.

For more information about Mebyon Kernow’s proposal for greater self-government for Cornwall, and related democratic reforms, see “Towards a National Assembly of Cornwall.”