In his first formal address to the House of Commons as Prime Minister, Andy Burnham specifically commented on the calls from Cornwall for a devolution deal. For those who haven’t heard what he said, he referenced his recent meeting with the “Liberal Democrat leader of Cornwall Council” and Jayne Kirkham MP (Truro and Falmouth), adding that he had “asked No. 10 North to begin work with Cornwall Council and its six MPs on a devolution deal with or without an elected mayor.”
This has been widely welcomed, though I am extremely nervous that the present government will not be offering a new democratic settlement that is similar to what exists in Scotland and Wales.
In the House of Commons, Andrew George MP (St Ives) welcomed the “Prime Minister’s recognition of Cornwall’s special case,” adding that the “metropolitan template is not appropriate in all circumstances when dealing with devolution” and pointed out that Cornwall was a Celtic nation which merited a “bespoke settlement.”
But the Prime Minister used very different language. In terms of Cornwall, he did not talk about its Celtic nationhood and simply defined it as a “rural area.” Andy Burnham also spoke about local government tweaks, rather than a meaningful restructure of political power.
In particular, he spoke about “unitary local government,” adding “I said to colleagues in Cornwall that I am quite happy to see if a deal can be done for a single unitary authority.” He even made the assertion that he understood that was what “Members of Parliament for Cornwall … working with the leader of Cornwall Council” wanted. He further stated that if this “is the settled view,” he was “not going to try to impose anything else – let us work with that.”
I would respectfully say that Cornwall merits a more meaningful arrangement- and one that properly recognises and builds on the national minority status of the Cornish – rather than the sort of “deal” being suggested in these initial parliamentary discussions.
It is telling that the UK Government has a different approach to Celtdom elsewhere in the UK, and I understand that he will be meeting the First Ministers of Scotland and Wales, plus the First and Deputy First Ministers of Northern Ireland, at a special meeting of the National Economic Council in the near future.
At this time, I would appeal to the leadership of the unitary authority and Cornwall’s six MPs to be ambitious in their demands for Cornwall. Surely now is the time to make the biggest push possible for greater democratic parity across all Celtic parts of the UK.
Article published in the Cornish Guardian (9th September 2026) and West Briton newspapers (10th September 2026)