The second Reading of the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill took place last week. I found it difficult to listen to the debate and, in particular, the claims coming from the front bench. In opening the session, the Deputy Prime Minister said the “devolution revolution is well under way” and she was promoting a “new way of governing that puts politics back in the service of working people” and there was a plan “to give people with skin in the game real control over their lives.”
I continue to find such claims to nonsensical. This complex piece of legislation mixes up the concept of devolution with local government changes and there is the potential imposition of a cross-Tamar regional construct. I found the comments of the principal spokesman for the Conservatives to be interesting. He said it was “not about community empowerment at all,” adding “it is about stripping power from local authorities and concentrating it in Whitehall and the hands of the people in Whitehall.” He even invoked George Orwell’s 1984, stating: “Big Brother would be proud. Centralisation is devolution. Whitehall diktat is community empowerment.”
I would however like to commend the Cornish MPs who took part in the debate. Obviously, as the leader of MK, I am continuing to call for a bespoke and standalone Devolution Bill for Cornwall – just as was delivered in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. But I do understand why the MPs are – in the words of Perran Moon MP – seeking to amend the legislation to “respect Cornish national minority status and deliver an historic devolution arrangement for Cornwall.” Perran certainly generated considerable publicity by stating in his speech that he was “Cornish, not English,” which the Independent felt obliged to turn into the following headline: “Labour MP makes stunning claim about Cornwall in House of Commons.”
It was also good to hear Ben Maguire MP state unequivocally that national minority status “is not just symbolic” but places a “duty on public authorities to promote equality for the Cornish people.” I welcome his assertion that failings by the UK state could be challenged in the courts through judicial reviews or claims through the Equality Act and the Human Rights Act. I would also like to thank Andrew George MP and Noah Law MP for their contributions.
In closing the debate, Jim McMahon, the Minister for Local Government and English Devolution, did not acknowledge or address any of the points made by Cornish MPs. Not one! This was so disappointing and shows that we still have so much work to do in making the case for Cornwall.
Article published in the Cornish Guardian (10th September 2025) and the West Briton (11th September 2025).