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Mebyon Kernow - the Party for Cornwall
Leader	Cllr. Dick Cole
Founded	6 January 1951
Headquarters	Lanhainsworth Fraddon HIll Fraddon St Columb Cornwall TR9 6PQ UK
Political Ideology	Cornish self-governance, social democracy
Political Position	Centre-left
International Affiliation	none
European Affiliation	European Free Alliance
European Parliament Group	n/a
Colours	old gold, black and white
Website	www.mebyonkernow.org/
See also	Politics of the UK Political parties Elections

Mebyon Kernow (Cornish for "Sons of Cornwall", often abbreviated MK) is a political party in the United Kingdom. The main objective of MK is to establish greater autonomy in Cornwall, the south-westernmost county of the United Kingdom.

MK was founded on January 6, 1951 at a meeting held in Redruth. Helena Charles was elected the party's first chair. At the first meeting, MK adopted the following objectives:

1. To study local conditions and attempt to remedy any that may be prejudicial to the best interests of Cornwall by the creation of public opinion or other means.
2. To foster the Cornish Language and Literature.
3. To encourage the study of Cornish history from a Cornish point of view.
4. By self knowledge to further the acceptance of the idea of the Celtic character of Cornwall, one of the six Celtic nations.
5. To publish pamphlets, broadsheets, articles and letters in the Press whenever possible, putting forward the foregoing aims.
6. To arrange concerts and entertainments with a Cornish-Celtic flavour through which these aims can be further advanced.
7. To cooperate with all societies concerned with preserving the character of Cornwall.

By September 1951 they had officially come to a stance of supporting self-government for Cornwall, in what they hoped at the time would be a federal United Kingdom. MK won its first seat at local level on the Redruth-Camborne Urban Council in 1953. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, MK was in essence a political pressure group rather than a true political party, with members being able to join other political parties as well. However, by the 1970s the group developed into a more coherent and unified organization. During this decade, MK began contesting Westminster parliamentary seats as well as local government ones. A schism in the early 1970s led to the formation of the Cornish Nationalist Party.

They currently describe their philosophy as based on being: "Cornish, Green, Left of Centre, Decentralist." Mebyon Kernow is a member of the European Free Alliance although did not contest European Parliament elections in 2004 or 1999. [4] The party has close links with Plaid Cymru (their partner in the EFA) including a twinning arrangement with Plaid's Blaenau Gwent branch, and to a lesser extent with the SNP.

Daphne du Maurier, the well known novelist, was at one point a member of Mebyon Kernow, as was Andrew George, the Liberal Democrat MP; he still remains sympathetic to many Cornish issues, but is no longer a member since they became a political party.

MK have an electoral partnership with the Greens. In the 2005 Westminster elections, MK did not contest the St Ives constituency to make room for the Green Party candidate. In return, the Greens did not stand against MK in any of the other four Cornish constituencies.

Contents 1 Electoral performance 2 Cornish Assembly 3 Support 4 See also 5 References 6 External links 7 See also 8 External links

In 1979, in the first elections to the European Parliament, Mebyon Kernow were able to attract almost ten percent of the vote in the Cornwall seat. This reflected a decade of steady growth for the party. MK continues to contest parliamentary seats with little electoral success, and also local government seats with more success. They lost their only Cornwall county councillor in 2001.

Election	Votes cast	Share of Vote
1979 European election	10,205	5.9
1983 General election	1,151	1.2	2 candidates
1989 European election	4,224	1.9
1994 European election	3,315	1.5
1997 General election	1,906	0.8	4 candidates
2001 General election	3,199	1.3	3 candidates
2005 General election	3,552	1.7	4 candidates

(Source: Election Demon)

Since 11 November 2004, there have been four MK councillors on Kerrier District Council, along with one in Restormel (the party leader Dick Cole) and one in North Cornwall (John Bolitho). One of the MK councillors in Kerrier, Loveday Jenkin, joined the district council government in 2005 becoming the first MK councillor in such a position.

In July 2000 Mebyon Kernow issued the "Declaration for a Cornish Assembly".

"Cornwall is a distinct region. It has a clearly defined economic, administrative and social profile. Cornwall's unique identity reflects its Celtic character, culture and environment. We declare that the people of Cornwall will be best served in their future governance by a Cornish regional assembly. We therefore commit ourselves to setting up the Cornish Constitutional Convention with the intention of achieving a devolved Cornish Assembly - Senedh Kernow."

Three months later the Cornish Constitutional Convention was held with the objective of establishing a devolved Assembly. In less than two years, it had collected signatures from over 50,000 people, which is a little over 10% of the total Cornish electorate. A delegation led by the West Cornwall Liberal Democrat MP Andrew George and representatives of the Convention (Bert Biscoe, Richard Ford, Dick Cole, David Fieldsend and Andrew Climo Thompson) presented the declaration to 10 Downing Street on Wednesday 12 December 2001. ^[1]

Currently the South West Regional Assembly and the South West Regional Development Agency have control over areas such as economic development, housing and strategic planning. The dominant Cornish political party, the Liberal Democrats, has called these "undemocratic and unaccountable".^[2]

Cornwall Council's Feb 2003 MORI poll showed 55% in favour of an elected, fully-devolved regional assembly for Cornwall (Previous result :46% in favour in 2002). ^[3]

The campaign has the support of all five Cornish Lib Dem MPs, Mebyon Kernow, and Cornwall Council.

Lord Whitty, as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions, in the House of Lords, recognised that Cornwall has a "special case" for devolution.^[4] and on a visit to Cornwall deputy Prime Minister John Prescott said "Cornwall has the strongest regional identity in the UK."

• List of topics related to Cornwall
• Andrew George Cornish Lib Dem MP - St.Ives
• Matthew Taylor Cornish Lib Dem MP - Truro and St Austell
• Julia Goldsworthy Cornish Lib Dem MP - Falmouth and Camborne
• Dan Rogerson Cornish Lib Dem MP - Cornwall North
• Colin Breed Cornish Lib Dem MP - South East Cornwall
• Regional Assemblies in England
• English Core Cities Group
• Constitutional status of Cornwall
• Cornish Nationalist Party, an early splinter of MK, often conflated with it.

1. ^ BBC News 11th December 2001 [1]
2. ^ Motion to Cornwall Liberal Democrats’ Conference [2]
3. ^ Give Cornwall what it wants. [3]
4. ^ House of Lords debates, Wednesday, 21 March 2001, "Devolution: England" transcript of speech

• Cornish Assembly Official Website 2006
• Cornish Assembly Petition Calling on the UK Government to hold a referendum in Cornwall on the question of establishing a Cornish Assembly.
• Cornish Assembly - Senedh Kernow (archive)
• Mebyon Kernow
• Motion to Cornwall Liberal Democrats' Conference Nov 2005
• Blair gets Cornish Assembly call
• Scots leader backs Cornish Assembly
• George takes Cornish Assembly Campaign to Downing Street
• Prescott pressed on Cornish Assembly poll
• Minister leaves door open for Cornish Assembly
• House of Commons Hansard Debate on Regional Government 12 Jul 2005
• The Cornish: A Neglected Nation?
• Territorial Devolution
• South West Regional assembly

• List of topics related to Cornwall

• Official website
• European Free Alliance
• MK voting victory