Currently residents of Cornwall are being asked to give their views on the proposed devolution deal for Cornwall that has been negotiated between the Conservative-led Cornwall Council and the Conservative Government. We were promised that this was going to be an “ambitious deal” and that it would help us realise the potential for Cornwall.
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As a member of Cornwall Council, I have kept an open mind on this deal until we finally got to see the details of it. Now we have, I can’t help but feel this is the opposite of ambitious. The deal offers a small amount of money, some £370-million over 30 years, that equates to around £12.3-million per year; well, for a council that has a funding deficit this year alone of around £30-million it isn’t anywhere near enough.
Added to that is the fact that the money won’t be used to fund the services that have been cut to the bone over the last 12 years of Conservative Government, and that the office of the much-lauded Mayor will come out of this pot of money as well. Which brings us neatly on to the question of a Mayor for Cornwall. The “price tag” for this deal is a change to the governance of our Duchy, by accepting a directly-elected Mayor – we are told that without a Mayor, we will not get the deal. Government tells us that they like to have one person to deal with, but we already have that with the Leader of the Council. To me, this is an extra layer of Westminster government within Cornwall that we really do not need, or necessarily want.
The Labour Party has a good track record of Mayors, with Andy Burnham, Tracey Brabin and Sadiq Khan amongst others, but the difference is they are Mayors with up to 10 authorities (boroughs) under them and that’s why it works. Cornwall Council is a unitary authority, it is one council. Bristol City Council is a good example of a similar situation, a single authority under a directly elected Mayor. Last summer the people of Bristol voted to get rid of their Mayor as it just didn’t work. Do we really want to follow this model at great cost to Cornwall?
Recently, the Labour Party revealed our plans for devolution of regions across the country. Our offer of devolution goes much further, is much broader and comes with a guarantee that areas will not have to accept unpopular changes of governance, instead accepting the fact that local communities know best how to represent and run their areas. We are unlikely to be waiting too much longer for a General Election and hopefully a Labour Government that is so desperately needed; I for one would rather wait a short time and get the best deal for our Cornwall under a Labour Government than to rush into this poor deal because it is on offer now. The people of Cornwall deserve the best, not this lacklustre deal that is being pushed now.