Monday 23 February 2015

So who or what is Mebyon Kernow- the Party for Cornwall?

For many of my regular readers, this may be a little patronising but maybe it won't be. Politics is about trust (or more recently the abject lack of it) and familiarity. I always like to think of elections like job interviews, if you are to give someone the responsibility of representing an area and it's people, you need to know a great deal about them, what they believe in, what they will stand up for and whether you can trust them. 

The same is true of parties, without knowledge of the party and it's policies and guiding principles, then the job of a candidate is futile. The challenge for any party and candidate is to let people know more about who you are and what to expect. This is especially true of smaller parties like Mebyon Kernow, although you can't pick up a newspaper or watch the news on tv without seeing the views of Labour, the Tories and the Lib Dems the same is not true of parties like MK and other smaller parties in the UK.

This blog is about the party I (Rob Simmons) am standing for in this general election for the St Ives constituency. It's something I've meant to write for a while and prompted by the excellent UK General Election 2015 blog who approached me to write a short piece. That blog thrives on recording a huge amount of information on politics. It's obvious from that study that the author is aware that small parties, will play a huge role in this general election.

So who or what is Mebyon Kernow- the Party for Cornwall? 

Mebyon Kernow is a political party, based in Cornwall, over 60 years old now. Founded in 1951 originally as a pressure group dedicated to preserving and enhancing the Celtic nature of Cornwall and open to members of all political parties. In the 70's it became a political party in it's own right and began to field candidates, in the years to come the party became a Cornish, left, green and de-centralist party and mirrored the progressive politics evident in other Celtic parties such as Plaid Cymru in Wales and the SNP in Scotland. These themes continue to this day and the party's policies revolve around three key principles Prosperity for All, Social Justice and Environmental Protection. Many of the specific issues MK has campaigned on have come to pass, such as a University in Cornwall and recognition of Cornwall as a nation.  
Over the decades the party has grown in it's presence and ambition. In 2010 the party contested every constituency in Cornwall and collectively the party's 6 candidates gained 5,379 votes a record for the party and a promising sign of progress. Here in 2015 MK is standing again in every Cornish constituency with myself (Rob Simmons) in St Ives, Loveday Jenkin in Camborne, Redruth and Hayle, Stephen Richardson in Truro and Falmouth, Dick Cole in St Austell and Newquay, Orlando Kimber in North Cornwall and Andrew Long in South East Cornwall. With Cornwall traditionally split between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats and both held in low esteem here, particualry the Lib Dems, we are very hopeful of making significant inroads. 

The party's manifesto will be launched at our Spring Conference (March 21st Bodmin). Details of the manifesto are being finalised, but it's safe to say, policies like, devolution to a Cornish National Assembly, opposition to austerity, promotion of the living wage, democratisation of various quangos, trusts and the LEP, environmental protection, a planning policy that address affordable housing, over development and second homes, will all feature strongly. It's the party's view that Cornwall's poor economic performance is a result of an overly centralised state and policies that are not designed for Cornwall and do not work for our benefit. For more insight it's worth looking at our manifesto for the Cornwall Council elections and policies on the MK website here and a Cornish Assembly here.

Mebyon Kernow goes into this general election with confidence, we are a small party. Our leader Dick Cole has recently raised money through crowdfunding, we rely on our members and their generosity in donations and time to fight this election campaign. We are nowhere near the 2 established parties in Cornwall the Tories and the Lib Dems in terms of funding and organisation, we don't have paid staff and phone banks. But what we lack in money we make up for in principles, passion and perseverance. Perhaps the following quote is in the mind of the Lib Dems as they send out press releases pleading with people not to vote MK.  

"If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito.”

6 comments:

  1. "We are nowhere near the 2 established parties in Cornwall the Tories and the Lib Dems in terms of funding and organisation"

    Still the self funded independents, who have no party, no back up, and no Cornwall wide base, got NINE TIMES the amount of seats that the "Sons of Cornwall" got at the last county council elections.

    Or votes for that matter!

    In the 2010 general election they got 5,379 votes, I’ll wager £20 to a charity of your choice, that in the 2015 election they get less.

    MK's share of the votes has been gradually declining;
    9421 votes: 2005 county council elections.
    8919 votes: 2007 district councils elections.
    7290 votes: 2009 unitary council elections.
    6824 votes: 2013 unitary council elections

    In teh last general election MK came in last behind not only "the two major parties" in Cornwall, but also EVERY single other party, including the "Cornish Democrats" a "one man, his dog and his website" party who no one has heard or before or since. They were beaten by Cons, Libs, labour, UKIP, etc.

    At the last general election, Andrew George, hailed as a demi-god by Cornish nationalists for making his oath in Parliament in Cornish (even though he does not speak the language,) got 19,619 votes.

    Rob Simmons (the author of this piece), bless him, stood for election for MK at the last county council elections He came last but one, achieving only 91 votes.

    Now, am I alone in finding it an act of utter lunacy to stand someone who came 5th. out of 6 in a parochial election, against an established, and well liked, politician with nationalist leanings, one who has held the seat for 17 years, (since 1997) ?

    Mind you, they could have stood one of their other St Ives constituency candidates, Phil Rendle, then Mebyon Kernow's communications director. Though at the last council elections, Phil only got 53 votes, putting him virtually bottom of all Cornish candidates.

    In 60 years MK has achieved nothing. In 60 years they have managed to gain only 4 out of 123 councillors. They did have 6 out of 123 at one time, but after the last election they have 4. This is odd as the last election was about protests against the main parties.

    In Cornwall
    UKIP went up from 0 seats to 6
    Labour went up from 1 seat to 8
    Mebyon Kernow went down from 6 seats to 4.


    Interestingly, Loic Rich, past MK housing spokesman who stood as a parliamentary candidate for MK, then quit and joined the Tories, stood independently. When he stood for MK in 2009 he got 293 votes, and came in last but one. Standing as an independent IN THE SAME CONSTITUENCY in 2013 he got 461 votes and was elected

    Lost deposits every time in every general election seat contested.
    A constantly rotating door of candidates.
    No support from the Cornish people.
    Diminishing returns at every election

    There are reasons for this;
    MK are a hard left party in a generally right voting county.
    Pro EU in a county hammered by the EU fishing and trade regulations.
    The constant portrayal of the Cornish as "victims" of English imperialism.

    But their BIGGEST failing , and this is their fault, they have yet to make any reasonable or visible attempt to separate themselves from the more rabid wing of Cornish nationalism. These lunatics start campaigns to “ban the blood banner (English flag) from Cornwall”, blows up hairdressers believing them to be banks, rips up English heritage signs and gets done for it, goes on hunger strike against constituency boundary changes, (but gets back on the pasties when hungry), and accuses schools of banning kids from claiming to be Cornish not English. These are done under the guise of “Celtic League kernow” or “Revived Stannary Parliament” or “Cornwall 2000” or “ Cornwall 24” or the people’s front of Judea, but MK have never EVER managed to speak out about this and distance themselves from it. This may be due to the fact that although members of these groups are rarely Cornish, they still vote in Cornwall, and without them MK’s votes would fade to nothing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. "We are nowhere near the 2 established parties in Cornwall the Tories and the Lib Dems in terms of funding and organisation"

    Still the self funded independents, who have no party, no back up, and no Cornwall wide base, got NINE TIMES the amount of seats that the "Sons of Cornwall" got at the last county council elections.

    Or votes for that matter!

    In the 2010 general election they got 5,379 votes, I’ll wager £20 to a charity of your choice, that in the 2015 election they get less.

    MK's share of the votes has been gradually declining;
    9421 votes: 2005 county council elections.
    8919 votes: 2007 district councils elections.
    7290 votes: 2009 unitary council elections.
    6824 votes: 2013 unitary council elections

    In teh last general election MK came in last behind not only "the two major parties" in Cornwall, but also EVERY single other party, including the "Cornish Democrats" a "one man, his dog and his website" party who no one has heard or before or since. They were beaten by Cons, Libs, labour, UKIP, etc.

    At the last general election, Andrew George, hailed as a demi-god by Cornish nationalists for making his oath in Parliament in Cornish (even though he does not speak the language,) got 19,619 votes.

    Rob Simmons (the author of this piece), bless him, stood for election for MK at the last county council elections He came last but one, achieving only 91 votes.

    Now, am I alone in finding it an act of utter lunacy to stand someone who came 5th. out of 6 in a parochial election, against an established, and well liked, politician with nationalist leanings, one who has held the seat for 17 years, (since 1997) ?

    Mind you, they could have stood one of their other St Ives constituency candidates, Phil Rendle, then Mebyon Kernow's communications director. Though at the last council elections, Phil only got 53 votes, putting him virtually bottom of all Cornish candidates.

    In 60 years MK has achieved nothing. In 60 years they have managed to gain only 4 out of 123 councillors. They did have 6 out of 123 at one time, but after the last election they have 4. This is odd as the last election was about protests against the main parties.

    In Cornwall
    UKIP went up from 0 seats to 6
    Labour went up from 1 seat to 8
    Mebyon Kernow went down from 6 seats to 4.


    Interestingly, Loic Rich, past MK housing spokesman who stood as a parliamentary candidate for MK, then quit and joined the Tories, stood independently. When he stood for MK in 2009 he got 293 votes, and came in last but one. Standing as an independent IN THE SAME CONSTITUENCY in 2013 he got 461 votes and was elected

    Lost deposits every time in every general election seat contested.
    A constantly rotating door of candidates.
    No support from the Cornish people.
    Diminishing returns at every election

    There are reasons for this;
    MK are a hard left party in a generally right voting county.
    Pro EU in a county hammered by the EU fishing and trade regulations.
    The constant portrayal of the Cornish as "victims" of English imperialism.

    But their BIGGEST failing , and this is their fault, they have yet to make any reasonable or visible attempt to separate themselves from the more rabid wing of Cornish nationalism. These lunatics start campaigns to “ban the blood banner (English flag) from Cornwall”, blows up hairdressers believing them to be banks, rips up English heritage signs and gets done for it, goes on hunger strike against constituency boundary changes, (but gets back on the pasties when hungry), and accuses schools of banning kids from claiming to be Cornish not English. These are done under the guise of “Celtic League kernow” or “Revived Stannary Parliament” or “Cornwall 2000” or “ Cornwall 24” or the people’s front of Judea, but MK have never EVER managed to speak out about this and distance themselves from it. This may be due to the fact that although members of these groups are rarely Cornish, they still vote in Cornwall, and without them MK’s votes would fade to nothing.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Theo Smith, does it really matter? Support waxes and wanes. I know who I voted for. Friends and friends of friends I know are going against 'politics as usual', and voting MK!

    ReplyDelete
  4. A thoroughly unpleasant troll resident in west Cornwall, Theo Smith is unhealthily obsessed with Mebyon Kernow.

    A party which he constantly belittles occupies his time posting under a number of various pseudonyms due to his explosive temperament resulting in him being banned from many forums and websites.

    His understanding of Cornwall and the Cornish is paper thin and he has no understanding of the enormous influence a small party like Mebyon Kernow has had on other parties.

    He has been warned for his behaviour and obsessions on many occasions and has even come to the attention of the local police for his extreme right wing views.

    A nasty individual and one to be both avoided and ignored.

    ReplyDelete
  5. A thoroughly unpleasant troll resident in west Cornwall, Theo Smith is unhealthily obsessed with Mebyon Kernow.

    A party which he constantly belittles occupies his time posting under a number of various pseudonyms due to his explosive temperament resulting in him being banned from many forums and websites.

    His understanding of Cornwall and the Cornish is paper thin and he has no understanding of the enormous influence a small party like Mebyon Kernow has had on other parties.

    He has been warned for his behaviour and obsessions on many occasions and has even come to the attention of the local police for his extreme right wing views.

    A nasty individual and one to be both avoided and ignored.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Well the results are in, and yet again Cornwall rejected Mebyon "Sons of Cornwall" Kernow. No surprise there then, and they only managed 1.9% of votes.
    Why is this? Well in the majority it's due to them only being supported by people like "Anonymous" above.

    He sees anyone with a different political view as an enemy, has no method of disputing the facts I post. He is such a scared little man that he resorts to name calling and pretending to report to the police people who post facts about Mebyon K on the internet.

    I mean really, is that any use in promoting a political party?

    He even resorts to lies, laughable easily disproved lies. He once claimed that he had reported me to the police for "racism" as I had "referred to the Cornish as English", except when I asked him to quote or link to where I had done it, he couldn't. And when I asked him for the police job number so I could turn myself in for this heinous crime, he refused to share it.

    I even went to the local cop shop and asked if there were any complaints made about me, or any issues raised about me, and, after the Sergeant checked the Devon and Cornwall database, he was able to assure me there were not! We had a damn good chuckle about the allegations, and the officer promised to update me if there were any made.

    So there you have it, who would you believe? A person who posts verifiable facts about a political party, or a fantasist who brings nothing to the debate but personal slurs, accusations and outright lies?

    If you want any indication of why Mebyon Kernow are utter failures, and will ever remain so, ask yourself, this; "Would I vote for a party promoted in the way "Anonymous" portrays it above?"

    After you've finished laughing, call the Cornish English and see if he reports you to the police.

    ReplyDelete

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