No 10 North meeting points to Cornwall ‘moving into the future’

A meeting between Cornwall’s MPs, its council leadership and members of Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s team at No 10 North yesterday points to Cornwall moving into the future, according to Cornwall Council’s Liberal Democrat leader Leigh Frost.

A delegation from the local authority, alongside the Duchy’s Labour and Lib Dem MPs, travelled to Manchester to discuss further devolved powers for Cornwall as part of plans to become one of the country’s first single foundation strategic authorities, without the need for a mayor or a bureaucratic link with other South West areas.

Before the meeting we spoke to Cllr Frost about what he hopes will be achieved for Cornwall by such a deal.

“We need a council that is fit for the modern era and is not just content to keep things as they are, because if you don’t ever change, you fall behind. I want us to move into the future,” he said. “I’m really looking forward to seeing the detail.

“I remain ever the optimist. I remain confident that we’ll get the tools that we need to deliver meaningful devolution. We’ve protected the Cornwall footprint and we’ve removed the need for a mayor, which means there’s less cost and bureaucracy.

“I know some areas have told me that to hold a mayoral election would cost them £6m – we remove all of that. We can be more fleet of foot and an ambitious authority area because we haven’t got that level of bureaucracy.

“We’ve done our bit – we’ve done everything the Government has asked for; they’ve got all the documents they need.”
What are the most important things Cllr Frost hopes will come out of Monday’s meeting?

“Anything around skills is really important and greater control around transport, particularly rail and bus networking. We’ve got great economic opportunities in Cornwall and being able to make those decisions here to react to the emerging picture – whether it be critical minerals, renewables, the creative sector, agri-tech, anything like that – will be really beneficial.

“There has to be the recognition that we need capacity funding – other mayoral and strategic authorities get given money to exercise their functions.

We’re already operating as a strategic authority, really, because a lot of the powers that foundation strategic authorities are getting – like adult skills education – we’ve already got. We’re already doing that through council tax.

“We’re acting as a strategic authority on the back of the local taxpayer and other places aren’t, and that needs to be addressed. We need that capacity support.”

Cllr Frost added: “The Prime Minister has talked about the proportion of income tax that mayors could have. We thought that was off the table, but he has said nothing is off the table, so let’s have a conversation about that.”

What will the future look like? Will there still be a ‘Cornwall Council’?

“Ultimately, yes. We would have a strategic authority board and the members of cabinet that hold strategic authority functions – transport, housing, economy, etc – would be members of that board. We’ve got the Cornwall growth board currently which does all of that effectively anyway, so we’re looking to transform that into the strategic authority board. There will be a hybrid with two different strands.

“I think there needs to be that clear line of separation, because what you don’t want is for us to be using strategic authority funding to fund adult social care, for example. That’s not right.

“Government has an opportunity to do this [regional devolved powers] in a much more efficient way, but what I don’t want them to do is try and think they can do it on the cheap. They’ve got to help support us.”

Cornish MPs, including St Austell and Newquay MP Noah Law (centre) at No 10 north

His fellow Lib Dem members – North Cornwall MP Ben Maguire and West Cornwall MP Andrew George – stressed at the meeting that Cornwall cannot lose out on more funding, after the loss of EU structural funds and then the Shared Prosperity Fund. Among a range of ‘core asks’, they also pushed for the £30m Kernow Industrial Growth Fund, which is currently allocated across two years, to be extended to run for the next decade.

Mr Maguire said: “Cornwall’s voice was heard loud and clear at Number 10 North today. It has been a core campaign of mine that Cornwall gets a bespoke and fair devolution deal that reflects our national minority status. It marked a hugely important moment for Cornwall and it was right that all of Cornwall’s MPs and Cornwall Council went in together, pulling in the same direction with the council for the good of Cornwall, in the run up to the Budget.

“I highlighted the need for funding for a number of innovative, future-focused businesses like Watt Electric Vehicles that are creating jobs in the sectors Cornwall can lead on, as well as our ‘Kernow Connect’ proposals to extend and electrify the rail line from Okehampton to Launceston and Bodmin. I also raised the case that towns with no direct bus links to hospitals shows why transport links to jobs, healthcare and skills must be a core part of the powers Cornwall receives. These are all things which, with the right devolution deal, we can focus on and unlock more funding and powers for the Duchy.”

Mr George MP added: “There’s still lots of work to do, but we can be confident of securing single foundation strategic authority status, and we can expect an announcement around the time of the budget.

“To secure the powers and resources to drive the economy, significantly improve housing prospects for locals, and better integrate our health and care services – amongst many other evolve powers we’re seeking – this still more work to be done. However, we are on the road and making progress.”

Perran Moon, Labour MP for Redruth, Camborne and Hayle, said after the meeting: “We know what our challenges are in Cornwall and we need the funding and powers to unleash our economic potential and social change. Discussions were productive and we’ll be following this up with more conversations very soon. It was also important that we spoke with one cross-party voice for Cornwall that included Cornwall Council representatives.”

“This summer Cornish MPs asked the Prime Minister to grant more local power and control to Cornwall,” added South East Cornwall Labour MP Anna Gelderd. “He listened, inviting us up to Manchester today to talk with his team about that devolution at No 10 North, which was created to get more power out of Westminster and into our communities.

“I made sure to tell them what South East Cornwall needs to thrive. We have so much potential but from transport to skills for our young people, we need the ability to make more decisions locally. We also need to unlock economic growth in our area and deliver better public services by thinking Cornish and working well with our neighbours across the Tamar where so many of us access our jobs, schools and health services.
“So, I talked about the Tamar crossings and the fact that we can both celebrate our unique culture and heritage and think BIG by collaborating to develop the industries that will help put more money in our pockets including defence, critical minerals and the clean energy transition.”

Noah Law, Labour MP for St Austell and Newquay, said “we need more control over our economic development, housing, transport, skills and culture/language policies. Looking forward to sharing further details in the weeks ahead”, while Jayne Kirkham, Labour MP for Truro and Falmouth, added that “when you’re negotiating something so important you need to be able to look in the whites of people’s eyes”.