Cornish Nationalist Party An Parti Kenethlegek Kernow | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Abbreviation | CNP |
| Founded | 28 May 1975 |
| Split from | Mebyon Kernow |
| Newspaper | The Cornish Banner |
| Ideology | |
| Colours | Black and white |
| Cornwall Council | 0 / 87 |
The Cornish Nationalist Party (CNP; Cornish : An Parti Kenethlegek Kernow) is a political party, founded by Dr James Whetter, who campaigned for independence for Cornwall. [1]
It was formed by people who left Cornwall's main nationalist party Mebyon Kernow on 28 May 1975, [2] but it is no longer for independence. [3]
A separate party with a similar name (Cornish National Party) [2] existed from 1969. [4] [5]
The split with Mebyon Kernow was based on the same debate that was occurring in most of the other political parties campaigning for autonomy from the United Kingdom at the time (such as the Scottish National Party and Plaid Cymru): whether to be a centre-left party, appealing to the electorate on a social democratic line, or whether to appeal emotionally on a centre-right cultural line. Originally, another subject of the split was whether to embrace devolution as a first step to full independence (or as the sole step if this was what the electorate wished) or for it to be "all or nothing". [3]
The CNP essentially represented a more right-wing outlook from those who disagree that economic arguments were more likely to win votes than cultural. The CNP worked to preserve the Celtic identity of Cornwall and improve its economy, and encouraged links with Cornish people overseas and with other regions with distinct identities. It also gave support to the Cornish language and commemorated Thomas Flamank, a leader of the Cornish Rebellion in 1497, at an annual ceremony at Bodmin on 27 June each year.
The CNP was for some time seen as more of a pressure group, as it did not put up candidates for any elections, although its visibility and influence within Cornwall is negligible. In April 2009, a news story reported that the CNP had re-formed following a conference in Bodmin; [3] however, it did not contest any elections that year.
Dr Whetter was the founder and editor of the CNP quarterly journal, The Cornish Banner (An Baner Kernewek), within the actions of the Roseland Institute. Since his death in 2018 the CNP has been led by Androw Hawke.
A newspaper article and a revamp of the party website in October 2014 state that the party is now to contest elections once more. [3]
John Le Bretton, vice-chairman of the party, said: "The CNP supports the retention of Cornwall Council as a Cornwall-wide authority running Cornish affairs and we call for the British government in Westminster to devolve powers to the council so that decisions affecting Cornwall can be made in Cornwall".
The CNP polled 227 (0.4) votes in Truro during the 1979 UK General Election, 364 (0.67) in North Cornwall in the 1983 UK General Election, and 1,892 (1.0) at the European Parliament elections in the Cornwall and Plymouth constituency in 1984. The candidate on all three occasions was the founder and first leader of the CNP, Dr James Whetter.
The CNP had one parish councillor, CNP leader Androw Hawke who was elected to Polperro Community Council for the second time on 4 May 2017. [6]
The reformed party was registered with the Electoral Commission in 2014, but ceased to be registered in 2017. [7]
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The Policy Statement and Programme of the CNP were published in 1975 and included the following points:
The party's policies include the following:
There have been perceived image problems as the CNP has been seen as similarly styled to the BNP and NF (the nativist British National Party and National Front), and during the 1970s letters were published in the party magazine The Cornish Banner (An Baner Kernewek) sympathetic to the NF and critical of "Zionist" politicians. [8] [9] The CNP also formed a controversial uniformed wing known as the Greenshirts led by the CNP Youth Movement leader and Public Relations Officer, Wallace Simmons who also founded the pro-NF Cornish Front. [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] (Although the CNP and CF were sympathetic to Irish republicanism while the NF was supportive of Ulster loyalism, with the exception of leading NF figures like Patrick Harrington, who refused to condemn the IRA during an interview for the Channel 4 TV documentary Disciples of Chaos). [15]
Mebyon Kernow – The Party for Cornwall is a Cornish nationalist, centre-left political party in Cornwall, in southwestern Britain. It currently has five elected councillors on Cornwall Council, and several town and parish councillors across Cornwall.
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The Cornish people or Cornish are an ethnic group native to, or associated with Cornwall and a recognised national minority in the United Kingdom, which can trace its roots to the ancient Britons who inhabited southern and central Great Britain before the Roman conquest. Many in Cornwall today continue to assert a distinct identity separate from or in addition to English or British identities. Cornish identity has been adopted by migrants into Cornwall, as well as by emigrant and descendant communities from Cornwall, the latter sometimes referred to as the Cornish diaspora. Although not included as a tick-box option in the UK census, the numbers of those writing in a Cornish ethnic and national identity are officially recognised and recorded.
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James C. A. Whetter was a Cornish historian and politician, noted as a Cornish nationalist and editor of The Cornish Banner. He contested elections for two Cornish independence parties. A prolific writer, Dr James Whetter was the editor of Mebyon Kernow's monthly magazine Cornish Nation in the early 1970s before later becoming active in the Cornish Nationalist Party. While active in Mebyon Kernow he authored A Celtic Tomorrow - Essays in Cornish Nationalism and The Celtic Background of Kernow, the latter intended to assist schoolchildren in a better understanding of Cornish Celtic history and culture.
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Mebyon Kernow – The Party for Cornwall is a Cornish nationalist, centre-left political party in Cornwall, United Kingdom. It primarily campaigns for devolution to Cornwall in the form of a Cornish Assembly. It has representatives in local government, but has never succeeded in national elections.
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Presented below is an alphabetical index of articles related to Cornwall:
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