Cornwall https://cornwall.greenparty.org.uk/ The local party website for Cornwall Tue, 16 Apr 2024 11:17:54 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.1 Cornwall Green Party announces candidates for the General Election https://cornwall.greenparty.org.uk/cornwall-green-party-announces-candidates-for-the-general-election/ Tue, 16 Apr 2024 11:16:14 +0000 https://cornwall.greenparty.org.uk/?p=4070 We are fielding candidates for all six Westminster constituencies in Cornwall, so that everyone has a choice to vote Green. Cornwall’s Green Party candidates aim to make sure that Green voices are heard loud and clear in this election, speaking up for social justice, a better deal for local communities and meaningful action on the [...]

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We are fielding candidates for all six Westminster constituencies in Cornwall, so that everyone has a choice to vote Green.

Cornwall’s Green Party candidates aim to make sure that Green voices are heard loud and clear in this election, speaking up for social justice, a better deal for local communities and meaningful action on the accelerating climate emergency.

Read more about the candidates here

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Cornwall Green Party condemns latest sewage pollution on Cornish beaches https://cornwall.greenparty.org.uk/sewage-pollution-on-cornish-beaches/ Tue, 01 Nov 2022 15:32:12 +0000 https://cornwall.greenparty.org.uk/?p=4001 "It’s absolutely unacceptable for anyone to be profiting from these companies while they continue to pollute our rivers and coastal waters on such a massive scale. It’s time to take them back into public ownership.” Cornwall Green Party has reacted strongly to the latest incident of serious sewage pollution, at St Agnes. Karen La Borde, [...]

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"It’s absolutely unacceptable for anyone to be profiting from these companies while they continue to pollute our rivers and coastal waters on such a massive scale. It’s time to take them back into public ownership.”

Cornwall Green Party has reacted strongly to the latest incident of serious sewage pollution, at St Agnes.

Karen La Borde, a Truro City Councillor and the Green Party’s parliamentary candidate for Truro and Falmouth, said: “Yesterday’s disgusting outpour of effluent at St Agnes is the latest of many serious pollution incidents in the past few months all around Cornwall’s coastline.

“Cherilyn Mackrory MP has echoed South West Water’s claim that this was mostly storm water, but local surfers report that there was plenty of all too recognisable human excrement in the mix. This is a real danger to human health, as well as harming the marine environment and Cornwall’s reputation as a holiday destination.

“Pennon Group, which owns South West Water, made a profit of nearly £2 billion in 2020-21. It and the other privatised water companies have returned tens of billions of pounds to their shareholders over the past few years and their executives are earning extremely large salaries.

“It’s absolutely unacceptable for anyone to be profiting from these companies while they continue to pollute our rivers and coastal waters on such a massive scale.

“The Green Party would like to see these companies taken back into public ownership and the money that’s currently paid out to shareholders used to modernise infrastructure and put an end to this pollution – and to the huge waste of water through leaks in ageing pipes.”

In response to the claim that much of the deep brown outflow at St Agnes was soil run-off, Ms La Borde said: “It’s no doubt true that this effluent included a lot of topsoil as well as sewage. But soil erosion is also an extremely serious problem, and what does that say about our approach to sustainable drainage systems? St Agnes has seen a lot of development recently, and planning regulations need to be much stricter to make sure that any new development does not lead to increased run-off.”

Ms La Borde also drew attention to the voting records of Cornwall’s MPs on sewage disposal: “At the next election, I hope people will remember that five of Cornwall’s Conservative MPs – Cherilyn Mackrory, Steve Double, George Eustice, Scott Mann and Sheryll Murray – all voted against taking strong action to compel water companies to stop pumping raw sewage into our rivers and onto our beaches.

“It’s not just the water companies – it’s high time to hold these MPs accountable for the damage they are continuing to do to our natural environment.”

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Cornwall Green Party calls for urgent reform after undemocratic electoral system fails to represent the people of Cornwall https://cornwall.greenparty.org.uk/calls-for-urgent-reform-of-undemocratic-electoral-system/ Sat, 08 May 2021 16:19:04 +0000 https://cornwall.greenparty.org.uk/?p=3954 Cornwall’s Tory council majority on just more than a third of the vote shows the need for electoral reform – and for Labour to change its approach [...]

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Cornwall’s Tory council majority on just more than a third of the vote shows need for Electoral Reform - and for Labour to change its approach

Cornwall Greens are calling for urgent reform of the electoral system after the party received over 9% of the vote, but only 1% of the seats on Cornwall Council.

Matt Valler, Cornwall Green Party’s joint Coordinator, said:

“Once again an undemocratic electoral system has ignored the majority of Cornish voters. We now have to suffer a Tory council despite the fact they received barely more than a third of the vote. We need a proportionate system that makes votes matter. It’s no wonder that turnout is so low when most votes are ignored.

“At the core of Green Party principles is a commitment to deliver better democracy. We believe that’s the only way to respond to the climate and ecological emergency. We can only make a fair transition to a net-zero-Carbon future if everyone has a real stake, and local people can make local decisions about the things that affect their lives.

"The political chaos of the last few years is the result of a fundamentally undemocratic system. At every election, most people’s votes are not represented by the winner.

“In this election the Green Party in Cornwall received 15,911 votes of which 15,389 (97%) were essentially ignored. These are not just votes to represent the people of Cornwall, but to represent the natural world of which we are a part and on which we all rely. We cannot continue with a broken system that does so much damage to our society and our planet. We need electoral reform, now!

“Of course the Conservatives don’t want to give people a voice if it means losing their grip on power. But the fault lies equally with the Labour Party. Despite their supposedly democratic principles they are the only left-of-centre party in Europe not to support electoral reform. It’s Labour’s quest for total control that keeps handing power to the Tories.

“Greens will continue to put better democracy at the heart of all we do, to achieve real local decision-making power for local communities. A proportionate electoral system is essential to achieve this, as is much greater devolution of power from Westminster to Cornwall.”

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Cornwall Green Party: We are not running to support the Conservatives or any other party https://cornwall.greenparty.org.uk/not-supporting-the-conservatives-or-any-other-party/ Sat, 24 Apr 2021 09:04:04 +0000 https://cornwall.greenparty.org.uk/?p=3950 Cornwall Green Party has reacted strongly to reports that it might support a Tory administration on Cornwall Council. “These reports are based on a serious misinterpretation of what I said in an interview with Cornwall Reports,” said the party’s co-coordinator Karen La Borde. “We are not running in this election with the aim of supporting [...]

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Cornwall Green Party has reacted strongly to reports that it might support a Tory administration on Cornwall Council.

“These reports are based on a serious misinterpretation of what I said in an interview with Cornwall Reports,” said the party’s co-coordinator Karen La Borde.

“We are not running in this election with the aim of supporting the Tories or any other party. My point was that we were prepared to work constructively with other parties to get movement in areas where we can agree on action that is urgently needed.

“This would be on a case-by-case basis, and Greens reserve judgment on which policies of any future Council administration we would be prepared to support. But in all cases this would be based on three primary issues: commitment to serious action on the climate and ecological emergency, commitment to ensuring greater democratic accountability for Cornwall Council, and commitment to the wellbeing of people in Cornwall.

“We will listen to all parties. However, we’ve had eight years of LibDem/Independent administration which has taken power away from democratically elected councillors and given it to unelected council officers.

“At the same time, the Conservative party record on both climate action and democratic reform is extremely poor, and needless to say we also strongly disagree with Tory policy on social issues.

“We are realistic in recognising that, although we have an excellent chance of getting Green councillors elected, the Green Party is not going to form the next Council administration. But having Greens on the Council will, we believe, help to hold councillors of other parties to account and pressure them to act more responsibly across a range of policy areas. That said, we would need to see a major change in approach by both Lib Dems and Tories in order to work constructively with councillors of either of these parties.

“We invite people to look at our local manifesto to see the clear and radical policies on which we are running.”

NOTES FOR EDITORS

  1. 70 candidates are standing for the Green Party in Cornwall on 6 May, many of whom are already parish and town councillors. Details of these candidates can be seen on the interactive map here:
    https://cornwall.greenparty.org.uk/candidates-2021/
  2. Cornwall Green Party’s full manifesto is online here: https://cornwall.greenparty.org.uk/manifesto-2021


CONTACTS

Tom Scott, Cornwall Green Party Media Officer
tmscott@btconnect.com
07971 464173

Karen La Borde, Green Party candidate for Threemilestone and Chacewater
karenlaborde@aol.co.uk
07734 055306

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Cornwall Green Party launches local election campaign with biggest ever slate of candidates https://cornwall.greenparty.org.uk/local-election-campaign-launch-2021/ Wed, 31 Mar 2021 10:15:01 +0000 https://cornwall.greenparty.org.uk/?p=3935 With Greens standing all across Cornwall, from Bude to Penryn and from Saltash to St Ives, Cornwall Green Party is running on a platform of: Democratically accountable planning and an end to destructive ‘development’ A joined-up approach to health and wellbeing Public transport that’s regular, affordable and reliable. Housing policies that address local needs A [...]

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With Greens standing all across Cornwall, from Bude to Penryn and from Saltash to St Ives, Cornwall Green Party is running on a platform of:

  • Democratically accountable planning and an end to destructive ‘development’
  • A joined-up approach to health and wellbeing
  • Public transport that’s regular, affordable and reliable.
  • Housing policies that address local needs
  • A Green recovery that supports local businesses and jobs
  • Protecting climate, nature and biodiversity

In all, 71 candidates will be standing as Greens on 6 May, many of whom are already
parish and town councillors. The party’s co-coordinator, Matt Valler, who is also the
candidate for Falmouth Trescobeas and Budock, said:

“This election is a game-changer for the Green Party in Cornwall. We’re fielding more
candidates than at all the three previous Cornwall Council elections put together, and
the fact that so many people have stepped forward to stand reflects a real appetite for
positive change and a determination to create it.

“Greens offer a different kind of politics – we’re not about business as usual. We stand
up for what we believe in, and we work hard with local people to get things done for our
communities.

“At the last set of local elections elsewhere in the country, Greens more than doubled
our number of council seats. And On 6 May people in Cornwall will have a chance to
make sure that Green voices are in the rooms where decisions are made that affect
their everyday lives.”

Karen La Borde, who is standing for the Green Party in Threemilestone and Chacewater,
worked hard to persuade Cornwall Council and numerous town and parish councils to
declare a climate emergency in 2019. Since then, as a parish councillor, she’s helped put
flesh on the bones of Cornwall Council’s climate emergency plan, as well as working to
make sure that developers are not allowed to ride roughshod over local needs and the
natural environment.

Karen said: “For me, a properly functioning local democracy is at the heart of healthy
local communities in Cornwall. Too often, key decisions are made behind closed doors
without the needs and wishes of local people being heard.

“I know that people in my community strongly value our beautiful natural environment
and are horrified by developments that mainly benefit the big developers rather than
delivering real benefits to local people, such as genuinely affordable housing and
amenities they can get to without having to drive.”

Steve Slade, standing for the Greens in Newquay Central and Pentire, has been involved
with residents’ campaigns to address issues facing Newquay for 15 years, and in 2013 he
became the town’s first Green councillor. Since then, he’s worked hard to improve local
amenities and open spaces, and to protect the natural environment in and around the
town. Steve said:

“For me, the environment isn’t just about nature – it’s about people’s quality of life, and
making sure that local people have the resources they need to enjoy life to the full. That
means reliable and affordable public transport, for instance, and investing in Cornwall’s
economy in ways that help provide good, sustainable jobs and move us towards zero
carbon as quickly as possible.”

Local teacher Tamsyn Widdon is standing in Penryn, where she has been an energetic
town councillor for the last three years. As well as helping to set up a ‘library of things’
to give Penryn residents low-cost access to shared power tools and other equipment,
she’s persuaded the council to switch to green energy sources and save money in the
process. Tamsyn said:

“Penryn is a fantastic place to live, but like so many communities in Cornwall it faces a
range of problems – not least, many families facing real hardship that’s been made even
worse by the pandemic. Now that the end of that crisis is in sight, I think there’s a real
desire to build back better – and that has to start in our local communities.

“I decided to run for Cornwall Council because I’ve seen how decisions made there can
make a real difference to people’s lives. I want to make sure that the people of Penryn
have a representative who genuinely listens, who they can trust to stand up for their
interests, and who has the imagination to see how things that matter to them can be
changed for the better.”

Katharine Lewis, the Green Party’s candidate for Helston North was instrumental in
getting her town council to declare a climate emergency and to declare Helston an Earth
Protector Town – the first town in Cornwall to do this. She is one of the co-authors of
the Helston Climate Action Plan which has been used as a model for communities across
Cornwall, and has worked hard to help get key projects off the ground that are already
bringing real benefits to her local community, including a repair café and community
growing project.

“I’m standing because it’s important that those of us that can, step up now. There are
many changes ahead but I believe that we can work together to make Helston a place
where people and nature can thrive

“There’s been much good work has been done here in Cornwall to address the climate
and ecological emergency, but there’s so much more still to do. The impacts of this crisis
are already affecting us here in Cornwall. We need to go further and faster, and do
much more to reach out and engage with our communities, to take them with us and
make sure no one is left behind.”

Collin Harker is standing for the Greens in Fowey, Tywardreath and Par. Collin said:

“I believe we can build affordable housing for local families. We can create well-paid
jobs and apprenticeships for young people, and have thriving high streets full of local
businesses that are invested in our communities. We can avoid people having to make
that awful choice between feeding their families and heating their homes. But to
achieve these things we need a real change of direction.”

To see all the Greens standing in Cornwall on 6 May, Cornwall Green Party has created
an interactive map with details of its candidates.

You can also read our manifesto for the local elections.

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A30 expressway drives a hole through Cornwall Council’s commitment to protect nature and climate https://cornwall.greenparty.org.uk/a30-expressway-climate-and-nature/ Wed, 13 Jan 2021 18:14:17 +0000 https://wordpress.greenparty.org.uk/cornwall/?p=3849 “This new road is not a ‘dualling’, which is how it was originally sold to people in Cornwall. It will destroy a wide swathe of countryside, divide rural communities, and is completely incompatible with Cornwall Council’s declaration of Climate Emergency.” – Karen La Borde, Cornwall Green Party Cornwall Green Party is calling for an urgent [...]

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This new road is not a ‘dualling’, which is how it was originally sold to people in Cornwall. It will destroy a wide swathe of countryside, divide rural communities, and is completely incompatible with Cornwall Council’s declaration of Climate Emergency.” – Karen La Borde, Cornwall Green Party

Cornwall Green Party is calling for an urgent reassessment of the planned new expressway between Carland Cross and Chiverton.

The road project, which was originally conceived as a “dualling” of the existing A30, has over time morphed into a major new road scheme in addition to the existing stretch of A30. Construction work is scheduled to begin this month.

Cornwall Green Party says the project is in breach of the terms of the government’s own Road Investment Strategy (RIS), which states that roads should “not divide communities, and that the associated health and wellbeing benefits of walking and cycling are felt as widely as possible”.

Karen La Borde of Cornwall Green Party said: “We have repeatedly been told by Boris Johnson’s government that this pandemic should prompt us to think about how we can ‘build back better’. We agree, and here in Cornwall this should be the cue to reassess schemes that are damaging to the natural environment and to carbon reduction targets, as well as to local communities. This new expressway is a glaring example.

“Highways England itself estimates that construction of this road will involve a massive 79,920 tonnes in carbon emissions. It claims that this will be offset by a saving in emissions from reduced congestion, but this flies in the face of experience, which is that new roads almost invariably lead over time to increased traffic volumes.

“The expressway is clearly not compatible with Cornwall Council’s goal to achieve net zero carbon by 2030. And that aspiration will never be met if we keep making the wrong planning decisions that fail to take account of the urgent need to drastically cut rather than increase emissions.

“We understand that the planning of the new road has been taken largely out of the hands of Cornwall Council by Highways England. But that in itself is a sign of central government dictating the terms of so-called ‘development’ in a way that rides roughshod over the needs of local residents as well as the paramount importance of protecting the natural environment in the context of the accelerating climate emergency.

“We urge Cornwall Council to take this matter up with Highways England, pointing out that this scheme needs to be reassessed in the light of the Council’s commitment to reduce emissions and protect Cornwall’s natural environment.”

Residents in the area through which the proposed new road will run have described their horror at the way the road-building scheme has grown far beyond the way it was originally described to them.

Pete Mewton of Nancarrow Farm – which lies in the way of the new expressway – said: ”We know that the A30 needed to be improved along this stretch, but this expressway is an entirely new road, and nothing like the dualling that was envisaged. It would take a huge amount of farmland ,as well as wild and wooded areas – an estimated 70 hectares in total.

“The route is extremely insensitive to the human environment – it divides the whole area, cutting communication roads and encroaching close to homes and businesses. People living along its route have just one place they can get on or across it. Most of us would have to go to one or other end of it to go east or west and would never have need of it.“

Lucy Trinder of local environmental protection group ‘These Fields Have Names’, said: “This new road will obliterate 75 to 90 acres of old fields and farmland with tarmac, and its embankments and verges will take many more than that, causing irreparable damage to our natural environment. Homes, fields, hedges, trees, wooded areas, wildlife all destroyed – and for what? A reduction in long-distance journey times of about eight minutes. That’s how much the drive time from Highways England HQ in Guildford to Camborne will be reduced – from 4 hours 36 minutes to 4 hours 28 minutes.”

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Cornwall Green Party responds to Chancellor’s statement https://cornwall.greenparty.org.uk/cornwall-green-party-responds-to-chancellors-statement/ Thu, 09 Jul 2020 15:45:00 +0000 https://wordpress.greenparty.org.uk/cornwall/?p=3722 “Half-price meals are a half-baked response to the massive challenges we face.” Speaking for Cornwall Green Party, Tom Scott said: “The coronavirus pandemic is doing huge damage to jobs and livelihoods in Cornwall, and there’s no doubt that we’re now facing a recession worse than anything since the 1930s. “But this is also an unprecedented [...]

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“Half-price meals are a half-baked response to the massive challenges we face.”

Speaking for Cornwall Green Party, Tom Scott said:

“The coronavirus pandemic is doing huge damage to jobs and livelihoods in Cornwall, and there’s no doubt that we’re now facing a recession worse than anything since the 1930s.

“But this is also an unprecedented opportunity to rethink the way our whole economy works and to build back better for a more secure and sustainable future. The government’s own Committee on Climate Change has said that Covid-19 should be an historic turning point in tackling the global climate crisis.

“Unfortunately, despite the rhetoric about a ‘green recovery’, Rishi Sunak’s statement shows that the government is failing to take this opportunity.

“Gestures that the Chancellor has made in that direction are little morethan token. The voucher scheme for home insulation, for instance, covers fewer than 3% of homes in England and will have an impact on UK emissions estimated at just 0.14%.

“Other countries are taking a much more radical approach to restructuring their economies. France and Germany have introduced climate recovery roadmaps for all economic sectors and are making state financial support to industry dependent on tough carbon-emission targets.

“We welcome some aspects of the Chancellor’s speech, for instance the cut in VAT – something that the Green Party has long called for. This will certainly help Cornwall’s hospitality sector, which has been particularly hard-hit by the crisis, and we hope it is made permanent.

“The meal vouchers scheme, however, is a headline-catching gimmick that will do little to help bring people back to pubs and restaurants. People will only have the confidence to gather safely again when there is an effective contact tracing system in place, and the government’s cack-handed approach to this means that England is way behind other European countries in getting the virus under control. The result of this failure is that we face a very high likelihood of further lockdowns doing yet more economic damage.

“There was also nothing in this statement to help the very large number of self-employed people who fall through the gaps of current support schemes and are facing dire straits. This is a particularly urgent problem in Cornwall where this group represents a larger than average share of the working population.

“It's also disturbing to see that the stamp duty holiday will apply to those purchasing second homes and buy-to-let properties - something that is likely to worsen Cornwall's already dire shortage of affordable housing.

“The statement as a whole shows a woeful lack of ambition. The government’s main aim appears to be to set the UK economy back on the same path as before, as if we were not facing a climate emergencythat dwarfs the coronavirus in terms of the damage that it will do if not tackled effectively.

“It’s sad to see that Rishi Sunak’s statement was supported by Cornwall’s Conservative MPs, despite it doing so little to address either the climate crisis or the specific issues facing people here in Cornwall.”


  1. Committee on Climate Change: ‘COVID-19 can be an historic turning point in tackling the global climate crisis’
    https://www.theccc.org.uk/2020/06/25/covid-19-can-be-an-historic-turning-point-in-tackling-the-global-climate-crisis/

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Cornwall Green Party calls for greater local involvement in lockdown exit strategy https://cornwall.greenparty.org.uk/cornwall-green-party-calls-for-greater-local-involvement-in-lockdown-exit-strategy/ Fri, 08 May 2020 11:50:17 +0000 https://wordpress.greenparty.org.uk/cornwall/?p=3610 As the government prepares to announce its strategy to ease the lockdown measures imposed to enforce social distancing, there are worrying signs that it is placing undue reliance on a poorly designed smartphone app and on private contractors with extremely poor track-records. It also appears to be failing to involve local government expertise in efforts [...]

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As the government prepares to announce its strategy to ease the lockdown measures imposed to enforce social distancing, there are worrying signs that it is placing undue reliance on a poorly designed smartphone app and on private contractors with extremely poor track-records. It also appears to be failing to involve local government expertise in efforts to avoid future waves of Covid-19.

Cornwall Councillor Colin Martin has reported that Cornwall Council has twice offered – at the beginning of March and in the middle of April – to help with contact tracing of people exposed to the virus, and was twice told by government to “mind its own business”. During this time the number of confirmed cases in Cornwall rose from single figures to several hundred, and the government appeared to give up all efforts to track and trace potentially infected people at local level.

Tom Scott, speaking for Cornwall Green Party, said: “Local government public health teams have been systematically underfunded over the last decade, but they exist precisely to help deal with major public health hazards at local level, including outbreaks of infectious disease. As well as a wealth of local knowledge, they have considerable expertise in contact tracing. It’s inexplicable that national government would not want to draw on this to help prevent the further spread of the virus in Cornwall and elsewhere.

“Instead, it appears to be putting its faith in private contractors with highly questionable records and in a smartphone app that has been criticised by many leading cybersecurity and legal experts for the way in which it fails to properly safeguard sensitive personal data.”

Last week, it was reported that Serco is among the private contractors chosen to run call centres in connection with the “track and trace” app, despite the company’s long record of mismanagement of government contracts, including those for refugee detention centres and electronic tagging (in 2019 Serco was fined £19.2m in for offences related to the latter, including fraud and false accounting).

“People in Cornwall may remember the fiasco that ensued when Serco was contracted to run out-of-hours GP services here,” said Tom Scott. “It was a disaster – the contract was suspended early and a subsequent report by the Public Accounts Committee found that Serco had failed to meet national standards, falsified data and allowed a bullying culture. It beggars belief that such a company is being entrusted with the handling of sensitive personal data during this crisis.”

There are already reports of shambolic arrangements for testing of NHS staff, care-home workers and other key workers in Cornwall, which has also been subcontracted to private operators. Key workers who have turned up at “test centres” in Truro and Bodmin have found these unstaffed and had to return home untested.

On 5 May, Green Party MP Caroline Lucas asked Health Secretary Matt Hancock to confirm that directors of public health and environmental health officers won’t just be consulted but will actually be leading the delivery of community tracking and tracing efforts. She expressed the hope that “government will not just be repeating the mistakes it has made with drive-through testing centres and PPE supply by outsourcing those critical tasks to private companies like Serco, Sodexo and Deloitte who have proved that they are simply not up to the job”.

Mr Hancock pointedly refused to give any such assurance.

“There is a very real risk of further outbreaks of the virus in Cornwall when the lockdown is ended,” said Tom Scott. “Countries that have effectively managed to keep such outbreaks under control, such as Germany and South Korea, have done this mainly by using dedicated teams of local contact tracers. It is extremely concerning that the UK government seems to be taking a very different approach, and to be ignoring the expertise at local level that could help it succeed.”

  1. Colin Martin, Lib Dem Cornwall Councillor for Lostwithiel, described how Cornwall Council’s offers to help with contact tracing had twice been rebuffed by central government in a Facebook video on 1 May: https://www.facebook.com/1011556768950016/videos/247158086642368/
  2. BBC News 03/07/19: Serco fined £19m over tagging scandal https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-48853870
  3. BBC News 13/12/13: Serco Cornwall out-of-hours GP contract to end early https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-25362545
  4. Business Insider 29/04/20: 170 cybersecurity experts warn that British government's contact tracing app could be used to surveil people even after coronavirus has gone https://www.businessinsider.com/cybersecurity-experts-uk-government-contact-tracing-surveillance-2020-4?r=US&IR=T
  5. Cornwall Live 30/04/20: Frontline staff sent for Covid-19 tests in Truro at test centre that was not there https://www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornwall-news/frontline-staff-sent-covid-19-4092860

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Let’s Keep Local Democracy Working Through This Crisis https://cornwall.greenparty.org.uk/lets-keep-local-democracy-working-through-this-crisis/ Sat, 11 Apr 2020 10:14:44 +0000 https://wordpress.greenparty.org.uk/cornwall/?p=3529 Let’s keep local democracy working through this crisis Important planning decisions such as those on the Langarth development can’t just be waved through without public input or scrutiny, say Cornwall Greens. Cornwall Green Party would like to commend Cornwall Council on its handling of the Covid-19 crisis. Weekly updates from the Council leader and Chief [...]

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Let’s keep local democracy working through this crisis

Important planning decisions such as those on the Langarth development can’t just be waved through without public input or scrutiny, say Cornwall Greens.

Cornwall Green Party would like to commend Cornwall Council on its handling of the Covid-19 crisis. Weekly updates from the Council leader and Chief Executive via an online meeting for the media  and regular emails to all parish and town councils from Council leader, Julian German are keeping the public informed about what they can do to protect our communities.

However, Cornwall Council retains responsibility to the public to be as open and accountable for all its actions during this difficult period, and should be limiting the use of any emergency powers.  Planning decisions are now delegated to officers, with an ad-hoc arrangement for councillor input but without any public input or scrutiny. All planning meetings have been put on hold and the full Council meeting this month has been cancelled.

Cornwall Green Party thinks Cornwall Council could do better, and is urging it to begin holding virtual meetings via online facilities such as Microsoft Teams and Zoom as soon as possible. New laws designed to help councils continue making decisions democratically came into force at the weekend, and despite nearly 90% of council employees still working, nothing has yet been put into e

ffect. Is Cornwall Council deliberately dragging its feet to make the most of this crisis to get ‘things’ done that may be slightly controversial?

Last week, for instance, as most people were focused on news of the crisis, Cornwall Council completed the purchase of land at Langarth to kick-start the building of Truro New Town.

Karen La Borde, Cornwall Green Party’s Joint Coordinator, commented: “It’s probably not the wisest of decisions to finalise a land deal, costing Cornish residents £36 million, when the government is advising that all property and land conveyancing should suspended until the crisis is passed. Many experts are predicting land and property prices will tumble over the next year or two as the economy is set to falter. What was the rush? A better deal could well have been on the table after the crisis.”

Cornwall Green Party has already raised concerns about the decision-making and democratic process surrounding the development at Langarth, but Cornwall Council has effectively silenced both Councillors who represent the communities that it affects.

Councillors John Dyer and Dulcie Tudor are barred from speaking on Langarth at any council meetings as both are deemed to have a personal interest in the development – Councillor Tudor because she chairs the Langarth Stakeholder Panel and Councillor Dyer because he owns property in the area. Residents of Threemilestone, Gloweth, Shortlanesend and Langarth have had their voices silenced while Cornwall Council hastily carries on progressing the development behind closed doors.

“During the Covid-19 crisis, many councillors have refocused their efforts on volunteering to help their communities, since all Council meetings are cancelled,” said Karen La Borde.  “But as elected representatives, they have a responsibility to be involved in the democratic decision-making process. We’re calling on Cornwall Council to act in the best interests of all residents and either continue with council meetings remotely or postpone all non-urgent decisions until the after the crisis.”

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Cornwall Green Party calls for universal basic income to support people during the coronavirus crisis https://cornwall.greenparty.org.uk/cornwall-green-party-calls-for-universal-basic-income-to-support-people-during-the-coronavirus-crisis/ Thu, 02 Apr 2020 10:24:04 +0000 https://wordpress.greenparty.org.uk/cornwall/?p=3534 Cornwall Green Party calls for universal basic income to support people during the coronavirus crisis With many people in Cornwall likely to fall through the security net being held out by the government during the current crisis, Cornwall Greens say that making sure everyone has a guaranteed basic income is the simplest and surest way [...]

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Cornwall Green Party calls for universal basic income to support people during the coronavirus crisis

With many people in Cornwall likely to fall through the security net being held out by the government during the current crisis, Cornwall Greens say that making sure everyone has a guaranteed basic income is the simplest and surest way to make sure everyone can meet their immediate needs.

As Boris Johnson’s government moves to support businesses and people who cannot work during the ongoing coronavirus crisis, Cornwall Green Party is warning that many people in Cornwall will not be able to benefit from this help and are already facing major problems putting food on the table.

The party is calling for a bolder and more radical step: for the government to roll-out a universal basic income that would make sure nobody faces destitution.

“There are 61,500 self-employed people in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly,” said Matt Valler, the party’s joint co-ordinator. “That’s 17% of the working age population – nearly twice the average for England. While we welcome the government’s recognition that these people need support just as much as employees who can no longer work, its current plan is simply inadequate.

“Self-employed people will not actually see any money in their pockets until June, and with many of them having little or nothing in the way of savings to fall back on, this will mean that they’re unable to afford food and other basic necessities.”

The party also says that the current plan is fiendishly complex to administer and full of gaps. Payments will be based on earnings as reported in people’s last self-assessment tax returns, which were for 2018-19. People who earned little in that year, or who have started their self-employed work more recently and did not make a tax return, are likely  to see little or no financial support.

“There is a much simpler and fairer solution,” Matt Valler said. “We’re calling for the government to pay £1000 a month to every adult in the UK. This would be enough to meet everyone’s basic needs and make sure that no-one is left behind.

Oxford economist David Susskind calculates that this would cost the government about £66 billion a month. This sounds like a lot, and it is – but even if this were to continue for six months, it would still be much less than the nearly £500 billion that was spent on bailing out the banks during the 2008 financial crisis.”

Universal basic income (UBI) was one of the main planks of the Green Party’s economic policy at the last election. In the longer term, the party believes that a secure basic income for all citizens – set initially at a lower level than the stop-gap measure proposed for this immediate crisis – would lead to a fairer society, reducing inequality and potentially replacing most of the current benefits system.

“The coronavirus crisis is likely to have a long-lasting economic impact,” Matt Valler said. “But we’re also facing the huge challenges of the climate emergency, and addressing these will also mean very big changes. It’s completely unrealistic to think that ‘business as usual’ is going to be enough to achieve the sort of social resilience we need to adapt to these.

“A crisis such as the one we’re now living through can focus people’s minds on how, when it comes down to it, we’re all in the same boat and will float or sink together. The National Health Service that is now our best protection again this pandemic was born out of the Second World War, along with the National Insurance system.

“William Beveridge, the main architect of these, wrote: ‘A revolutionary moment in the world’s history is a time for revolutions, not for patching.’

“We’re calling on the government to take a bold step that would save many families from imminent destitution and do a great deal to alleviate the fear and insecurity that are as great a danger to our society right now as the virus itself.”

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