27/11/2011 The Politics Show South West


27/11/2011

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I will read -- I will be reporting Can in the south-west, can the

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Government's housing strategy lead to a loss of affordable homes in

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the region? And is in the right time for a vote on whether to scrap

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Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2016 seconds

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Hello and welcome to the Politics Show in the South West. Ministers

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claimed this week that the dream of owning your own home could now

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become a reality for thousands more people. The government's planning

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to introduce 95 % mortgages and larger discounts for people who

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want to buy their own council houses. The aim is to increase the

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overall number of affordable homes but critics claim the opposite

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could happen. John Danks reports. This housing development in

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Plymouth's North Prospect is part of a regeneration prospect --

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project to build affordable homes. There are 10,000 people on the

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waiting list and there is a desperate shortage of homes. Nick

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Clegg and David Cameron unveiled a project to get Britain building

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again. It is to get by years buying and lenders lending. I am

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announcing support for an industry led indemnity scheme to provide

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help for first-time buyers in particular. I will help 100,000

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people to buy new homes with 5% deposit. Finding affordable homes

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is a big problem in the south-west and such indemnity schemes will be

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of little value to people like Rob Sissons -- Rob Simmons and family.

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The substantial money needed for a mortgage and to save for a deposit,

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we don't have money at the end of the month to put forward for a

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deposit. I don't think we would meet any criteria for a buying a

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house there was over �100,000. It is pretty much every house in

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Cornwall. The Government seems hell-bent on promoting home-

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ownership and those in social housing are up to be given more

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incentive to buy. Divide to buy it is scheme is to give -- is to be

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given a shot in the arm. For every house sold and the scheme, the

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prompt -- the Government promises an affordable home will be built to

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replace it. The level of discount that we have to be provided to

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enable people to buy their own homes will have to be substantial.

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It is unlikely the level of receipt that to get will enable us to go

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and build a direct replacement. It will take two or three right-to-buy

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sales to generate defending to enable us to build more affordable

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homes. I am wary of the rush back to the right to buy. It is not

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necessarily a thing -- good thing for the interval -- individuals.

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They have to take long term the costs of replacing windows, sorting

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but leaks and the new bathroom. Those are costs that people can't

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but actually afford. If that house is sold on to the open market,

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there are other people needing affordable homes that won't get

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them. The Government says they will get them but how soon and whether

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there will be like for like properties? The target is 450,000

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homes has been welcomed as a stepping the right direction,

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particularly by those in the building trade. Simply to stay pace

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with the number of new households forming, maybe because of Our

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children looking to find a home, that combination is driving this

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need and we would need to be building 250,000 homes a year. We

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are building less than half of that at the moment and the Government

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planned -- plans went radically alter the picture. It is not enough

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and went to live on anything like the scale we need. The Government

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will have to come back again. They have made 127 announcements since

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they have coming Government and this is another one. The North

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Prospect regeneration is due to be completed in five years. By then,

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the National Housing Federation said the housing crisis will have

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only got worse. Well earlier I spoke to the chairman of the all-

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party housing group, Liberal Democrat MP Stephen Gilbert. I put

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it to him that the government's plans could actually lead to a loss

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of affordable homes if it took the sale of two or three council houses

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to pay for just one new affordable home.

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The Government is clear on this. Where there is a home sold, a will

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be replaced on a one-for-one basis. The Government will make sure, when

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the details of this scheme come out over the next few months, the

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funding formula is right. If we are selling one council house, we are

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replacing it with another. That was always the problem with the

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previous right-to-buy scheme. This time, the Government has got it

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right and we are maintaining aspiration to home-ownership but

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making sure we are replacing social homes that are lost with new social

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homes for many thousands of people who are in desperate need.

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Will have to see how that works in practice. Your predecessor, Lord

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Taylor, is also very wary of a move back to promoting the right to buy.

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He says the main reason for that is in the long term, the House is

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affordable when it is bought by the occupant but then it goes on to

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being sold in the open market and it is not affordable any more.

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have to recognise that the vast majority of people want to aspire

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to own their own home, whether they are social tenants or tenants in

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the full market. It is right that the Government is moving to help

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social tenants but helping first- time buyers. Doesn't this fast

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track homes out of the affordable bracket in the medium to longer

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term? That depends on how many homes are being put in. This will

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be the first Government in 33 years to leave office in four years' time

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with more show shall homes then we entered office with. There is a

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good record that the Government is putting forward on the creation of

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new affordable and social homes. It is right that the Government

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addresses those aspirational wishes of both social tennis and first-

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time buyers. Looking at both of those, you won't be homes to be

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affordable for that tenant or first-time buyer. They have said

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that the average price of a council house in Plymouth will make it

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impossible for the tenant to be able to buy it. That depends

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whether discount is set and that depends on the ability of tenants

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to stretch their finances. Nobody can expect to own a home easily. It

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is challenging for people in the social sector and in the four

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markets. The Government is right to say that people want to own up

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their own homes. That is still the bedrock of people's aspirations and

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right that by helping first-time buyers and social Danon -- social

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tenors, the Government addresses those needs. We have heard from

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somebody in Penzance desperate to buy his own home. He says, because

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of the high average house prices, even with the help of the mortgage

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indemnity scheme, he still wouldn't be able to ALF -- afford a house in

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Cornwall. There is no doubt that it will still be challenging for some

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people. I think it is going to help 90,000 people across the country

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get a full-time to the housing ladder when otherwise they may not

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have been able to. -- get a foot on the housing Lazar. -- Leader. At

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the moment, they are priced out and it is a step in the right direction.

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We have to recognise the progress that the Government has shown on

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this. The new stag hunting season is now

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underway - but the prospect of a return to full-scale hunting with

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dogs seems more distant than ever. The coalition agreement promised

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MPs a free vote on whether the ban should be scrapped, but there's

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still no indication at all of when that's likely to happen. And now it

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seems some hunters are keen to kick the debate into the long grass for

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fear of losing the vote. Clinton Rogers reports.

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Big band home team -- hunting with hounds in 2005. This is the Devon

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and Somerset Staghounds in 2011. Now to announce that in at six

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years, nothing has changed. The hunters have said they are working

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probably within the exemptions of the new law. They are working with

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two hounds rather than a pack. Those who spend their working lives

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travelling around monitoring Hance, say 60,005, they have been many

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breaches of the hunting act across the region. -- they say that since

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2005. These pictures of Diddley to a prosecution. That's is rare.

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Officially, every police force will tell you day and forced every law.

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Senior officers privately say they have better things to do. We have

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our suspicions and the National Wildlife crime Unit have pointed

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out that there are many complaints about illegal hunting in this area

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and yet we still don't see much police activity. We would like to

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see more police activity in this area and others around the country.

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Politically, the hunts have gone cold on pushing for a repeal of the

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Hunting Act. Something the Conservatives have always promised

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and which if the Prime Minister reiterated in a recent interview

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with us. For it is an issue that will come forward into court and

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the House of Commons will look at this. The hunting ban has been

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ineffective. Are you afraid you will lose? It is a matter for the

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House of Commons. Some are saying it hasn't been bolted -- brought

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forward because you think you will lose. We will have to wait and see.

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His backbenchers are not so sure that the vote now would be a good

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thing. Both if you have got a law which can be revoked, or you do

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something with the law, we haven't got time to do that at the moment.

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There are many things further up the agenda and we have to take

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priority. If there is a feeling among hunters that's right now,

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this is a fight they wouldn't win. They have learned much from the

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recent failure of the Liberal Democrats to achieve their holy

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grail, getting AV. When that was put to a vote, the loss. Behind us

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feel that if they only get one chance of repealing the Hunting Act,

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they won't push for a vote in the, unless they can be sure of winning

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it. We haven't got a Tory Government. It is a coalition

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Government so the third will be wrong for us. Do you think one day

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you will get a vote and one day it will be repealed or is it a lost

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cause? If I didn't believe we would get a vote and a repeal, I would be

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standing here today. One thing seems certain. It won't be

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happening any time soon. Cornwall's nationalist party Mebyon Kernow

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secured its fifth seat on Cornwall Council this week. The result comes

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as a birthday present for the party as it celebrates 60 years in

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business. MK also has more than 20 town and parish councillors. But

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the parliamentary success enjoyed by both the Scottish Nationalist

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Party and Plaid Cymru in Wales continues to elude their Cornish

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cousins. Tamsin Melville reports. Still on message after six decades.

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Mebyon Kernow activists campaigning this week in Camborne. Describing

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itself as a modern and progressive political party, I'm K campaigns

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for their self Government of Cornwall through a legislative

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assembly. It wants people in Cornwall to make political and

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economic decisions for themselves. Mebyon Kernow is a growing force in

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Cornwall. We have moved from being a small pressure group to something

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where they can see us to live in political ways. People have

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confidence that we could secure a better deal for Cornwall. There has

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been success but it has been limited. Do you think you can go

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further? I'm sure it can. SNP was talking about the fact that we may

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be 20 years behind where things are in Wales. We have a smaller support

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than in Wales and Scotland but it is a growing support and something

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where people are realising there are different models for the UK.

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is translating the support in two- thirds that is the problem. It is

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at this grass roots level that Mebyon Kernow has had successes. In

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the European elections come it did the Labour and got 7% of the vote

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in Cornwall. In a 2010 general- election, despite getting six

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Cornish seats, everyone lost their deposit. He was a pressure group

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but it was more than a pressure group. It was at a 1951 meeting of

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13 like-minded people in a red with hotel that I'm Cain was born with

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an emphasis on Cornish identity and culture. Loveday Jenkin has's

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mother was there. We were really young and realistic. We were

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staring people up to develop Cornish identity and to preserve

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what was left of the historic links with the Cornwall of the past. Also

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looking at the present and to the future. It said in the early days

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signing up to MK was seen as the thing to do with the group

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attracting names such as Daphne du Maurier a. Because it was a

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pressure group, people can become MPs. It wasn't until 1970 that

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and's husband became MK first president. He lost out to David MAD

:49:43.:49:53.
:49:53.:49:54.

he was also in Mebyon Kernow. -- David Mudd. They were a campaign

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organisation. You would probably find that all MPs would be members.

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I think it is political suicide in a place like Cornwall to indicate

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that actually you don't want to be part of that celebration of

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diversity. In the 1970s, I'm K became a fully fledged political

:50:17.:50:27.
:50:27.:50:35.

In the Eighties, campaigning took a higher profile. A lot of leaflets

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and a real labour of love. There is a great deal of support out there

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but it doesn't always manifest in those large elections. What happens

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in the future, given the broken promises, who knows. It is

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difficult for any small party. is through issues like the current

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Keep Cornwall Whole campaign where their presence can be felt. How

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does the party take it to the next level in and out of Cornwall? With

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a lot of patience, it seems. For my husband gave the speech as 10 years

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ago and talked about coming back to haunt best if they didn't get a

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:51:27.:51:31.

seat in Parliament in the next 20 Ann Trevenen Jenkin ending that

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report from Tamsin Melville. And with me now, one of Mebyon Kernow's

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deputy leaders, Cornwall Councillor, Andrew Long.

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Can we be Claire as to what degree of devolution you want, which

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powers specifically for a start it is an open-ended book. When you

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look at the Scottish National Party and Plaid Cymru a, they have

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different forms of devolution. If you look... Ideally, what you want

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is people to have power down to the local level. Con Moyle Council,

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were you look at central Government have come down from on high from,

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you look at the fact that the last 30 years, we have been one of the

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poorest regions in the home of the European Union. We are talking

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about getting millions of pounds of funding from European Union's

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because we are one of the poorest wages in the Horn of European Union.

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How is that something to celebrate? -- in the whole of the European

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Union. I have come back in October and went to Estonia, population 1

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million. There are countries already in the European Union,

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smaller than Cornwall. If you look at Estonia, it has a viable economy,

:53:09.:53:14.

it is one of the tigers of the Baltic states. It is an example

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where store -- small countries can succeed. We are not trying to be

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anti-European, and to anybody. You can be pro Cornish without being

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anti- anybody else. If there clearly is a cultural identity in

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Cornwall. Why do you find it so difficult to replicate them? I

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don't think there it is. There is a latent desire for serious self

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Government that Cornwall is looking for. When you think about that, you

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look at the SNP and Plaid Cymru, they have been going since the

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1930s. We are 30 years behind them. We are heading in the right

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direction. Thursday's tremendous result, that goes to show report

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good candidates up and we get the message across and it is an equal

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fight. We all get an equal share of the publicity and people will be

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voting in larger numbers. Even in Cornwall, people may say they won't

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fade for you and people in Cornwall don't want to vote for you. Where

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