Are you local?

The Gulval and Heamoor Lib Dem councillor Mario Fonk has tabled a motion to go to next week's full council meeting which tries to answer the question: "Are you local?"

Mario's proposal:

"resolves to change the current Cornwall-wide criteria for local connection on the Housing Register to give those who live within the town or parish and who have registered as their first choice to stay in that area precedence over those who live outside the area."

Mario's concern is that some people have been forced to accept offers of accommodation more than 40 miles from where they live. He points out that the current system can result in some applications creating a "false need" in areas which are simply thought of as desirable places to live.

The proposal is already supported by councillors Stuart Cullimore, Ruth Lewarne, Chris Pascoe, Sue Pass and Tamsin Williams and all the signs are that it will succeed. After all, which councillor would want to be seen as acting against "local" interests?

Nevertheless some housing officials are uneasy. They say anything which undermines their objective, professional assessment of "need" should be treated with caution - particularly quirky, wiggly lines on a map.

Pushing the boundaries

Nick Clegg yesterday gave the first clues about what we might expect in his Parliamentary Reform Bill, which I think will be published in the next few weeks. Of particular interest to Cornwall is what it will mean for both the number of MPs (probably five rather than six) and where their constituencies will be (er, in Devon?)

Mr Clegg said the approach to making constituencies the same size had to be consistent. The current imbalance in the size of the electorate in different constituencies could not be defended because it resulted in "the ultimate postcode lottery, where the weight of your vote depends on where you live."

So will Cornwall have to share an MP with Devon? Not necessarily. We still don't know. "There will be no rigid mathematical formula," said Mr Clegg.

As ever, the ability to hold simultaneously contradictory positions is the hallmark of a true politician. No wonder the Boundary Commission sounds so nervous about this issue. As one civil servant put it: "If it was easy, we'd have done it years ago."

Austerity news

The cost to the taxpayer of saying goodbye to former Cornish MPs Julia Goldsworthy (defeated,) Colin Breed and Matthew Taylor (both retired) is at least £100,000. Add pension costs and the bill is considerable more. For each MP the payments are tax free for the first £30,000.

The minimum resettlement grant, paid to all departing MPs, is half the £64,766 basic annual salary. MPs with more than five years' service, or over the age of 50, can get more. The total resettlement pot for all departing MPs is today put at £10.4 million.

BBC Radio 4's "File On Four" programme (tonight, 8pm) reports how the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority plans eventually to examine resettlement grants as part of its post-expenses-scandal-stable-cleaning. The Taxpayers' Alliance, naturally, froths outrage.

MPs claim the resettlement grant is simply a form of redundancy payment (albeit considerably more generous than you're likely to find in most workplaces.)

Is there not a case for treating MPs as if they are on fixed-term contracts which end (and might be renewed, if the voters agree) after a maximum of five years? I'm told that in this age of belt-tightening and ever-thinner gruel, we are all in this together.

In a bit of a pickle over election promise

My BBC Radio Cornwall colleague Martin Bailie has just recorded an interview with Communities Secretary Eric Pickles - you can hear it after 5pm. In answer to a question about the Conservatives' pre-election promise that Cornwall would have its own minister, Mr Pickles said there would be an announcement "in the not too far distant......" When Martin pressed him to say when, Mr Pickles said it would be soon. And when Martin protested the failure to answer, Mr Pickles said: "I've gone further than soon. I've said fairly soon."

You couldn't make it up.

Penair school to opt out?

Truro's Penair comprehensive school is one of the 299 "outstanding" (according to Ofsted) schools which have registered an interest in opting out of local council control and becoming an academy. It would be the first in Cornwall. Headteacher Barbara Vann tells me she has an open mind about the issue and looks forward to getting the government's information pack. If it arrives in time it'll go on the agenda for the next governors' meeting on 1st July.

They tweet no more

To be honest, several of our Parliamentary candidates were pretty half-hearted about their Tweeting, even in the midst of battle. But since 6th May we have heard nothing at all from defeated Conservatives Derek Thomas (St Ives,) Caroline Righton (St Austell & Newquay) or Sian Flynn (North Cornwall.) Defeated Lib Dem Terrye Teverson (Truro & Falmouth) has tweeted once, as has Karen Gillard (South East Cornwall.) But Julia Goldsworthy (Camborne & Redruth) seems to tweet more now than when she was an MP - and with 2,135 followers she appears to have a growing fan club.

Just going through the motions?

The excellent blogger Mudhook draws my attention to how busy the St Ives Lib Dem MP Andrew George has been when it comes to signing Early Day Motions in the House of Commons.

Andrew has signed 87 EDMs since the general election - the other five Cornish MPs none. EDMs are the Parliamentary equivalent of graffiti; the government ignores them but they do tell us something about what's going on inside an MP's head.

Andrew's enthusiasm for signing up to Leftish causes, such as extending minimum wage protection, increasing public spending on disability issues, and the pursuit of "policies to eradicate poverty and promote equality," seems somewhat at odds with the government's declared priority - to slash the deficit.