The Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill is examined by a committee of the whole House of Commons on 12th October. Cornwall's six coalition MPs, who for different reasons are supporting the Bill, hope to lobby deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg before then to secure the sort of amendment that would prevent abolition of the historic political border with Devon. In its present form the Bill commands the Boundary Commission to design new constituencies every five years - something which has not gone down well with those MPs who have noticed this detail. I expect the issue to surface on the fringes, if not the floors, of the three main party conferences in the next few weeks.
Sunday, 12 September 2010
"Green Cornwall" - which ending do we get?
When Steve Cirell left Cornwall Council at the end of his year-long secondment as director of the Green Cornwall project, all sorts of initiatives were on the launch pad - revision of planning rules to encourage more wind turbines, solar energy farms; we were even told to believe battery-powered cars could soon be whizzing up and down the A30. When Steve joined the council in July 2009 he penned this article for LocalGov.co.uk. If "Green Cornwall" were a movie, does it end up dead - or does it emerge battered, betrayed but ultimately stronger? Is it possible the "Sliding Doors" alternative endings analogy that Steve wrote about is even more pertinent than he might have imagined?
The blood-spattered, sound-proofed star chambers
Imagine the scene: a nervous Cornwall Council cabinet member, surrounded by his or her colleagues, with chief executive Kevin Lavery in attendance. Councillor Jim Currie leads for the prosecution. He will let nothing distract him from his mission - to find the missing £108 million.
No councillor will be allowed to play to the gallery (the gallery is closed.) There will be no parade of bleeding stumps; no populist appeals to the mob. The axe will swing, silently, and the first we will hear of the work it has done is when "recommendations" are brought to next month's Cabinet meeting.
We do, however, have some clues - we know that Adult Social Care is £2.3 million overspent; Environmental Services is about £850,000 overspent; Communities about £700,000 overspent. That's to say they are spending more than the current business plan allows. But in the star chamber, no-one can hear you scream.
Cornish Democrats v Republicans
The blog previously known as The Cornish Democrat is now known as the Cornish Republican. I confess I sometimes feel hopelessly lost trying to navigate the narrower sidestreets of Cornish nationalism, but I think this is mainly to avoid confusion with the political party known as the Cornish Democrats and to make it clear that while the Cornish Republican blogger, Cornubian, would prefer Cornwall to be known as a Duchy, he has no time for the privately-owned landed estate known as the Duchy of Cornwall.
Tuesday, 7 September 2010
And shall Trelawney be live?
Hilarious confusion at today's full meeting of Cornwall Council over whether or not the Trelawney Room should be equipped with webcasting facilities, at a cost of £12,000, to allow coverage of Cabinet meetings. If not, then Cabinet meetings will apparently now have to be held in the full council chamber - where the cameras are already. The only clear record of what councillors actually intended and voted on is, er, the webcast...
The leisurely pursuit of second home voters
Remember that Cornwall Council Electoral Review Panel meeting on 2nd July? The one which instructed officials to write to Nick Clegg about the issues surrounding second home owners and the influence they might wield in Cornwall's elections?
As I've previously blogged, no letter has yet been sent. The official in charge of writing it, Richard Williams, has just told councillors that it was felt "inappropriate" to trouble the deputy Prime Minister during Parliament's summer recess. (Can anyone suggest why this was inappropriate?)
Richard said the letter has at least now been drafted and will be posted in the next few weeks.
Meanwhile, North Cornwall MP Dan Rogerson is still trying to organise a meeting with the minister responsible for second-home-owner voters, Mark Harper.
Acting council leader Jim Currie offered the thought that a reconcilliation between the electoral register, and the separate register of those entitled to second home council tax discount, could lead to a reduction in the number of people in Cornwall who are entitled to vote. This, he said, could make it difficult for Cornwall to justify having six MPs.
It's not clear if this was meant to encourage or discourage the pursuit of Cornwall's second-home-owner voters. But at the current rate of progress it looks as if we'll have time for plenty more elections without anything having changed.
As I've previously blogged, no letter has yet been sent. The official in charge of writing it, Richard Williams, has just told councillors that it was felt "inappropriate" to trouble the deputy Prime Minister during Parliament's summer recess. (Can anyone suggest why this was inappropriate?)
Richard said the letter has at least now been drafted and will be posted in the next few weeks.
Meanwhile, North Cornwall MP Dan Rogerson is still trying to organise a meeting with the minister responsible for second-home-owner voters, Mark Harper.
Acting council leader Jim Currie offered the thought that a reconcilliation between the electoral register, and the separate register of those entitled to second home council tax discount, could lead to a reduction in the number of people in Cornwall who are entitled to vote. This, he said, could make it difficult for Cornwall to justify having six MPs.
It's not clear if this was meant to encourage or discourage the pursuit of Cornwall's second-home-owner voters. But at the current rate of progress it looks as if we'll have time for plenty more elections without anything having changed.
See-through Cornish tartan
The coalition got a majority of 52 last night, with all six of Cornwall's MPs voting in favour of the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill. All six voted in favour of a measure which would abolish Cornwall's political border with Devon. That's something to ponder the next time a candidate tells you he or she will always put Cornwall ahead of party loyalties (although Labour's opposition to the Bill has more to do with protecting its northern territorities than a recenty discovered interest in Cornish separatism.)
The Bill will now be considered by a committee of the whole House of Commons, with proceedings having to be completed in five days, with a further two days for the Third Reading.
That majority of 52 looks quite solid until you consider that about 45 Conservative MPs have signed Early Day Motion 613 - threatening to rebel against the Alternative Vote referendum. If 26 of those rebellious Tories later swap lobbies and vote with the Opposition, the government could wobble.
The Bill will now be considered by a committee of the whole House of Commons, with proceedings having to be completed in five days, with a further two days for the Third Reading.
That majority of 52 looks quite solid until you consider that about 45 Conservative MPs have signed Early Day Motion 613 - threatening to rebel against the Alternative Vote referendum. If 26 of those rebellious Tories later swap lobbies and vote with the Opposition, the government could wobble.
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