Mebyon Kernow

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Mebyon Kernow - the Party for Cornwall




Leader	Dick Cole

Founded	6 January, 1951
Headquarters	Lanhainsworth Fraddon HIll Fraddon St Columb Cornwall TR9 6PQ UK

Political Ideology	Cornish self governance, Social democracy
Political Position
International Affiliation	none
European Affiliation	European Free Alliance
European Parliament Group	n/a
Colours	old gold, black and white

Website	[http://www.mebyonkernow.org/]

See also	Politics of the U.K. Political parties Elections

Mebyon Kernow (Cornish for "Sons of Cornwall", often abbrieviated MK) is a political party in the United Kingdom. The main objective of MK is to re-establish self-governance in Cornwall, the south-westernmost county of the United Kingdom.

MK was founded on January 6, 1951 at a meeting held in Redruth. Helena Charles was elected the party's first chair. At the first meeting, MK adopted the following objectives:

To study local conditions and attempt to remedy any that may be prejudicial to the best interests of Cornwall by the creation of public opinion or other means.
To foster the Cornish Language and Literature.
To encourage the study of Cornish history from a Cornish point of view.
By self knowledge to further the acceptance of the idea of the Celtic character of Cornwall, one of the six Celtic nations.
To publish pamphlets, broadsheets, articles and letters in the Press whenever possible, putting forward the foregoing aims.
To arrange concerts and entertainments with a Cornish-Celtic flavour through which these aims can be further advanced.
To cooperate with all societies concerned with preserving the character of Cornwall.

By September 1951 they had officially come to a stance of supporting self-government for Cornwall, in what they hoped at the time would be a federal United Kingdom. MK won its first seat at local level on the Redruth-Camborne Urban Council in 1953. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, MK was in essence a political pressure group rather than a true political party, with members being able to join other political parties as well. However, by the 1970s the group developed into a more coherent and unified organization. During this decade, MK began contesting Westminster parliamentary seats as well as local government ones. A schism in the early 1970s led to the formation of the Cornish Nationalist Party.

They currently describe their philosophy as based on being: "Cornish, Green, Left of Centre, Decentralist." Mebyon Kernow is a member of the European Free Alliance although did not contest European Parliament elections in 2004 or 1999. [link] The party has close links with Plaid Cymru (their partner in the EFA) including a twinning arrangement with Plaid's Blaenau Gwent branch, and to a lesser extent with the SNP.

Daphne du Maurier, the well known novelist, was at one point a member of Mebyon Kernow, as was Andrew George, the Liberal Democrat MP; he still remains sympathetic to many Cornish issues, but is no longer a member since they became a political party.

MK have an electoral partnership with the Greens. In the 2005 Westminster elections, MK did not contest the St Ives constituency to make room for the Green Party candidate. In return, the Greens did not stand against MK in any of the other four Cornish constituencies.

Electoral performance

In 1979, in the first elections to the European Parliament, Mebyon Kernow were able to attract almost ten percent of the vote in the Cornwall seat. This reflected a decade of steady growth for the party. MK continues to contest parliamentary seats with little electoral success, and also local government seats with more success. They lost their only Cornwall county councillor in 2001.

Election Votes cast Share of Vote
1979 European election 10,205 5.9
1983 General election 1,151 1.2 2 candidates
1989 European election 4,224 1.9
1994 European election 3,315 1.5
1997 General election 1,906 0.8 4 candidates
2001 General election 3,199 1.3 3 candidates
2005 General election 3,552 1.7 4 candidates

(Source: [Election Demon])

Election	Votes cast	Share of Vote
1979 European election	10,205	5.9
1983 General election	1,151	1.2	2 candidates
1989 European election	4,224	1.9
1994 European election	3,315	1.5
1997 General election	1,906	0.8	4 candidates
2001 General election	3,199	1.3	3 candidates
2005 General election	3,552	1.7	4 candidates

Since 11 November 2004, there have been four MK councillors on Kerrier District Council, along with one in Restormel (the party leader Dick Cole) and one in North Cornwall (John Bolitho). One of the MK councillors in Kerrier, Loveday Jenkin, joined the district council government in 2005 becoming the first MK councillor in such a position.

External links

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Mebyon Kernow

Electoral performance

See also

External links