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The constitutional status of Cornwall, in the southwest of Great Britain, is the subject of ongoing debate. At present, the Parliament and Government of the UK, as well as Cornwall County Council, treat Cornwall as an administrative and ceremonial county of England, and laws passed for England are presumed to take effect (and are enforced) in Cornwall. Cornwall pays taxes to the British Exchequer and elects MPs to the UK Parliament. Cornish nationalists and others maintain that Cornwall is legally entitled to autonomy outwith England, and/or seek a new dispensation of autonomy.
An important point is that the United Kingdom is not a homogenous unitary state, but composed of several 'home nations', namely England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Cornish nationalists who assert that Cornwall is, or ought to be, separate from England, do not necessarily mean to advocate separation from the United Kingdom, but merely Cornwall's recognition as a fifth 'home nation'.
Traditional status and institutions
The Duchy
- Detailed article: Duchy of Cornwall, Cornwall and the Duchy of Cornwall
Many Cornish nationalists (including Cornish Solidarity, the Stannary Parliament, and individuals) argue that, in spite of currently being administered de facto as part of England, Cornwall has de jure a status apart as a sovereign Duchy extraterritorial to England. A commonly cited basis for this argument is an 1856 court case in which Sir George Harrison successfully argued that the Duchy enjoyed the rights and prerogatives of a County Palatine, and that in 1971 the Killbrandon Report recommended that official sources should refer to Cornwall as a Duchy rather than a county.
Proponents of this point of view cite certain ceremonial customs in which the Duke of Cornwall (normally the same person as the Prince of Wales) takes the place of the sovereign. The High Sheriff of Cornwall is appointed by the Duke, not the monarch, in contrast the other counties of England and Wales. A sturgeon caught elsewhere in Britain is ceremonially offered to the monarch, while in Cornwall it is offered to the Duke. Furthermore, pre-Tudor laws were typically designated to take effect in Anglia et Cornubia (that is, in England and Cornwall), implying that Cornwall was not at that time considered to be part of England.
The Stannaries
- Detailed article: Stannary
Since 1974, a revived Cornish Stannary Parliament has sought to reclaim the ancient right of Cornish tin-miners' assemblies to veto legislation from Westminster.
Attempted recognition of new status
Regional Autonomy
In contrast to the arguments that Cornwall is already de jure autonomous, thanks to the Duchy and Stannary parliament, various ongoing political movements are seeking to change Cornwall's constitutional status. Mebyon Kernow, for example, has for many years sought for Cornwall the position of a first-order (NUTS 1) EU region, which would put Cornwall on the same statistical level as Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Regions of England.
In the same vein, the Cornish Constitutional Convention – composed of many political groups in Cornwall (including Mebyon Kernow) – gathered about 50,000 signatures in 2000 on a petition to create a Cornish Assembly resembling the Welsh National Assembly. The petition was undertaken in the context of an ongoing debate on whether to devolve power to the English regions, of which Cornwall is currently part of the South West.
A distinct culture/ethnicity?
Many Cornish nationalists will, in addition to making the legal or constitutional arguments mentioned above, stress that the Cornish are a distinct ethnic group, that people in Cornwall typically refer to 'England' as beginning east of the Tamar, and that there is a Cornish language. For further information on these topics, see Cornwall, Cornish nationalism, Cornish language, etc.
Campaigners in 2001 for the first time prevailed upon the UK census to count Cornish ethnicity as a write-in option on the national census, although there was no separate Cornish tick box. Additionally, the Council of Europe has been applying increasing pressure on the UK government to recognise the Cornish for protection under the Council's Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities.
English Shire County Status
Many people reject all claims that Cornwall is, or ought to be, distinct from England. While recognising that there are local peculiarisms, they point out that Yorkshire, Kent, and East Anglia (for example) also have local customs and identities that do not seem to undermine their essential Englishness. The legal claims concerning the Duchy, they argue, are without merit except as relics of mediaeval feudalism, and they contend that Stannary law applied not to Cornwall as a 'nation', but merely to the guild of tin miners. Rather, they argue that Cornwall has been not only in English possession, but part of England itself, either since Athelstan conquered it in 936, since the administrative centralization of the Tudor dynasty, or since the creation of Cornwall County Council in 1888. Finally, they agree with representatives of the Duchy itself that the Duchy is, in essence, a real estate company that serves to raise income for the Prince of Wales.
The proponents of such perspectives include not only Unionists, but most branches and agencies of government.
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