The leader of Cornwall Council has urged Cornwall’s six Conservative MPs to use their “collective political muscle to deliver a Cornish tick-box” on the 2021 Census.
The Census Order (England and Wales) will be considered by MPs on Wednesday (May 6).
The House of Commons is currently operating on a ‘hybrid’ arrangement, with up to 50 MPs in the Chamber and 120 linked in via Zoom video conferencing.
At the moment, there is no mechanism in place for votes and the Council says it appears that the UK Government wants to push through the Order unaltered and without a vote.
The draft Census does not include a Cornish tick-box.
Cornwall Council’s leader Julian German said: “The Cornish were recognised as national minority in 2014. The Conservative-led coalition government of that time promised that the Cornish would be afforded the same status under the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities as the UK’s other Celtic peoples – the Scots, the Welsh and the Irish.
“There is now a Conservative majority government and Cornwall is represented by six Conservative MPs, one of whom is a minister. There can simply be no excuse for not delivering a Cornish tick-box – just as there are tick-boxes for the Scots, the Welsh and the Irish.
“I am calling on Steve Double, George Eustice, Scott Mann, Cherilyn Mackrory, Sheryll Murray and Derek Thomas to use their collective political muscle to deliver a Cornish tick-box on the 2021 Census and, if the Census Order cannot be amended in Parliament next Wednesday, to request the Government to defer consideration until democracy has been fully restored.”
