The Party for Cornwall wants ‘National Identity’ question to include Cornish option

Mebyon Kernow is disappointed that the present proposals for the 2011 census do not include a tickbox for people to record their nationality as Cornish.

The Government this week set out the details of the questions to be included in the 2011 questionnaire in a White Paper.

In the proposed question on national identity, there will be tickboxes for English, Welsh, Scottish, Northern Irish and British. Those wishing to record themselves as Cornish will need to tick the ‘Other’ box and write in Cornish.

MK Deputy Leader (Services) Cllr Conan Jenkin has confirmed that Mebyon Kernow intend to lobby all ministers and MPs in advance of the content of the census being finally agreed by Parliament.

“In 2001, the last census did not include tickboxes for Cornish or Welsh. But it was confirmed that we could ignore the ‘British’ tickbox, tick the ‘Other’ box and write ‘Cornish’ in the space provided.

“In Wales, considerable government funding was made available to publicise the ‘write-in’ campaign, with leading newspapers such as the Western Mail doing much to make this information public.

“Sadly, by contrast in Cornwall, there was negligible ‘official’ publicity letting people know that they had the opportunity and the right to record themselves officially as Cornish.

“In spite of this, it was heartening to see that over 37,000 people made sure that their Cornish nationality was recorded.”

MK Deputy Leader (Campaigns) Cllr Phil Rendle added:

“Once again officialdom in London is treating Cornish people as second-rate? Cornish will be the only ‘British’ identity recognised by the Office of National Statistics that will not to have its own tickbox.

“This is unjust and discriminatory. Mebyon Kernow will continue to argue for Cornish tick-box just as a tickbox has been put in place for the Welsh.”

Further information

At the 2001 census, over 37 thousand people made the conscious decision to describe themselves as Cornish.

Within Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, this included 33,932 people, 6.77% of the population, which was made up as follows:

• Caradon 4,439 (6.77%)
• Carrick 5,784 (6.58%)
• Kerrier 6,965 (7.53%)
• North Cornwall 4,851 (6.03%)
• Penwith 5,810 (9.22%)
• Restormel 6,047 (6.33%)
• Isles of Scilly 36 (1.67%)

Elsewhere in the United Kingdom, 3,671 people described themselves as Cornish.

In 2001, the situation was the same for those people who wished to describe themselves as Welsh.

However, considerable government funding publicised this ‘write-in’ campaign.

In Caernarfon, 30.41% of people described themselves as Welsh. In Carmarthen East and Dinefwr it was 25.55%, Meironnydd Nant Conwy was 25.11% and in both Ceredigion and Llanelli it was 21.76%.

At the other end of the scale, only 3.96% of people in Alyn and Deeside wrote-in Welsh. In Monmouth the figure was 7.15%, in Delyn it was 7.95%, the Vale of Clwyd 8.18%, Newport East 8.38%, Wrexham 8.78%, Newport West 9.18% and Torfaen 9.9%.

In the 2011 census, there will also be a series of boxes for ethnicity as follows: A – White; B – Mixed/multiple ethnic groups; C – Asian/Asian British; D – Black/African/Caribean /Black British; E – Other ethnic group.

In Box A, there will be a single tickbox for ‘English / Welsh / Scottish / Northern Irish / British’ and the three alternatives of ‘Irish,’ ‘Gypsy and Irish Traveller’ and ‘Others.’