The possibility of a local tourist tax is a regular topic for political discussion. Many councils, including the unitary authority in Cornwall, continue to ponder the benefits of using the mechanism to raise additional monies to support cash-strapped public services and have lobbied central government on this issue.

Yesterday, as the Brexit chaos and the Conservative infighting continued to engulf Westminster, the Office of National Statistics (ONS) released its latest GVA (gross value added) figures.

The BBC’s Question Time programme – in which politicians and other public figures are quizzed on topical issues – was in Cornwall. The programme was broadcast from Mount’s Bay School in Penzance but, disrespectfully, not one of the five panellists came from Cornwall or even had a Cornish connection.

At the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham, the Prime Minister announced that the austerity of the last decade is to end and “support for public services will go up.”

The Campaign for the Protection of Rural England has just published a new report about the housing market. It is critical of the extent of planned developments and the amount of countryside that is being lost, and it is also pointing out that the housing needs of local people are still not being met.

About eleven months ago, the “Boundary Commission for England” (BCE) published its proposals for new constituency boundaries for the next Westminster Parliament. This included a cross-Tamar parliamentary constituency, which was rightly condemned as an outrage that ignored a thousand years of history.

The Boundary Commissions for England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales have presented their recommendations for new parliamentary constituencies to the Westminster Parliament.

On 5th July 1948, the Health Secretary Aneurin Bevan launched the National Health Service at Manchester’s Park Hospital.

The next meeting for Mebyon Kernow members in the St Austell & Newquay Constituency has been arranged to take place on Friday 8th June.

This week's Cornish Guardian had a positive editorial in favour of a Cornish tickbox. It was as follows...