(
Cornish for "Sons of Cornwall," often abbrieviated '''MK''') is a
Political Party in the
United Kingdom . The main objective of MK is to reestablish
Self-governance in
Cornwall , the southwesternmost 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
Celt ic 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 (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.
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.
''(Source:
Election Demon )''
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.
