Cornish MP appointed to Council of Europe role

The United Kingdom Delegation to the Council of Europe will be joined by Cherilyn Mackrory MP

Truro and Falmouth’s Member of Parliament, Cherilyn Mackrory, has been appointed as a substitute member of the United Kingdom Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe by the Prime Minister.

Cherilyn Mackrory MP

The Council of Europe (CoE) is a separate organisation from the European Union. It was an idea by Winston Churchill that was set up after the Second World War to promote human rights, democracy and the rule of law across the continent. It now has 47 member states.

Cornish Stuff Homepage

Cornish National Minority status is recognised by the UK via a Council of Europe international treaty called the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. Every report by the Council of Europe since national minority status was granted in 2014 has lambasted the UK government for not doing enough to honour the treaty.

One of the main recommendations from the last report in 2018 was to give the Cornish a tick box on the next census, a call which has been ignored by the government.

The Cornish Language is also recognised by another CoE treaty called the European Charter for Regional or Minority languages. Under this charter the UK government is supposed to protect and promote Cornish.

A report in September 2020 noted that the UK had made progress in other minority languages within the UK such but “the report also notes that responsibility for the Cornish language is not yet devolved, which hampers the ability of local authorities to promote this language”. It made an immediate recommendation to devolve responsibility and provide funding to Cornwall Council for the promotion of Cornish.

How the UK government is fulfilling their obligations to the Cornish language (CoE report Sept 2020)

Cherilyn said:

“I am delighted that the Prime Minister has today appointed me as a substitute member of the United Kingdom Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.”

“I am the second Cornish MP to be a member of this important European organisation and look forward to working with other existing Cornish member Steve Double and the rest of the UK delegation to continue their work around their granting ethnic minority status to Cornish people after years of campaigning from Cornwall. This will be something I am keen to work with them and the government to ensure is fully recognised in the future.”