‘After residents voted for Brexit, this British county realised the EU might stop sending them money’ ran the Washington Post headline.
With this ‘serves you right’ tone directed at Cornwall, Wales, and parts of the North of England across the UK media too, on a bad day it can feel like the journey from Truro to London is even longer.
We don’t have many bad days down in Cornwall though – we’re not that kind of place.
And as we, like other places, prepare for Brexit, it’s crucial that we focus on what is really important whether or not we are in the European Union: improved outcomes for our residents and businesses.
Our universities’ need for research funding didn’t end on referendum day, nor did our need for infrastructure improvement and investment in business growth. The task is the same – we are just going to need different tools in the future.
Our estimate of EU funding at risk for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly from the Structural Funds alone totals in the region of £355m up to 2020.
The chancellor’s recent post-Brexit funding reassurance on the EU programme was welcome – but only as far as it goes.
We now need individual government departments to help speed things up so that more deals get signed before the Autumn Statement funding guarantee deadline.
Better yet, we’d appreciate a fully joined-up approach across Whitehall.
And yes, Washington Post et al, in Cornwall we ARE pressing hard for reassurance that we will still have access to funding beyond this Autumn Statement deadline.
We’re proposing a focused investment fund for the area with outcome measures agreed between local residents, the business community and Government.
Those journalists might want to pause and reflect on how that EU money came from British taxpayers in the first place, of course.
The EU built funding formulae around relative deprivation, where historically Whitehall has factored this much less directly into its calculations.
Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly were the only part of England that met EU criteria to access the scale of funds we’ve received over recent decades.
It’s a brilliant place to live, with an unmatched quality of life. With our fast-growing airport and superfast broadband, our connectivity is better than ever too.
However, wages locally are well below the UK average, which is why we’re working so hard on developing our high-skills sectors.
Our partnerships are strong across the public, private, voluntary and community sectors as evidenced by Cornwall landing its devolution deal last year.
Importantly, we make really good use of funding, which means that our future pitch to Whitehall is not based on a begging-bowl mentality but on a return-on-investment mindset.
Put that all together and you can see why we’re optimistic – confident even.
We’re hoping now that Whitehall will row in behind us and let Cornwall race ahead.
Kate Kennally is chief executive of Cornwall Council
