Cornwall Council has welcomed a Proclamation from the Welsh National Eisteddfod, condemning the Government’s decision to cut funding for the Cornish language.
The formal Proclamation on indigenous languages in Britain and Ireland follows a discussion on language issues by groups from Wales, Cornwall, the Isle of Man, the North of Ireland and Scotland during last week’s National Eisteddfod held in Abergavenny.
The joint Proclamation declares that these language communities will work together to ensure a fair future for their languages under the new regime that will follow the ‘Brexit’ result of the referendum stating: “We shall use all peaceful means within our capacity to withstand… injustice and to secure financial, political and cultural fairness for our language communities.”
All the groups condemn the recent decision to completely cut financial support for the Cornish language.
Welcoming the Proclamation, Julian German, the Council’s cabinet member for culture and economy, said: “We recognise the intrinsic, as well as social and economic, value of the Cornish language and are very grateful for this clear message of support from other indigenous language groups.
“We were very disappointed that the last Government failed to carry out its responsibility to support the Cornish language but are hopeful that the new Secretary of State will resolve this situation and financial support will soon be forthcoming.
“We are writing to the Secretary of State to ask him to reconsider the decision not to provide funding for Cornwall’s programme to protect and develop the Cornish language – Kernewek.”
